Predrag Vranicki (21 January 192231 January 2002) was a

Marxist Humanist Marxist humanism is a philosophical and political movement that interprets Karl Marx's works through a humanist lens, focusing on human nature and the social conditions that best support human flourishing. Marxist humanists argue that Marx him ...

and member of the Praxis school in the 1960s in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Life

Vranicki was born in 1922, in

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

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

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 ...

from the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

in 1947 and earned his PhD from 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 ...

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

Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...

. 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 beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

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 ...

and

freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

, 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 Serbo-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