Original scientific paper

Meršić's Understanding and Definition of Philosophy

Franjo Zenko ; Institut za filozofiju, Zagreb, Hrvatska

Abstract

The publications about Mate Meršić Miloradić (l850-1928) have dealt with his role as poet, story-writer, Burgenland Croatian cultural activist, journalist, calender maker and promoter of the national renaissance, but not as philosopher, theologian and scientist. This is, as far as I know, the first study on his scientific and philosophical work. Here I briefly analysed, on the basis of .my knowledge of Meršić's complete scientific, philosophical and thelogical work, his main and most interesting writing Organistik der Geometrie (1914). In this work he is giving a brief outline of his theory of the geometrical principles, with his fundamental starting thesis that the »euclidic« is not yet the scientific geometry, it is just a »casuistic« geometry, it is just a »casuistic« geometry. Although Descartes offered with his »analysis« an »organon« of the scientific geometry, the mathematicians did not realized the true importance of this new organon of geometry since they were obstructed by Aristotle’s theory of science. The critical discussion with the Aristotelian theory of science and with its transformation into the (neo-)scholastic »theory of knowledge« leads Meršić to the discussion of the philosophy which he, according to its object, defines as »algorithmic of reason«. Finally, from the standpoint of the historical development of the Croatian philosophy in its European philosophical context, I pointed out the Croatian philosophers of the clergy who, since Bošković, have accepted the principles of the modern (Cartesian-Kantian) philosophy, and Mate Meršić Miloradić belongs to this group.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

84084

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/84084

Publication date:

4.12.1989.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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