Bonifacije Perović’s Personalistic View of a Human and Croatian Society between 1941 and 1979

Abstract

This paper examines the thought of Bonifacije Perović through three distinct periods of his life — during World War II (1941–1945), and during his life after having emigrated to Argentina (1947–1968) and then Italy (1968–1979). The author analyzes Perović’s work and doctrine based on the personalism, especially on the man as a person, battle against all totalitarian regimes, the primacy of the spiritual over the material, the economy in the favour of man and the priority of labor over capital. Perović was strongly influenced by Jacques Maritan, Emmanuel Mounier and Nikolai Berdyaev. Perović emphasized the centrality of person for philosophical thought and developed an entire doctrine of a person and Croatian society with a broad personalist’s view. These works make him the most prominent Croatian personalist thinkers.