Naslov
Just Passing Through: Philosophical Migrants In Croatia – The Example of Plato and Herrera

Autori
Zovko, Marie-Elise

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
HRVATSKA FILOZOFIJA: NOVE TEME I INTERPRETACIJE Institut za filozofiju

Mjesto i datum
Zagreb, Hrvatska, 16.12.2021. - 17.12.2021

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
migrant philosophers, Plato, Syracusan voyages, Adriatic sea routes, caves, Analogy of the Sun, Line, Cave, Herrera, Dubrovnik, kabbalah, Platonism

Sažetak
While the situation of Croatia as a transit country for migrants and refugees fleeing economic misery and political disasters raises philosophical issues of which we are today acutely aware, it is probably lesser known that from ancient times migrant intellectuals from a variety of backgrounds including philosophy passed through what is present-day Croatia enroute to other European destinations. I propose to examine the case of two prominent philosophical migrants and the significance of their journeys through Croatia for the history of philosophy: first, from Greek antiquity, the greatest of Western philosophers, Plato (429?–347 B.C.E) ; then, from the Renaissance, the Florentine Platonist and student of Lurianic Kaballah, Abraham Cohen Herrera (c. 1570-1635). As can be shown on the basis of careful study of ancient sea routes, archeological finds, and historical sources, as well as of his own works, Plato almost certainly passed along the Adriatic coast of Croatia and via the Croatian islands off the coast of Southern Dalmatia to the southern coast of Italy (Apulia) en route to Sicily on his three journeys to the court of Dionysius I and Dionysius the younger in Syracuse to attempt to realize the role of true philosophy in the founding of the ideal state. In so doing, not only did Plato leave his mark on Croatia, but Croatia, I argue, very likely left its mark on Plato and his works, as is specifically visible in the central analogies of the Republic: the analogies of the Sun, the Line, and the Cave. The second figure to have left an indelible mark on Croatia and the history of Western philosophy, and who here received some of the most important influences of his philosophical career is the lesser known Portuguese Jewish philosopher, Abraham Cohen Herrera. Born in Venice and schooled in the Florentine academy, Herrera was commissioned by his uncle as merchant of the Sultan of Morocco. On his travels to Spain and Cadiz he was mistakenly taken prisoner by the English and carried off to England where he spent two years in captivity under Elizabeth I, after which time he travelled via Hamburg to Ragusa (present-day Dubrovnik) – where he spent many years studying Lurianic kabbalah under Isaac Luria’s (c. 1534-1572) disciple Israel Sarug ( fl. 1590–1610). In the early 17th century, Herrera moved to his final destination Amsterdam where he became a member of the same synagogue where Baruch Spinoza (1634-1677) would receive his childhood education – and through his teachers become deeply acquainted with Herrera’s Platonist interpretation of the kabbalah.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filozofija, Filologija, Povijest, Interdisciplinarne humanističke znanosti

POVEZANOST RADA