Original scientific paper
On the Philosophy of Vladimir Filipović
Zlatko Posavac
; Zagreb
Abstract
The papers collected under the title Vladimir Filipović – život i djelo (1906.– 1984.), published on the 100th anniversary of his birth, cast light on certain aspects of the philosopher’s work, but fail to clearly outline the thematic focus, character and general scope of his thought. During his long-term professorship of philosophy at the Zagreb University, Filipović remained consistent in his belief and efforts that the history of Western philosophy, i.e. of the Euro-Atlantic cultural sphere, should be taught comprehensively. He was a great authority on the subject, particularly important because of the actuality and recent insight into twentieth-century philosophy, which he tackled not only as an expert but as its participant and author.
Following in the footsteps of the Neo-Kantian Baden school, phenomenology and axiology, in Croatia Filipović redefined and constructed the so-called Zagreb school of philosophy, and on the European horizon was a most serious exponent of the philosophy of culture, making a clear cut from its trivialised »fashions« of the 1920s (crazy twenties, les annés folles). Filipović’s philosophy of culture is characterised by an essential and clear distinction between the phenomena of civilisation and culture: »Whereas civilisation we understand as all the actions and efforts which help humankind in its struggle for survival, culture in the narrow sense encompasses only the actions and efforts man makes in his pursuits of his life ideals (such as beauty, goodness, sanctity, etc.)«. Accepting the multilayered nature of human existence, Filipović also accepts and moreover warns about the meaning of man’s existence in time, more precisely in history: »History and culture go alongside; where culture melts away, history ends«. With regard to the reality of the twentieth century, Filipović boldly approaches the phenomena and the problem of the crisis, which he confronts by using the philosophy of culture.
The tragic and dramatic aftermath of World War II had particular impact on the life and work of Professor Vladimir Filipović. Despite censorship and somewhat limited work conditions, Filipović continued his philosophical activity on the previously established foundations of the philosophy of culture, so that at International Philosophical Congress in Vienna in 1968 he lectured on the »Goals of the Philosophy of Culture Today«. Filipović again confronts the new forms and phenomena of the crisis, warning that even after World War II many states of the Western cultural history witness in the time of peace, after the war, a brutal »discrepancy between theory and practice«. Thus in the sphere of ‘illusory democracy’, Filipović states, arises a need to overcome the new crisis through, again, a true affirmation of culture. Professor Filipović thus rightly concludes that contrary to the »period of verbalism « and similar to the earlier crises of the twentieth century, the realisation of the idea of humanity also asks for true and genuine affirmation.
Keywords
Vladimir Filipović; philosophy of culture; civilisation; culture; complexity of human existence; axiology; ideals; crisis; period of verbalism; idea of humanity
Hrčak ID:
97800
URI
Publication date:
31.1.2013.
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