BOŽIDAR KNEŽEVIĆ I BRANISLAV PETRONIJEVIĆ: IZMEĐU MITA I STVARNOSTI
PHILOSOPHERS BOŽIDAR KNEŽEVIĆ AND BRANISLAV PETRONIJEVIĆ: BETWEEN MYTH AND REALITY

Summary/Abstract: In literature on Serbian history of philosophy it is quite usual to find a statement that Branislav Petronijević (1875–1954), professor of philosophy at the Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy thwarted the efforts of the philosopher and historian Božidar Knežević (1862–1905) to become a professor at the same Faculty. It is said that Petronijević wrote a negative official review on Knežević’s book Principles of History. The story fits well with the negative myth of Petronijević. To establish the facts it is important to take into account the chronology, archival materials, memoirs and other historical sources. When Knežević applied for the position of a professor of general history at the Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy Petronijević was a 21 years old student at the University of Leipzig (1897). Ljubomir Nedić, then a professor of philosophy at the Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy, recommended publishing Knežević’s first volume of Principles of History (1898). In the meantime Knežević did not apply for the position of a professor of History of Philosophy and Ethics (February, 1898). Petronijević did not write an official review on Knežević’s manuscript, but a review of an already published book (September, 1898). The Principal educational council of the Ministry of Education of the Kingdom of Serbia asked Nedić to write an official review of the manuscript of the second volume of Knežević’s Principle of History (1899). Since Nedić couldn’t accept it, the newly elected professor Petronijević wrote a review of Knežević’s new manuscript. Although critical and analytical, the review was positive and the book was published (1901).

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