Mihailo Đurić ( Serbian

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

: 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 The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

Law School A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

and member of the

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS). The Academy's membership has included Nobel Prize, Nobel la ...

. Within the frame of

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

Greek culture, he studied

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, but also modern

political theory Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and legitimacy of political institutions, such as states. This field investigates different forms of government, ranging from d ...

and

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

. A majority of his works are within the field of

and method of

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

, history of

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

theories A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. In the past two decades, his work was mainly devoted to the study of

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche became the youngest pro ...

and

Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art, and language. In April ...

Education

Đurić studied law, philosophy and classic philology in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, where he obtained his PhD with the thesis on ''Ideas of the Natural Law in Greek Sophists'' (1954). He was professor at Law School from 1954 until 1973, when, for political reasons, he was removed from the university. In 1954 he was appointed as Research Fellow at the University of Belgrade's Law School, where he was later promoted to Assistant Professor in 1957, Associate Professor in 1964, and full Professor in 1969. He taught History of Political Theory, General Sociology and Methodology of Social Science.

Trial and imprisonment

In 1972, Mihailo Đurić was expelled from the university, tried and sentenced to 9 months in prison for his criticism of the 1971 Constitutional Amendments as well as his opposition to demolishing of the Petar Petrović Njegoš chapel on

Mount Lovćen Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...

. The discussion at the Law Faculty was delivered in a public discussion within the university building and the article on Njegoš in a literary review written in opposition to the destruction. During his trial and imprisonment, many public figures expressed their opposition to then Yugoslav communist government, among them philosopher

Ernst Bloch Ernst Simon Bloch (; ; July 8, 1885 – August 4, 1977; pseudonyms: Karl Jahraus, Jakob Knerz) was a German Marxist philosopher. Bloch was influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx, as well as by apocalyptic and religious thinker ...

. After the release from prison Đurić was formally employed at the Institute of Social Sciences in Belgrade, from 1974 until 1989, when he returned to university. From his release from prison (1972), he was also a visiting professor at the Universities of

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

.Jasna Dragovic-Soso: Saviours of the Nation: Serbia's Intellectual Opposition and the Revival of Nationalism, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, Oct 9, 2002 page 44 In 1991, after rehabilitation, he returned to Law School. For many years Đurić was a member of the Institute of Philosophy at the

University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy The University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy (), established in 1838 within the Belgrade Higher School, is the oldest Faculty at the University of Belgrade. The Faculty building is located at the meeting point of the Čika-Ljubina with the ...

, the Scientific Council of which he chaired from 1986 until 1998.

Nietzsche and Heidegger

Starting from 1980s, Đurić's writings both in Serbian and in German fundamentally contributed to our understanding of the works of

and

and the crucial link between these two philosophers. While his ''Nietzsche and the Metaphysics'' (1984) and ''The Challenge of Nihilism'' (1986) concentrate mainly on Nietzsche, the ''On the Need of Philosophy Today: Philosophy between East and West'' is mainly a book about Heidegger and his reading of Nietzsche.

Selected bibliography

Đurić's prominent works in Serbian

Source: * , 1954 (The Idea of Natural Law among the Greek Sophists) * , 1962 (Problems of the Sociological Method) * , 1964 (Sociology of Max Weber) * , 1968 (Humanism as Political Ideal :A Study of Greek Culture) * , 1972, (Disaster of the Iskustvo razlike: Suočavanje s vremenom- Beograd, 1994 (The Experience of Difference : Facing the Modern Age) * , 1984 (Nietzsche and the Metaphysics) * , 1986 (The Challenge of Nihilism) * , 1989 (Myth, Science, Ideology. Outline of a Philosophy of Culture) * , 1989 (Philosophy in Diaspora. Petronijevics “Principles of Metaphysics”) * , 1992 (Roads to Nietzsche : Contributions to the Philosophy of Future) * , 1994 (The Experience of Difference : Facing the Modern Age) * , 1999 (On the Need of Philosophy Today: Philosophy between East and West) * , 2001 (Origin and Future of Europe : Odyssey of one ancient philosophic Idea) * , 2002 (The Fragile Human Good. Contemporary Importance of Aristotle 's Practical Philosophy) * , 2003 (Serbia and Europe between Past and Future. Annals of the Yugoslav Tragedy) * , 2003

Đurić's prominent works in German

Source: * , Amsterdam 1979. * , Berlin 1985. * , Würzburg, 1986. * , Würzburg, 1990. * , München, 1993.

Editor and coauthor

*Das Denken am Ende der Philosophie. In memoriam

Dušan Pirjevec Dušan Pirjevec, known by his nom de guerre Ahac (20 March 1921 – 4 August 1977), was a Slovenian Partisan, literary historian and philosopher. He was one of the most influential public intellectuals in post–World War II Slovenia. Early ye ...

(Ljubljana 1982) *Kunst und Wissenschaft bei Nietzsche (Würzburg 1986) *Nietzsches Begriff der Philosophie (Würzburg 1990) *Nietzsche und Hegel (Würzburg 1992) *Die serbische Philosophie heute (München 1993)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duric, Mihailo 1925 births 2011 deaths Serbian legal scholars 20th-century Serbian philosophers 21st-century Serbian philosophers Serbian political philosophers Serbian political scientists Serbian social scientists Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Academic staff of the University of Belgrade University of Belgrade Faculty of Law alumni Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts