Filozofija kao sistem?
"Philosophy as a System?" (1999) is a collection of four philosophical lectures by Croatian philosopher Branko Despot (b. 1942), known for his profound interpretations of classical German philosophy and metaphysics.
The book examines the possibility and limits of philosophy as a system (systematic thinking) through a critical analysis of three key philosophers:
- René Descartes – as the founder of modern systematic thinking (cogito ergo sum, method of doubt, mathematical ideal of clarity and resolution).
- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel – the pinnacle of systematic idealism (absolute spirit, dialectics, encyclopedic system of philosophy).
- Nicolai Hartmann – critique of systematicity in modern ontology (realistic ontology, layers of being, rejection of the closed system).
Despot neither defends nor rejects systematicity absolutely – he asks: can philosophy be a system without losing its essence (openness to being, question, transcendence)? The analysis is critical, but deeply respectful of tradition, with an emphasis on the limits of a rational system and the need for a non-systematic, existential or ontological approach.
The style is brachiological, academic, but accessible – typical of Despot: self-contained and with a focus on the essential problems of metaphysics. The book is part of his opus on the absolute, freedom and the limits of philosophy (cf. "The Scope of the Absolute", "Philosophy?").
One copy is available
