This article discusses the relationship between Jan Patocka's and Vaclav Havel's political writings. By specifically focusing on Patocka's concepts a "life in the idea" and a " life in problematicity" and Havel's notion of a "life in truth", it seeks to draw out the differences and similarities between their respective understandings of the relationship between truth and politics. The paper argues that Havel reinterpreted Patocka's ideas in a way, which in the final analysis diverged from Patocka's original intentions. Finally, the article argues that Havel's, in many ways productive, reinterpretation gives rise to a highly problematic conception of ideology and politics since the "pre-political" form of politics that Havel envisions ultimately tends to naturalize both truth and politics.