The Question of Nihilism in the Philosophy of Ivan Urbančič
-
Manca Erzetič
Abstract
The article deals with the treatment of nihilism in the philosophical oeuvre of Ivan Urbančič, which has lasted nearly 50 years. In the first part I try to show how Urbančič’s early consideration of nihilism in the 1960s and the 1970s is closely connected with confrontation with socialist ideology in the former Yugoslavia. This situation, which required him to take a personal philosophical standpoint, had a considerable impact on Urbančič’s reflection upon the contemporary position of philosophy in general. In the second part of the article, I turn to Urbančič’s extensive project, started in the 1990s, which deals with the problem of nihilism in the context of the entire legacy of philosophy. The key conclusion is that in the gap of scientific, capital, and political domination of the world, the presence of nihilism remains obscured, but therefore even more determining for the understanding of the meaning of humanity today.
Funding source: Institute Nova Revija for the Humanities - research program The Humanities and the Sense of Humanity from Historical and Contemporary Viewpoints (P6-0341), the research project The Hermeneutic Problem of Understanding Human Existence and Coexistence in the Epoch of Nihilism (J7-4631), and the infrastructure program Centre for the Promotion of the Humanities (I0-0036), financially supported by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARIS).
References
Đurić, Mihailo. 1985. Nietzsche und die Metaphysik [Nietzsche and metaphysics]. Berlin: De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110858907Suche in Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin. 1971. Evropski nihilizem [The European Nihilism]. Translated by Ivan Urbančič. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba.Suche in Google Scholar
Komel, Dean. 2012. Der Nihilismus verwinden. Ein slowenisches Postscript zum 20. Jahrhundert [Overcoming Nihilism. A Slovenian Postscript to the 20th Century]. Nordenhausen: Verlag Traugott Bautz Gmb.Suche in Google Scholar
Komel, Dean. 2022. “Philosophy, the Humanities, and Social Criticism in Slovenia.” Slovene Studies 44 (1): 79–98.Suche in Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1988. Onkraj dobrega in zla. H genealogiji morale [Beyond Good and Evil. On the Genealogy of Morality]. Supervisor of translation and foreword by Ivan Urbančič. Ljubljana: Slovenska matica.Suche in Google Scholar
Pirjevec, Dušan. 1979. Evropski roman [European Novel]. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba.Suche in Google Scholar
Sutlić, Vanja. 1968. Bit i suveremenost [Being and Contemporaneity]. Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 1966. “Morala Je Nemorala” [Morality Is Imorality].” Problemi 4 (37–38): 1089–122.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 1967. “Radikalizacija in Konec Evropske Morale (Nadaljevanje in Konec)” [Radicalisation and the End of European Morality (Continued and End)].” Problemi V (53): 401–27.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 1971. Leninova “filozofija”, ali o “imperializmu” [Lenin’s “Philosophy” or On Imperialism]. Maribor: Založba Znamenja.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 1971. “Bistvo Nihilizma Kot Bistvo Metafizike: Spremna Beseda. Martin Heidegger, Evropski Nihilizem” [The Essence of Nihilism as the Essence of Metaphysics: Foreword to Martin Heidegger’s European Nihilism].” In Martin Heidegger, Evropski nihilizem, 5–27. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 1974a. “Struktural-psihoanalitizem. Kritične Pripombe K Vrsti Člankov Slavoja Žižka [Structural-Psychoanalysis. Critical Comments on a Series of Articles by Slavoj Žižek].” Problemi 12 (141–144): 134–53.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 1974b. ““Pripombe K Odgovoru’’ [Comments on the Response].” Problemi 12 (141–144): 171–8.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 1976. Temelji metode moći. Problem filozofske hermeneutike kod Diltaja. Translated by Marija Mitrović. Beograd: Mladost.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 1977. ““Marx’ Kritik der Moral als ein Weg zum Problem seiner Philosophie im Ganzen” [Marx’s Critique of Morality as a Path to the Problem of his Philosophy in General].” In Praktische Philosophie. Phänomenologie und Marxismus 2, B. Waldenfels, Jan M. Brockman, and A. Pažanin, 94–134. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 1985. “Razprava O ‘patološkem Narcisizmu’ in Psihoanalizi” [The Debate on ‘Pathological Narcissism’ and Psychoanalysis].” Družboslovne razprave 2 (3): 99–125.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 1993. Zaratustrovo izročilo I: Pot k začetku zgodovine evropske biti [Zaratustra’s Legacy I: The Beginning of the History of European Being]. Ljubljana: Slovenska maticaSuche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 1996. Zaratustrovo izročilo II: H koncu zgodovine biti [Zaratustra’s Legacy II: Towards the End of European Being]. Ljubljana: Slovenska maticaSuche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 2000. Moč in oblast : iz pomnjenja konca in začetka [Power and Domination - From the Remembrance of the End and the Beginning]. Ljubljana: Nova revija.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 2003. Nevarnost biti : krokiji o duhu evropskosti [The Danger of Being - Sketches on European Spirituality]. Ljubljana: Nova revija.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 2004. ““Die Gefahr – Generator Der Uneigentlichkeit Des Denkens Des Gegenwärtigen ‘Globalisierten Europäers’. Ein Croquis zum Unwesen des Seins” [The Danger – Generator Of The Inauthenticity Of The Thinking Of The Contemporary ‘Globalized European’. A Croquis on the Unbeing of Being].” In Genealogie des neuzeitlichen Denkens Festschrift für Ingeborg Schüßler edited by Michael Esfeld and Jean-Marc Tétaz, 347–65. Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 2011. Zgodovina nihilizma: Od začetka do konca zgodovine filozofije [The History of Nihilism - From the Beginning to the End of the History of Philosophy]. Ljubljana: Slovenska maticaSuche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 2012. O krizi: epilog k Zgodovini nihilizma [On the Crisis: Epilogue to the History of Nihilism]. Ljubljana: Slovenska matica.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 2014. Razmišljanja v preddverju filozofije [In the Lobby of Philosophy]. Ljubljana: Slovenska matica.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan. 2019. Povjest nihilizma [History of Nihilism]. Translated by Mario Kopić. Zagreb: Demetra.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan, and Mihailo Đurić, eds. 1982. Mišljenje na koncu filozofije – Mišljenje na kraju filozofije – Das Denken am Ende der Philosophie: in memoriam Dušan Pirjevec [Thinking at the end of philosophy]. Ljubljana: Samozaložba.Suche in Google Scholar
Urbančič, Ivan, and Dean Komel, eds. 1998. “Ivan Urbančič: Friedrich Nietzsche in trenutek evropske biti”. [Ivan Urbančič: Friedrich Nietzsche and the Moment of European Being]. Nova revija XVII (190-192), 175–209.Suche in Google Scholar
Žižek, Slavoj. 1974a. “Odgovor” [Response].” Problemi 12 (141–144): 153–70.Suche in Google Scholar
Žižek, Slavoj. 1974b. “Odgovor II” [Response II].” Problemi 12 (141–144): 178–83.Suche in Google Scholar
© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
