Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.52685/pihfb.50.1(99).4
The Richtmann-Podhorsky Case: A Philosophical Reexamination
Boško Pešić
orcid.org/0000-0002-7010-0803
; Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Croatia
Mislav Uzunić
orcid.org/0000-0001-6188-440X
; Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Croatia
Abstract
The article delves into the intellectual and ideological clash between Yugoslav communists and Zvonimir Richtmann and Rikard Podhorsky during the 1930s. This conflict emerged from Richtmann and Podhorsky’s endeavour to critically reassess Marxist theory, leveraging contemporary scientific knowledge and logical positivism to further substantiate its validity. Nevertheless, their initiative remained unrealized due to Communist Party members perceiving such scrutiny of Marxism as a political menace, thereby leaving the rational and reasoned resolution of the matter unresolved. Consequently, the paper delves into the compatibility of Richtmann and Podhorsky’s theory with logical positivism. Its objective is to illustrate that their endeavors were both justified and reasoned, as logical positivism and Marxism converge in critiquing metaphysics and philosophy while advocating for causal explanations of phenomena. Nonetheless, the paper contends that, viewed from a contemporary standpoint, Richtmann and Podhorsky’s premise would lack persuasiveness for two reasons. Firstly, contemporary insights in the general philosophy of science undermine the verifiability principle of logical positivism, which they incorporated into their theory, as an inadequate criterion of scientific rigor. Secondly, the fundamental methodological disparity between Marxism, grounded in macro-level explanations of history and society, and logical positivism, which promotes methodological atomism and reductionism, underscores the divergence.
Keywords
Richtmann; Podhorsky; logical positivism; Marxism; philosophy of science; Croatian philosophical heritage
Hrčak ID:
318161
URI
Publication date:
18.6.2024.
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