Milan Kangrga (1 May 1923 – 25 April 2008) was a

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 ...

n and Yugoslav

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

who was one of the leading thinkers in 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 ...

of thought which originated in the 1960s in the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

Biography

Kangrga was born 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 ...

, where he attended elementary and grammar school. In 1950, he graduated from the

Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences or the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb ( Croatian: ''Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu'') is one of the faculties of the University of Zagreb. History The Faculty of Philosophy is the oldest fac ...

, where he commenced his work as a teaching assistant working in the fields of

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

and

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

. Between 1962 and 1964, he studied in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, Germany. He became a tenured professor in 1972 and he held this position until his retirement in 1993. Kangrga started his confrontation with the Yugoslav communist leadership during his undergraduate studies in February 1948, before the clash of

Joseph Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav Communism, communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until ...

with

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

. Then, he published his first philosophical article entitled ''On Ethics'' in '' Studentski list'' (Zagreb), which the

League of Communists of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

bureaucrats found provoking. In 1953, Kangrga became a member of the LCY but in 1954 he was expelled from the party because he announced that he was inspired to become a communist by the works of

Miroslav Krleža Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Yugoslav and Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry (''Ba ...

, who still wasn't wholly rehabilitated by the regime. In 1964, Kangrga was one of the founders of the journal ''Praxis''. Together with

Rudi Supek Rudi Supek (Zagreb, 8 April 1913 – Zagreb, 2 January 1993) was a Croatian sociologist, philosopher and a member of the Praxis School of Marxism. Supek studied philosophy in Zagreb and graduated in 1937. He went to study clinical psycholog ...

, he has established the Korčula Summer School, which was a unique meeting place for philosophers from the East and the West between 1964 and 1974. It is around these two institutions that the Praxis school took shape. The defining features of the school were: 1) emphasis on the writings of

young Marx The correct place of Karl Marx's early writings within his system as a whole has been a matter of great controversy. Some believe there is a ''break'' in Marx's development that divides his thought into two periods: the "Young Marx" is said to be ...

; and 2) call for freedom of speech in both East and West based upon Marx's insistence on ruthless critique of everything existent. Milan Kangrga emphasized creativity as well, but also the understanding of human beings as producers humanizing nature. While he was critical of the Communist party in Yugoslavia, mainly for not implementing

self-management socialism Socialist self-management or self-governing socialism was a form of workers' self-management used as a social and economic model formulated by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. It was instituted by law in 1950 and lasted in the Socialist Federa ...

, he rejected non-Socialist reactions against SFR Yugoslavia, the most notable one being the

Croatian Spring The Croatian Spring ( hr, Hrvatsko proljeće), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republic ...

. Milan Kangrga has lectured in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, and

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

among other cities. His articles have been published in Germany, Italy, the United States, France, Spain, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Mexico.

Major works

Kangrga has published 15 books. The most important are: *''The Ethical Problem in Karl Marx's Works'' (1963) *''Ethics and Liberty'' (1966) *''The Meaning of the Historical'' (1970) *''The Man and the World (1975)'' *''Ethics or Revolution'' (1983) *''Praxis-Time-World'' (1984) *''Hegel-Marx: some basic problems of Marxism'' (1988) *''The Meaning and the Reality'' (1989) *''Smugglers of Own Life'' (2001) *''Nationalism or Democracy'' (2002) *''Ethics: the basic problems and tendencies'' (2004) *''Classical German Idealism'' (2008)

References

External links

Autobiography

*

*2005 ''H-Alter'' interview with Kangrg

Hrvoje Jurić ''In memoriam''

Lino Veljak ''In memoriam''

Marko Vešligaj ''In memoriam''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kangrga, Milan 1923 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Croatian philosophers 21st-century Croatian philosophers Writers from Zagreb Marxist theorists Academic staff of Heidelberg University Scholars of Marxism Social philosophers Yugoslav philosophers