Man about Man

"The maladroit blend of medieval academic rituals, specializations, the obvious and open denial of Humanistic Sciences in modern society, managerialism and platitude, creates a perfectly fertile ground for a postacademic university - a playground for technocratic forces that, on the one hand, exert a tremendous pressure, and on the other advocate true freedom and democracy, while actually promoting determinism and fatalism with a focus on the market, leaving no room to think about alternatives, critical thinking, or self-questioning."

Leonidas Donskis

Time machine

"In our time there is much talk about cultural imperialism and identity, and we forget that, by adopting foreign customs, the modernization has played an even greater role in history than nationalism itself; foreign culture is not adopted as something alien, but as a natural thing that does not need to be a privilege of a foreigner who is merely its first owner. (...) Civilizations do not have a homeland and have never cared for the political, cultural and religious boundaries that separate human flocks."

Paul Veyne

Politics and Society

"The defense of constitutional and minimal procedural democracy does not arise solely from Machiavellian or elitist views of political power or from the permanent influence of the Platonistic vision of good governance. (...) Far beyond the discussion about the nature of democracy, characteristic for political thought, one should seek stronger reasons for defending the representative government, no matter how imperfect it were, or how disappointing it may seem for its prosaicity and modest goals it sets."

Pierre-André Taguieff

Essays

"That is why we must never forget that what is "great and honorable in people is expressed as art and science, the passion for truth, the creation of beauty and the ideas of righteousness." This is what true democracy will nurture, because democracy is a form of government that wants to glorify people, wants to give them food for thought and to free them. Therefore, the goal of democracy is education, spiritual formation, and the nobility of the spirit."

Rob Riemen

About Literature

"To read Hugo is a promise: a promise of passing through one of the most memorable centuries of French history, touching the exalted and tireless pursuit of endlessness. Promise of orphans rescued by a mere case and cripples who find love. Also, the promise of understanding the meaning of political courage. To read Hugo simply means to enter the literature."

Laura El Makki, Guillaume Gallienne

Popular science

"In addition to those who represent the order and maintain its stability, but hinder the historical development, we need people who live on dreams and engage in discovering new territories, original ideas, and unexpected perspectives and understanding of the reality. Today's world is being invented and built by those who have been able to dream."

Carlo Rovelli

Spiritus

"Obscurantism, fanaticism, superstition, they terrify me. And I do not like nihilism and helplessness. Spirituality is too important to leave it to fundamentalists. Tolerance is too valuable to be confused with indifference and meekness. (...) It is best to suppress them all, not identifying them, and not falling into their perversions. Laicity is the name of that fight. It is up to atheists to devise the appropriate spirituality."

André Comte-Sponville

Up close and personal

"Dear Hannah!

Why is love richer than all other human potential and a sweet burden to those who experience it? Because we are transformed into what we love, and yet we remain what we are. We would like to thank the beloved being, but we can not find anything that would seem to be sufficient."

Martin Heidegger

Literature

"We the unborn know every one of the holy books of mankind. These books are the media of our existence, and from a huge holy book I have lerned that I will be indepted from the day I was born. And I will be obligated to a honest peasant son from Galilee, who has made a fantastic career out of a genius idea of a universal loan, that all born as Christians will have to repay. And I will be obliged because I have to make up for my guilt. The guilt is a debit under the name of the original sin. I did not commit this sin because there is nothing in the world more pure than an unborn child."

Slobodan Šnajder

World of Economy

"The key challenges of the twenty-first century may best be summarized as follows: how to bring Africa up, how to peacefully bring China in, and how to wean Latin America off of its self-obsession and bring it into the real world. And doing all of this while maintaining peace and avoiding ideological crusades."

Branko Milanović

Studies

"The time has come to think more seriously about the nature and the condition of Croatian national identity, given the contemporary socio-political changes, such as officialy entering the European Union in 2013, which is in need of a strong symbolic representation of Croatia and its population, far beyond the Croatian borders."

Tijana Trako Poljak

Legislation

From the Labor Law to Socially Responsible Management.