Vanja Sutlić (18 February 1925 – 15 December 1989) was a Croatian philosopher. He was regarded as the father of the

Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

ian philosophy in Yugoslavia and its successor states, especially in Croatia and Slovenia. He was born in

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...

, Yugoslavia. He graduated from philosophy at 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 ...

, where he also obtained his PhD. In, he was hired as an assistant professor at the University, but in 1952 he was removed by the Yugoslav Communist authorities and forcibly transferred to

Nova Gradiška Nova Gradiška is a town located in the Brod-Posavina County of Croatia, population 14,229 (2011). It is located in the historic region of Slavonia, near the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first word in the name means ''New'', and there ...

. Already in 1953, he could return to Zagreb, continuing his teaching position. Between 1956 and 1964, he taught at the

University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo ( Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a public university located in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the larges ...

. Between 1964 until his death, he worked as a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Zagreb. He died in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

in 1989. Sutlić's main philosophical preoccupation was the thought of the German philosopher

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

. Through Hedeggerian

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

, Sutlić engaged in reflections on the modern epoch, which he frequently referred to as "the world of Work". In dialogue with the philosophies of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

, he reflected on the meaning of modern

nihilism Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Ivan ...

, and the possibilities of its overcoming.Vanja Sutlić, ''Delo in moč'' (Koper: Hyperion, 2009), 41. Sutlić's thought influenced several Yugoslav philosophers, including the

Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Slovenci ), are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovene as their n ...

Ivo Urbančič,

Veljko Rus Veljko Rus (8 December 1929 – 26 February 2018) was a Slovenian sociologist, writer and academic. He was born in Visnja Gora near Ljubljana, Slovenia (then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) to a prominent upper-middle-class family. His fathe ...

and

Tine Hribar Tine Hribar (born 28 January 1941 as Velentin Hribar) is a Slovenian philosopher and public intellectual, notable for his interpretations of Heidegger and his role in the democratization of Slovenia between 1988 and 1990, known as the Slovenian ...

, and the

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

Mihailo Đurić Mihailo Đurić ( Serbian Cyrillic: Михаило Ђурић; 22 August 1925 – 25 November 2011) was one of Serbia's most prominent philosophers. He was a professor at the University of Belgrade's Law School and member of the Serbian Academ ...

. His son, also called

Vanja Sutlić Vanja Sutlić (18 February 1925 – 15 December 1989) was a Croatian philosopher. He was regarded as the father of the Heideggerian philosophy in Yugoslavia and its successor states, especially in Croatia and Slovenia. He was born in Karlovac, Yug ...

, is a film director and former chairman of the

Croatian Radiotelevision ''Hrvatska radiotelevizija'' (abbr. HRT), or Croatian Radiotelevision, is Croatia's public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. HRT is divided into thr ...

Major works

*''Bit i suvremenost'' (Being and Modernity, 1967) *''Praksa rada kao znanstvena povijest'' (The Praxis of Work as History of Science, 1974) *''Kao čitati Heideggera'' (How to Read Heidegger, 1988) *''Uvod u povijesno mišljenje'' (Introduction into Historical Thought, published posthumously in 1994)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutlic, Vanja Croatian philosophers Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni University of Zagreb faculty University of Sarajevo faculty People from Karlovac Phenomenologists 1925 births 1989 deaths Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery Heidegger scholars