Danko Grlić

Danko Grlić (18 September 1923 – 1 March 1984) was Marxist humanist, member of the Praxis school of the former Yugoslavia.
He was born in Gračanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He moved to Zagreb with his family in 1931. During the Second World War he joined the anti-fascist struggle. He is above all appreciated the freedom, so due to its liberal expression, often coming into conflict with the environment, which ended very badly for him. Because of its wrong attitude toward the resolution of Cominform, he was sentenced to three months in prison camp Goli otok at 1948 Actually the point is that neither Danko did not accept the resolution, but for one part is held that its correct, - where it says that there is not enough democracy in the Yugoslav Communist Party. Upon returning from Goli otok he accepted any job just to survive; he translated, wrote, even under a false name. It still circulating the story that he wrote an essay for the book Franjo Tudjman The war against war. Tudjman, he was paid a fee, but it is not cited as the author (except acknowledge the end of the book).
From 1950 to 1955 Grlić studied philosophy at the University of Zagreb. In 1959 he accepted the offer of Miroslav Krleža to work at the Yugoslavian Lexicographic Agency. In 1965 he was one of the founding members of the Praxis journal. From 1966 to 1968 Grlić was president of the Croatian Philosophy Society. In 1969 he has earned the PhD degree with the thesis “The Founding Thought of Friedrich Nietzsche”.
Grlić started his academic career in 1962 teaching aesthetics at the Academia of Arts in Zagreb. He taught there until 1968, when he was forbidden to teach at this institution. He continued his academic career in 1971, when he was elected for professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, and in 1974 he moved to the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, where he was head of the department of aesthetics until his death in 1984.
His Selected Works in four volumes were published in 1988, and in 1989 a collection of articles in his honour were published in Zagreb, titled The Art and the Revolution.
He was married to Eva Grlić with whom he had a son Rajko Grlić, Croatian film director and producer.

Grlić represented critical Marxist positions typical for the whole Praxis school. After Marx, Grlić’s most liked author was Friedrich Nietzsche. He wanted to overcome the negative image of Nietzsche in Marxist cycles, claiming that the Nazi’s version of Nietzsche’s thoughts wasn’t the essence of his thought.

The major field of scientific interest of Grlić was aesthetics. He is author of four-volume study of aesthetics, published in the period 1974-1979.

Other works included:

• Dictionary of Philosophers (1968)
• Contra Dogmaticos (1971)
• Friedrich Nietzsche (1981)
• The Challenge of the Negative: to the aesthetics of Theodor Adorno (1986, posthumous)