Abstract
The purpose of the article is to present the outlines of the reception and the influence of Heidegger’s philosophy on the territory of former Yugoslavia. This reception and influence were in their essence co-conditioned by specific political, social and cultural circumstances in the region, which were throughout accompanied by “the syndrome of dehumanization”. The confrontation with Heidegger’s philosophy is therefore co-defined by the profoundly experienced crisis of European humanity. During both world wars the attempt of an overcoming of this crisis of humanity by the means of phenomenological and existentialist philosophy was the main focus of attention. The period after the Second World War is denoted by the linking of Marxism with Heidegger’s attempt to surpass philosophy as metaphysics through the perspective of the history of being; in this context we specifically discuss the Praxis philosophical school and the original philosophical thought of Vanja Sutlić. During the disintegration of Yugoslavia and in the period thereafter, besides the intensive appropriation of Heidegger’s thought through translations and interpretations, which also led to the thorough study of Slavic philosophical terminologies, post-Heideggerian ways of thinking came to the fore, together with the possibility for a new humanization within the wider European and global social framework.
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Notes
The present paper is based upon work supported by Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS, Project J7-8283, Program P6-0341-2404).
We use the term “crisis” as the significant indication of a broader problem of human self-understanding within modernity characterized by the irreconcilable tension between historicity and contemporaneity. France Veber, the founder of Slovenian phenomenological philosophical orientation, already speaks in this context about crisis in 1923 within his work Problems of Contemporary Philosophy: “We are in an age of suchlike turmoil of human psyche, whence upon the ruins of demolished values and unworthiness directions, bright and dark, are coming to the fore, of which the pre-war man could not even dare to dream” (1923: 3).
It is well known that in his uncovering of European nihilism within the history of Being Heidegger critically distanced himself from various “philosophies of crisis,” although within Being and Time the concept of crisis still bears a positive meaning “[t]he level which a science has reached is determined by how far it is capable of a crisis in its basic concepts” (2001: 29). In contrast, philosophers from former Yugoslavia discussed here dedicated significant attention to different aspects of “social crisis,” not only within the socialistic bloc, but also worldwide; they predominantly focused on Marx’s concept of “alienation”. This is also true of philosophers who were under distinct influence of Heidegger; Ivan Urbančič, for instance, dedicated to the problem of crisis one of his final books (2012). It is our opinion that the concept of “crisis” and the question of human situation within contemporaneity, taking into account also the actuality of current social condition, maintain their critical-philosophical potential.
The lectures and discussions of the symposium were published in a special collective volume (Knjazeva et al. 1960). From today’s viewpoint it can be ascertained that contributions by progressive authors represent merely first inquisitive and philosophically naïve attempts to offer resistance to the then prevailing Marxist ideology. However, the striving for a freer philosophical debate also stimulated fundamental discussions regarding the ethical problem of freedom, the epistemological-theoretical problem of truth and expression, as well as the ontological problem of reality. Such a philosophical directedness is evident in the subsequent works by the three aforementioned authors. In consequence, the reception of Heidegger did not remain merely apologetic, but was dictated by the concern for the effectuation of an in-depth philosophical deliberation. Within the framework of the present paper we cannot offer a thorough presentation of all of the mentioned philosophical authors, and have to rest satisfied with a reference to the available electronic resources: http://www.praxis-arhiva.net/digitalni-arhiv-praxisa-i-korculanske-ljetne-skole/.
Renowned philosophers of the period were guests at the Korčula Summer School, among other: Ernst Bloch, Eugen Fink, Erich Fromm, Herbert Marcuse, Jürgen Habermas, Ágnes Heller, Henri Lefebvre, Richard J. Bernstein and Schlomo Avineri.
Noam Chomsky also reacted against this decision with a protest statement (see 1974).
Gajo Petrović expressly responded to Heidegger’s discussion of Marxism as a kind of metaphysical humanism proposing an in-depth approach towards Marx’s thought, which surpassed Heidegger’s capabilities, whilst at the same time also supporting further deliberation upon the problems of humanism in the direction of a possible revolutionary transformation of all human relationships. Therefore, it is clear that Petrović was well aware how Heidegger’s surpassing of philosophy as metaphysics could be included into a new perspective of social justice (see 1970, 1986; Basta 1987). Tine Hribar, in contrast, referred to Heidegger’s understanding of “the act of Antigone” as a radical representation of human freedom, which transcends all ideological projections regarding just society and discloses “the sanctity of life” (1991, 1992).
Since our main intention is to present the characteristic trait of Heidegger’s influence on the development of philosophy in former Yugoslavia, which emphasized the relation to philosophy as such within the situation of contemporary crisis of human self-understanding, we shall in this essay not discuss the otherwise relevant attempts at a more immanent interpretation of Heidegger’s philosophy; see, for instance, works by Mikulić (1987) and Vukićević (1988, 1992, 2003).
Sutlić offers a terminological comparison of the words “povijest” and “history” as well as of their Slovenian counterpart “zgodovina” in the work entitled How to Read Heidegger (1989: 177f.).
In an essay, which was included in the appendix of the posthumously published work Introduction to Historical Thinking, Sutlić offers this formulation of the “methodics” of historical thinking: “What historical thinking is?—Of course, it respects the results of Marx’s critique of Hegel, Marx’s and Nietzsche’s critique of metaphysics, Dilthey’s immanent understanding of historical life, Heidegger’s destruction of traditional ontology, the results of his temporal analyses, his prolific historical transcendentalism that was active all the way to Habermas and Appe.—It has its rigorousness and its principles: (1) toponymy or topo-logy, historical situation (crisis) (2) the law of the state of affairs, historical matter (being and temporalizing) (3) the law of the constellation of a historical complex, historical occasionality (world) (4) the law of language and silence, historical language 5) etc. There exists a danger that these laws could be comprehended according to or by analogy with the principles of thinking in the metaphysical sense. (—The critique of philosophy presupposes the determination of its essence, while the latter presupposes a system of philosophical concepts. It is therefore at the same time the presentation of philosophy, without which historical thinking falls into empty nothingness.)” (1994: 174).
Let us in this context cite some of the ways of such independent as well as perilous wanderings, for instance: the studies that were written in accompaniment to selected European novels by Sutlić’s good friend Dušan Pirjevec (1979), Lenin’s “Philosopy” or On Imperialism by Ivan Urbančič (1971), Truth about Truth by Tine Hribar (1981), Practicing Philosophy by Damir Barbarić (1980)—all three of the latter were Sutlić’s doctoral students –, The Palanka Philosophy by Radomir Konstantinović (1969), Contra Dogmaticos by Danko Grlić (1971), The Sphinx of the West by Abdulah Šarčević (1972), The Dark Side of the Moon by Slavoj Žižek (1973), Existence, Reality and Freedom by Miladin Životić (1973), The Speech of the Other by Nenad Miščević (1977), The Prospect of the Absolute by Branko Despot (1978), Metamorphoses of Metaphysics by Marijan Cipra (1978), and Nietzsche and Metaphysics by Mihailo Đurić (1984). Although cited works bear witness to Heidegger’s influence, the latter, receding into the background, gives way to the search for individual philosophical positions upon the basis of an ever deeper elucidation of fundamental metaphysical and existential problems, of a radical confrontation with social ideologies and the nihilization of the world as such, or of an intensive reception o poststructuralism and psychoanalysis (see Pervić 1972).
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Komel, D. The Influence of Heidegger’s Thought on the Development of Philosophy in Ex-Yugoslav Countries. Hum Stud 41, 643–660 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-017-9443-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-017-9443-7