The Reception of Emmanuel Mounier in Croatia and the Former Yugoslavia From the Mid-60s to the end of the 20th Century

The paper studies and analyzes the reception of theFrench Catholic philosopher and the initiator of personalism Emmanuel Mounier(1905-1950), in Croatia and the former Yugoslavia from the mid-sixties to theend of the 20th century. The paper examines articles on Mounier and hispersonalism, his works and the influence of some of his ideas. Since the mid-sixties, the personalism of EmmanuelMounier, as well as personalism as a philosophical direction in general, haslargely been perceived as an attempt to synthesize Marxism and existentialism,or as an addition to Marxism. Such an approach was particularly highlighted in theworks of Franjo Zenko and Zagorka Pešić-Golubović. This gave personalism,particularly Mounier’s, certain legitimacy and a positive reflection within thethen dominant, 'official' Marxist circle, but at the same time it becamemarginal and questionable to Christian thinkers. It is evident that Mounier'spersonalism was perceived apart from the rest of personalist 'milieu' (JacquesMaritain, Nikolai Berdyaev, Gabriel Marcel, Denis de Rougemont, and others),which was strongly opposed to Marxism and existentialism. This is also the casewith personalist activism, regarding which there is mention only of the left-winggroup around Mounier and the Esprit magazine, while the right-wing andnational-oriented personalist groups were not mentioned at all. Catholicthinkers and those from emigration built a reserved stance, and from them thereare no comprehensive or opinion articles on the subject. The author alsoattributes the questionable understanding of personalism, as well as the lesseracceptance of Mounier's work, to the fact that there is not a singletranslation of a Mounier’s work into Croatian language.