Socio-cultural Reflection in the Life and Thought of Anton Trstenjak

Abstract

At the center of Trstenjak's life and work is man. This is why anthropology has a special place in his scientific interest, not as a specific discipline, but as a search for an answer to the question who a human being is and how to live together in interpersonal relationships, in society and in culture. In the paper, we discuss Trstenjak's scientific and human-experiential ≫reflections≪ of society and culture. We are particularly attentive to his understanding of man as a person and as a being of symbol, not of reason. His approach has a strong and a weak side. The strong one seems to be his fundamental intuition about the person and the symbol that enabled him to have a deep insight into the soul of man, nation, and culture. The weakness of the approach, however, is some of its limitations and ambiguities, so we critically confront Trstenjak's thought with authors who have deepened the theme of the person and the symbol. In the next part of the paper, we discuss his thoughts on the Slovenian man, family and nation. We believe that his thoughts are still relevant and worthy of attention. The paper concludes with a reflection on the importance of Trstenjak's thoughts for our times. This, we believe, cannot be shown without taking into account his reflection on the five great thinkers who for him were a key mental reference and the challenge of how to face the choices of life.

Keywords

• person
• communion
• community
• symbol
• nation
• slovenian national character
• culture