Preface
In the Fall of
1969 Professor D'Angelo and I conceived the idea of perhaps constructing an
anthology of East European Philosophy. The response from philosophers was
cordial and cooperative; soon we were flooded by articles in German, French,
English, and Russian. Now that our efforts near their completion, I thought that
the book might be brought out in its present, mimeographed form, even before
one of the usual publishers accepted it, to enable philosophers to assimilate
such unfamiliar and provocative ideas early.
An overall
evaluation of the efforts within is not attempted here; the editors philosophic
views do not enter directly into the book. Rather, the East European
philosophers are allowed to speak for themselves, without implied concurrence
or rejection on the part of the editors. It is our hope that some of the major
philosophic currents of this vital region are exhibited,.
Our
contributors to this volume are Stefan Anguélov (born
in 1925), Vice-Director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Bulgarian Academy
of Sciences. Anguélov’s concentrations are ethics and
the philosophy of history. His books include: Socialist Humanism and Its Critics (1963) and Marxian Ethics as a Science (1970); Auguste Cornu (born in 1888), formerly a Professor at the Lycée Buffon (Paris), though a
Frenchman, has also been a Professor at Leipzig and Humboldt universities in
the German Democratic Republic, and has contributed to the progress of
philosophy there as elsewhere. Among his books are: The Origins of Marxian Thought (Charles C. Thomas, 1957) and the
magnum opus, Karl Marx et Friedrich
Engels : leur vie et leur oeuvre (Paris, beginning 1955). Mihailo Markovic is
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade, as well as a member of
various Yugoslav research institutes. His writings include: Formalism in Contemporary Logic (1958)
and The Dialectical Theory of Meaning (1961); Gyorgy Markus of the Institute of Philosophy
at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was born in Budapest in 193h, finishing
his education in 1957 at the Philosophical Faculty of Moscow University. Like
Professor Markovic, Markus has studied in the United States as well, being a
Ford Foundation Fellow in 1965-1966, Markus’ books includes language, Logic and Reality: Critical Comments on Wittgenstein's Tractatus (1963); Main
Currents of Modern Western Philosophy (with Z. Tordai,
196k); Marxism and Anthropology (1966); and Perception and the Mind-Body
Problem (1968). His present interests center on the problem of a Marxist
philosophy of history. Mihaly Vajda (born 1935) is presently Research Fellow of
the Institute of Philosophy of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Vajda belongs
to Lukac’s circle, and his writings includes Critique of Husserl’s View of the Sciences (1958) and On the Borderline of Myth and
Ratio: The Phenomenology of E.
Husserl (1959). The contributors’ essays comprise the first chapter of the
entire set of volumes and the first essay of chapter 2. For technical reasons, the
index will begin in volume II,
I express my profound thanks to tie
cooperative efforts of many scholars: my fellow editors, our esteemed European
colleagues, our translators, and our typists and technical assistants (Joan
Brown, Alvin Scott,
Claudia Vargas, Elsie Havanich, Elaine DeGrood, and Neil Shaw), to Howard L. Parsuns,
Paul Piccone, and to President Henry W. Littlefield
(President of the Committee on Projects in Research of the University of
Bridgeport) and René Boux (Secretary of that
Committee) for the subsidy provided this research. The errors of the anthology
remain the sole responsibility of the editor-in-chief.
David H. DeGrood Fall, 1970
