Folia Theologica 16. (2005)
Pál Bolberitz: The Beginnings of Hungarian Philosphy (The Reception of Nicholas of Cusa in the work of "De homine" by Peter Monedulatus Csokas Laskoi)
6 P. BOLBERITZ pie, intelligible way. The practical attitude of mind was required by the interest of the readers, as well. In the very beginning the philosophical reflection was bound only to the rational confirmation of the Christian religious truths (by promoting the exercising of religion with the strength of rational pursuasion), later it preferred to examine questions emerging in the field of practical ethics and philosophy of law3, while in the second half of the 20th century philosophy served the official ideology of the Communist party. There have been exceptions, of course, among them a few - having made a name for the Hungarian philosophy abroad - dealt with this science on a European level - mentioning only the most outrageous ones - Peter Pázmány, Karoly Böhm, Bernat Alexander, Ákos Pauler, Antal Schütz, Bela Brandenstein, or the Marxist philosopher, György Lukacs, deserved for a better fate, or Vilmos Szilasi, the phenomenologist, being famous rather abroad and Michael Polanyi. Summarizing the above, we can assert that the Hungarian philosophy has tried to keep abreast with the current European philosophy all the time, and this attempt of it appeared in the very beginning. The beginnings of the Hungarian Philosophy Though in the viewpoint of mine Peter Monedolatus Csókás Laskoi is regarded the first Hungarian philosopher (whereas writing in not Hungarian but Latin), we should introduce in a brief account the beginnings of the Hungarian philosophical thinking. 3 The Hungarian philosophy generally could not maintain a philosophical activity, dealing with merely theoretical questions, so it should have confined itself to receiving and practically implementing the famous and accepted Western trends and schools. This phenomenon cannot be explained by the lack of sense towards philosophical questions - since the works written in more favourable conditions by the Hungarian philosophers, forced into emigration, are opposed to this view -, but rather by the fact that publishing the philosophical works by the athors written in Hungarian language, would not have produce any profit the the publisher. One that was interested in purely speculative questions of philosophy, owing to his education was able to read the classical works in original. In spite of this fact excellent translations were published (and have been publishing nowadays) in Hungarian. (Cp. The Collection of Authors of Philosophy (Filozófiai írók Tára), publishing the Hungarian Scientific Academy, which had been initiated in the 19th century under Bernat Alexander.
