Kadri Veselin's adviser values national figures in philosophy: It leaves Enver Hoxha

Kadri Veselin's adviser and legalist at the University of Pristina Faculty of Philosophy Blerim Latifi has produced a scripture titled “The Fiat of philosophy in Albanian culture”, writes Periscope.

It is there that Latife mentions the partial contribution and recognition of philosophical thought and debate some of the major national figures.

He cites a philosophical impulse [without explaining what this term says] happened to Peter Bogdan, who had been interrupted by Osman invasion, though it is known when that Ottoman Empire was killed for almost 200 years.

As a stumbling block to the development of philosophical thinking in Albanians, he has even mentioned Communism, although very shallowly mentions the reasons for such a thing.

Read Mr. Latif:

 Developing philosophical thought in Albanian culture has been hampered by two major historical developments: the Ottoman occupation and post-World War II communist regimes. Osman conquest interrupted the philosophical impulse launched by Peter Bogdan in the 16th century, while Communism cut off the first sprouts of Albanian philosophical culture that appeared between the two world wars. In philosophical view of both these developments constitute two cultural disasters in Albanian history

In Albanian culture, we do not find any development of philosophical thinking as independent intellectual discipline. This fact is conditional on the difficult historical circumstances through which Albanians have gone through. These circumstances have not been stimulating, not only in philosophical thinking, but in general in all fields of culture, arts, and literature. Despite this European philosophical thought, it has not been entirely foreign to writers and writers who have written in Albanian. So the first Albanian author, in whose work we find philosophical readings, is Kosovo philosopher Peter Bogdan (Gour of Hasi, 1625 ) Pristina, 1689 . Bogdan had done his doctorate for philosophy and theology in Italy and is now known as the founder of Albanian - language prose. In his well - known work “The Book of Prophets”, among the texts of theology, we also find impressive philosophical readings.

We'll find it, for example. The epistemological problem of the report on knowledge of faith, which surfaces from Plato and dominates the entire philosophy of the Middle Ages. Referring to St. Augustine, Bogdan points out that believers begin at the borders of thought. This thesis, as we know, is based on Imanuel Kant's critical philosophy (1724-1804). Kanti, in his great work “Kritika of pure mind”, argues that the cognitive power of our mind is limited to the knowledge of phenomena, while what is beyond natural phenomena remains subject to the belief. We cannot know God with our minds, for the Lord is not revealed in our own ways. We can only believe it, for practical reasons. God, for Kant, it's just a postulate of human morality.

Standing on the epistemological plain, Bogdan finds them at Aristotle's roots of empirism, which relies on the idea that all our knowledge is based on sense experience.

Bogdan also deals with arguments and other philosophical disciplines in his work. So in religion philosophy he supports the telelogical argument of God's existence. This is the argument that the harmony of things that exist in the universe is, not a consequence of the occasion, but a harmony established by an intelligent supernatural power, which is God himself. Bogdan also performs the argument of First Cause, found in Aristotle's philosophy.

Bogdan also pauses in breaking down the philosophical contradiction between those who believe that everything in man's life is predetermined by God and those who advocate the freedom of man's will. Bogdan himself stands on the side of those who defend their view of men as free beings. He says ethics without the idea of freedom doesn't make sense.

In political philosophy Bogdani refers to Aristotle's social viewpoint, in which man is defined as a political being. And when referring to the immortal soul, Bogdan refers to Pythagoras and his theory of transmigration of the soul.

These and other examples clearly testify that Bogdan was an excellent connoisseur of philosophical debates that were developed in European philosophy in his day.

Unfortunately, this first communication of Albanian culture with European philosophy was interrupted by Bogdan's tragic death in the winter of 1689 in Pristina. His dead body was thrown into Pristina square by Turks, while his books were thrown into the flames of fire, such as at one time the books of the philosopher Protagora in Ancient Athens Square.

It would have to be two centuries until philosophical readings resurface in Albanian culture. These readings are found in the literary works of the National Renaissance writers. They are the result of the fact that the National Renaissance in Albanians developed under the influence of two major philosophical and cultural currents that during the 20th century dominated European thought, Enlightenment and Romantism. The fundamental idea of Enlightenment, which says that the spread of modern education and development of modern science, is the engine of mankind's moral progress in history, is found in all the literary work of Naim Frasher. The nami and other reborns, through their literary and public creations, developed the idea of distinctive Albanian cultural identity and independent of religious affiliations. This idea is of direct origin from modern European philosophy of social secularism. At its core, secularism is the division of culture and religion.

Another fruit of the philosophical readings of Albanian reborns is the idea of identifying culture with language. This idea is found in German romantic philosophy, at Herder and Fichte, respectively. Herrer is familiar with the saying that <x0juge is the heart and soul of a people”. Under the influence of this idea, Albanian reinstallers cloned Albanian, making it the essence of Albanian cultural identity.

The philosophical thought we continue to find in the latest authors.

Fan Noley must be singled out among them. The lyrics Noley writes about the great works of Western literature, translated into Albanian, are verbal considerations. In these discussions, we find subtle and eloquent interpretations of Shakespeare, Cervantes, Ibzen, Makiaveli, Beethoven, Kant, and other thinkers. The work of Noli “Bethoven and the French Revolution” constitutes a literal philosophical study.

Albanian publicisticism of the period between the two world wars marks a greater spread into the world of philosophical ideas. Among the most well - known in this regard is publicist Branko Merdjan, who writes a considerable number of essays on philosophy, sociology, psycanalis and other social sciences. The Esseus of Merdjan called “What is philosophy? The philosophical apology also appears in the cultural publicistics of authors such as Ismet Toto, Vangel Koca, Christ Malki, Isuf Luzaj, Father Donat Kurti. The latter is probably the first Albanian author to deal with the philosophical and sociological problems of cultural industry, advertising and cinematic, problems with which at the time, European philosophy, names known as Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin were taken.

The authors mentioned earlier are not the only publicists who try to develop the dimension of philosophical thought in Albanian culture. There are many other names. The philosophical publicistics between the two world wars represented the first step in developing an Albanian philosophical culture. The second natural step would be to shift from philosophical public to specialized philosophical treatment. This step was never taken, for reasons known. As World War II ended, the communist totalitarian regime was established in Albania, which ended freedom of thought and culture independent of the state. This regime imposed official Marxism imported by the Soviet Union. In culture and school, the Stalinist interpretation of Marxism as the only philosopher was imposed. This interpretation was granted final truth status. Any other philosophical tide was banned. Nor were the unstalinistic performances of Marxism banned. This, in turn, brought an end to philosophical thinking in Albania.

In Kosovo, where the word philosophy had not been heard from the time of Peter Bogdan until the late 1970 ' s, we will have no philosophical impulse. Freedom of philosophical thought in the Socialist Yugoslavia was much greater than in Albania, but even here the state, in schools and university cartels imposed its official Marxism. At this time learning philosophy in Pristina was under the influence of Zagreb's philosophical mainstream, known as the Praxis School, whose philosophical programme was Marxist criticism of Stalinism and the humanist interpretation of Marx philosophy. Zagreb's philosophical school was under the influence of the Budapest Marxist School and the critical Marxism of the Frankfurt School. The best - known name of Kosovo philosophy at the time was Muhamed Towers, who, in the early 1990 ' s, was invited to legalize philosophy at University V III of Paris, along with renowned Western philosophers such as Claude Lefort, Jean Francois Lyotard, Jacques Racinere, Gilles Deleuise, Etienne Balibar, and others. This was exactly 300 years after Bogdan's death.

The bottom line: Developing philosophical thinking in Albanian culture has been hampered by two major historical developments: the Ottoman occupation and post-World War II communist regimes. Osman conquest interrupted the philosophical impulse launched by Peter Bogdan in the 16th century, while Communism cut off the first sprouts of Albanian philosophical culture that appeared between the two world wars. In philosophically both developments constitute two cultural disasters in Albanian history.