Original scientific paper
Relationship between Ivan Mažuranić and Ante Starčević: from Comparison of Persons to Philosophy of Law
Pavo Barišić
; Institut za filozofiju, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The greats of Croatian political thought, Ivan Mažuranić and Ante Starčević, were contemporaries whose life and work is considerably close, yet at the same time different with respect to their views. Both received their education, and acquired their knowledge and experience in philosophy and law. Mažuranić built on his philosophical and juridical fundaments through his activity as public prosecutor, member of the Croatian Parliament, President of the Court Office for Croatia, and as Ban of Croatia. After his studies in philosophy, Starčević worked in a lawyer’s office, acted as member of the Croatian Parliament, and founded and led the Party of Rights. Both were considered progressives and liberals, advocates of the rule of people.
The paper first outlines the personal profiles of the two political leaders and champions of the rule of law by overviewing their characters and political relations. The article examines and compares the paths of life of these new men (homines novi) in the world of politics, their classical education, mastery of language and gift for literature, democratic views and oppositional attitudes, progressivism and liberalism, clarity of perspectives and steadiness of character. In regard to their differences, the paper points to a contrast between their political pragmatism and political righteousness, a difference in their attitudes to holding a state office, a dissimilarity between one’s realism and the other’s idealism, and their dissimilar views on the political solution of the Croatian issue either within the framework of or without the Monarchy. The paper attempts to shed light on their collaboration on common political issues and to bring to light the causes of their political confrontations and disputes. The closing comparison of their philosophical points of view with regard to the primacy of either natural or historical law brings to light the closeness of their views, a similarity between their styles, and a kinship between their arguments that misled even the best experts in the oeuvre of both authors over the authorship of the work Political Sparkles.
The conclusion is that Mažuranić and Starčević are close in their dialectic contrariness.
They built their work on the principles of a distinctive philosophy of law and unwavering moral attitudes. Each fulfilled his duty in the service of the common good in his own specific way and in accordance with his own beliefs. Consequently, they became the most effective Croatian statesmen of the 19th century.
Keywords
philosophy of law; natural law; historical law; Croatian statesmen; Ivan Mažuranić; Ante Starčević
Hrčak ID:
196171
URI
Publication date:
26.3.2018.
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