Petre Botezatu - psihologul. O evocare
Petre Botezatu - The Psychologist. An Evocation

Summary/Abstract: Petre Botezatu is known in Romania as an important philosopher, with seminal works, especially since the beginning of the second half of his life, in logics, philosophical exegesis, semiotics and hermeneutics. He created a "philosophical school", is identified as the author of an original "natural logics" and has the merit of placing his logics in full modernity. A system builder, he was endowed with a resourceful personality doubled by an ethical and democratic spirit. He began his academic career as a psychologist, specialized in child psychology. As many academics in Iasi, Petre Botezatu had been from his early adulthood a leftist, but a true democrat nonetheless, willing to militate for his and his group's ideas. He remained in the Social Democrat party and had no intention of enrolling in the Communist Party as did many of his colleagues. The entire group of young, leftist, social-democrat intellectuals centered on its leader, sociologist professor Al. Claudian, was expelled from the University and then arrested, being accused of "betraying the popular democracy". Botezatu was sentenced to five years in prison but was released after two, together with other colleagues at the intervention of the Labour Party in Great Britain. Afterwards, he worked as a psychologist within the Romanian Railroads. He underwent much research, he wrote monographs and theoretical studies of social psychology (among which the much cited The Interpersonal Act). At the age of forty-seven, he was allowed to return to university but this time as a logician, beginning thus a new academic career. During this time, he was permanently monitored by the Securitatea (the Romanian political police). His phone was tapped, his mail was opened and he had many informants following him, some recruited from among his colleagues. His file, recently made available to researchers, contains information which proves he knew he was under constant supervision. His file was closed only after his death, in 1981. The following article presents the drama of an eminent savant and citizen.

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