Predrag Vranicki (21 January 192231 January 2002) was a

Marxist Humanist Marxist humanism is an international body of thought and political action rooted in an interpretation of the works of Karl Marx. It is an investigation into "what human nature consists of and what sort of society would be most conducive to huma ...

and member of the

Praxis school The Praxis school was a Marxist humanist philosophical cycle, whose members were influenced by Western Marxism. It originated in Zagreb in the SFR Yugoslavia, during the 1960s. Prominent school's theorists include Gajo Petrović and Milan Ka ...

in the 1960s in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

Life

Vranicki was born in 1922, in

Benkovac Benkovac () is a town in the interior of Zadar County, Croatia. Geography Benkovac is located where the plain of Ravni Kotari and the karstic plateau of Bukovica meet, 20 km from the town of Biograd na Moru and 30 km from Zadar. Th ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he fought with the National Liberation Army against the Fascist occupation of Yugoslavia. He received a diploma in philosophy from the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

in 1947 and earned his PhD from the

University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy The University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy ( sr, Филозофски факултет Универзитета у Београду), established in 1838 within the Belgrade Higher School, is the oldest Faculty at the University of Belgrade ...

in 1951. From 1964 to 1966 he was dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, and rector of the Zagreb University from 1972 to 1976. Vranicki became president of the Yugoslav Society for Philosophy in 1966, and in 1979 he was elected as a full member of the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Croatica, hr, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under patronage of the Croatian bishop J ...

. When the dissident ''Praxis'' journal was initiated in 1965, he joined its editorial board.

Major works

He was interested in the problems of

humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and Agency (philosophy), agency of Human, human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical in ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and freedom, and his major works are: *''Dialectical and Historical Materialism'' (1958) *''History of Marxism'' (1961, 3 volumes) *''Karl Marx: The Development of His Thought'' *''Marxism and Socialism'' (1979) *''Philosophical Studies'' (1979) *''The Socialist Alternative'' (1982) *''Philosophy of History'' (1988)

External links

''On the Problem of Practice'' by Predrag Vranicki''The State and the Party in Socialism'' by Predrag Vranicki
(In Croatian)
In memoriam by Ivan KUVAČIĆ in ''Novi list''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vranicki, Predrag 1922 births 2002 deaths Marxist theorists Rectors of the University of Zagreb Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy alumni People from Benkovac Yugoslav philosophers 20th-century Croatian philosophers