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Draft:Petar Bojanić

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Petar Bojanić (born 19 February 1964) is a philosopher known for his extensive work in political philosophy, social ontology, and the philosophy of violence. He is a research professor at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory (IFDT) of the University of Belgrade[1] and the President of the Regional Network of Centers for Advanced Studies in Southeast Europe (RECAS), under the Southeast European and Western Balkans Rectors' Forum.[2]

Biography

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Petar Bojanić completed his undergraduate studies and MA studies with the thesis "Figures of Combat" at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade under the mentorship of Praxis philosopher Miladin Životić. A recipient of a French government scholarship, Bojanić continued his studies in 1996 at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, where he wrote his second Master's thesis titled "The Figure of Peace in Kant, Levinas, and Jünger," under the mentorship of Jacques Derrida. He earned his PhD at the University of Paris X (Nanterre) in 2003 with a dissertation, "(The Last) War and the Institution of Philosophy," under a committee composed of Étienne Balibar, Jean-Luc Nancy, Jacques Derrida, and Gérard Bensussan.[3]

Bojanić served as the director of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade for two terms (2011–2019). He is the director of the Institute for Democratic Engagement of Southeast Europe (IDESE), where he heads the Center for Ethics, Law, and Applied Philosophy (CELAP).[4] He is also the founder and director of the Center for Advanced Studies of Southeast Europe in Rijeka (CAS SEE)[5], an institution established to restore regional academic cooperation, disrupted by the Yugoslav Wars.[6]

He joined The New Institute in the academic year 2024/25 as Chair of the program Bitter Victory: Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century?[7] He is a Professor of Philosophy at The European Graduate School, Division of Philosophy, Art & Critical Thought.[8] He currently teaches at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy in Rijeka and the International University College of Turin.[9] He has been a visiting professor at several universities, including Cornell University, Aberdeen University, the Sorbonne, Bologna University, Torino University, Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg, and others.[10] He was a Senior Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg Recht als Kultur in Bonn and Birkbeck, University of London.[11] He is also the editor-in-chief of Khōrein: Journal for Architecture and Philosophy.[12]

Work

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The main areas of Bojanić's research are political philosophy including the theory of institution and collective action, violence and ethics of war, Jewish political tradition, and the philosophy of architecture. Over time, Bojanić's work has increasingly shifted from deconstruction toward social ontology and dialogue with contemporary philosophical trends, such as the so-called "new realism" and the theory of documentality.[13] He works on the concept of the project and projective acts. He is involved in numerous interdisciplinary projects, bridging philosophy and contemporary political concerns, with a focus on the dynamics of change, institutions and violence.

Violence, War and Messianism

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Bojanić’s research explores the nature of violence within modern societies, focusing on its relationship within the group, sovereignty, and democracy. Bojanić engages with thinkers such as Carl Schmitt and Hannah Arendt to examine how violence is institutionalized and justified by states, especially in the context of maintaining sovereignty and order. In Violence and Messianism: Jewish Philosophy and the Great Conflicts of the Twentieth Century[14], Bojanić explores how messianism, which often proposes radical change or redemption, interacts with the realities of political violence and war, and “the vicissitudes that this complex of ideas and ethical-political aspirations that we call ‘messianism’ experiments throughout some of the main milestones of modern and contemporary thought.”[15] Bojanić engages with thinkers such as Walter Benjamin, Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas, analyzing how messianic expectations can inspire resistance against oppressive systems, but also how they may lead to the justification of extreme violence. The method of “symptomal” reading used by Bojanić, “resembles wandering, a semiotic drift with moments of deep immersion in the search for hidden or even lost meanings” (and includes so-called “peripheral” or marginal sources, such as personal correspondence).[16] In his writings, Bojanić is concerned with paradoxical questions, such as whether peace can be created through war or whether revolution can be able to eliminate violence through violence. From this point of view, he also raises the question of the sense in which it is possible to win and make peace today. Bojanić also explores how Russian Orthodox teachings influence the justification and conduct of war, addressing the moral complexities and contradictions inherent in these ethical traditions.[17]

Institution, Counter-Institution, Engaged Acts, and Provocation

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Petar Bojanić’s work on institutions and engagement, particularly as explored in his book In-Statuere: Figures of Institutional Building[18], examines the formation and transformation of institutions through acts of engagement. Bojanić claims that institutions are not static but are continually shaped by collective, engaged acts that hold both constructive and critical potential. In other words, “engaged acts could alternatively also belong to a kind of institutional act, since they introduce certain adjustments to the institution, changing or modifying its rules, increasing its consistency and efficiency.”[19] These acts are inherently projective, meaning they seek to create new structures or challenge existing ones. “An institution is impossible if there are no experiments or discoveries of something new, a universal solution to a general problem, one that affects everybody. There can be no institution without organization of protest, joint resistance and a project of social change. Common or orchestrated action of various individuals that the group both constructs in that moment, but also that it projects into the future – this is proof that the association of various elements has produced power (power is in the together).”[20] Bojanić reconsiders the concept of counter-institution, invoking the definitions of the term given by Henri de Saint-Simon, Jacques Derrida and René Loureau. Departing from the ambiguous semantics of the word counter and the specific conceptual architecture it implies[21], Bojanić shows how contre institution actively deconstructs established institutional frameworks, transforming or subverting them to create space for new modes of governance or social order – ones that are more just, hospitable, democratic, critical and non-violent. Counter-institution “is characterized by the production of myriad critical and engaged acts whose aim is novelty, change, and deconstruction of ossified, authoritarian models.”[22] As the contemporary paradigm of counter-institution, Bojanić proposes the institutional and documentational construction of Europe.[23] Petar Bojanić’s stance on social engagement centers on the idea that collective, engaged acts are essential for the formation and transformation of institutions. Bojanić emphasizes that social groups and philosophical communities are built and institutionalized through active participation and commitment to shared goals: “First, there must be a desire, a drive to do something; then to do it with others, to identify another’s will, turning individuals into a group; and then a group into an institution. Joint or group work is crucial to institutionalize an institution, because the group possesses the cogito that holds it together. The cogito is produced by the individuals by creating relations among them. Thus, engagement holds the group together and then institutionalizes the institution. To be engaged means to reveal a problem, resolve a problem, it means understanding that life is resolving problems. Which is something that cannot be done on one’s own.”[24] Engaged acts, conducted with others, create a burden, encourage and mobilize those not even present, institutional non-members: “We are bound to others in offering a “gage,” in “en-gaging” (mettre en gage or donner en gage), thus also “burdening” and “obligating” them to follow our action.”[25] They are also constitutive for the introduction of new norms within the community. Bojanić’s approach to social engagement links philosophical inquiry with real-world practices, underscoring the importance of action in shaping societal change. “An act is engaged above all when it is public or announced (otherwise it is a negative or an unannounced social act performed in silence).”[26] In his Provocatio: Vocative, Ius, Revolution[27], Bojanić examines the ancient Roman institution of ius provocationis: namely, Provoco allowed an accused to appeal to the people thus engaging them (provocatio ad populum) to stop the execution of punishment, pending public reevaluation. In a deconstructive tone, Bojanić explores the various dimensions, including contradictory ones, of the term provocatio.[28]


Architecture and Philosophy

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Petar Bojanić understands philosophy and architecture as institutional practices, and the institution as such to have an architectural aspect, being architectonic in itself. Architectural design not only shapes physical spaces but also defines the institutional structures that operate within them: “There can be no institution without the various architectural states and movements: concept, design (disegno), project, platform, diagram, border, wall, transparency (of walls taken down), threshold, form, ground.”[29] Bojanić’s research connects architecture with broader questions of power, justice, and human agency, emphasizing how architectural projects are deeply philosophical acts, and viewing the act of designing a building as a projective act with ethical and political implications: “A project as a document produces obligations and controlled actions, becoming the condition of existence of joint work in the studio or outside it. That is, the project as a document constructs disciplined work and is the condition of the existence of the institution.”[30] Bojanić investigates how architectural concepts reflect philosophical thought and how novelty or newness occurs in the encounter of architecture and philosophy, particularly in relation to institutions. This is reflected in his work as editor-in-chief of Khōrein, a journal for topics in the overlap of architecture and philosophy.[31]

Works

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Books

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  • The Gesture, with V. Cesarone (2023). ISBN: 978-8869774195
  • In-Statuere: Figures of Institutional Building, Trans. into English by E. Djordjevic (2022). ISBN: 978-3-465-04604-2
  • Projekt i projektne radnje: prilozi arhitektonsko-filozofskom rečniku [Project and Project Actions. Contributions to the Architectural-Philosophical Dictionary] (2020). ISBN: 978-86-80484-49-5
  • O institucionalnom delovanju: kako je moguće ispravno raditi, pisati, hodati, disati, živeti zajedno? [On Institutional Action: How Is It Possible to Properly Work, Write, Walk, Breathe, Live Together?] (2016). ISBN: 978-86-6263-137-4
  • Violenza e Messianismo, Trans. into Italian by G. Petrarca (2014) ISBN 978-88-5752-233-3; Transl. into French as Violence et messianisme by I. Krtolica (2015) ISBN: 978-88-5752-920-2; Trans. into Russian by Olga Volček (2017) ISBN: 978-5-7584-0227-6; Trans. into English by E. Djordjevic as Violence and Messianism: Jewish Philosophy and the Great Conflicts of the 20th Century (2018) ISBN: 978-1-138-74359-5.; Trans. into Spanish by R. Navarrete Alonso (2021) ISBN: 978-84-9879-841-8; Trans. into Hungarian by V. Radicz (2022) ISBN: 978-86-323-1196-1; Trans. into Portuguese by G. Rezende (2024) ISBN: 978-6553961708
  • Sila i oblici rata: heroj, mesija, revolucionar, nostalgičar, gusar... [Force and Forms of War: Hero, Messiah, Revolutionary, Nostalgic, Pirate] (2012). ISBN: 978-86-7543-254-8
  • Homeopatije: horror autotoxicus. O nasilju i hipohondriji: Kant, Hegel, Rosenzweig, Levinas, Derrida [Homeopathy: Horror Autotoxicus. On Violence and Hypochondria: Kant, Hegel, Rosenzweig, Levinas, Derrida,] (2009). ISBN: 978-86-519-0325-3
  • Granica, znanje, žrtvovanje: o poslednjem ratu [Frontier, Knowledge, Sacrifice: On the Final War] (2009). ISBN: 978-86-6081-020-7
  • Provokacije. Provocatio: vokativ, ius, revolucija (2008). ISBN: 978-86-7549-862-9; Trans. into Italian by E. Copetti (2021) ISBN: 978-88-5758-207-8; Transl. into Russian by V. Stoyanovich and V. Bereznyak (2022) ISBN: 978-5-7584-0660-1
  • Nasilje, figure suverenosti [Violence, The Figures of Sovereignty] (2007). ISBN: 978-86-82417-17-0
  • Prijatelj – Neprijatelj: Carl Schmitt i Jacques Derrida [Friend and Enemy: Jacques Derrida and Carl Schmitt] (1995). ISBN: 86-7047-225-2

Selected edited works

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  • Этика войны в странах православной культуры (2022) [The Ethics of War in the Countries of Orthodox Culture]. ISBN: 978-5-93615-320-4
  • The Star for Beginners: Introductions to the Magnum Opus of Franz Rosenzweig (2021), with M. Brasser and F. Paolo Ciglia. ISBN: 978-1-914481-08-6
  • Institutions in Action. The Nature and the Role of Institutions in the Real World (2020) with T. Andina. ISBN: 978-3-030-32617-3
  • "What Is the Critique of Violence Now?", Critical Times, Durham, NC, Vol. 2, No. 2, with P. Fenves and M. Ty. ISSN: 2641-0478
  • Peter Eisenman. In Dialogue with Architects and Philosophers (2017) with V. Djokic. ISBN: 9788869770388

Selected articles

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  • "ʻUnjust Enemyʼ or ʻMonster Dilemmaʼ Revisited. On the Conditions and the Paradox of a Theological Fiction", Philosophy and Society, Belgrade, Vol. 33, No. 4 (2022): 949–960.
  • "On the Temporality of the Project", Innovation in Practice in Theory, eds. Caterina Barioglio et al., ORO Editions, Novato, CA, 2022: 2–13.
  • "What Is ʻVictoryʼ in the Orthodox Christian Ethics of War?", Labyrinth, Vienna, Vol. 23, No. 2 (2021): 137–152.
  • "What Is an Act of Engagement? Between the Social, Collegial and Institutional Protocols", Institutions in Action: The Nature and the Role of Institutions in the Real World, eds. T. Andina & P. Bojanić, Springer, Berlin, 2020: 113–128.
  • "ʽLeben und Gewaltʼ or ʽGewalt und Lebenʼ. Paragraph 18 of W. Benjamin's ʽToward the Critique of Violenceʼ", in Critical Times, "What Is the Critique of Violence Now?", eds. Peter Fenves, Michelle Ty & P. Bojanić, Critical Times, Durkham, NC, No. 2 (2019): 320–329.
  • "La ʽdisciplinaʼ como categoría y la ʽdisciplina institucionalʼ", Isegoría, Madrid, No. 61 (2019): 543–558.
  • "The Acts of Project(ion) / Project Acts or Projacts", Rivista di Estetica, Torino, Vol. 71, No. 2 (2019): 92–100.
  • "Что такое и кто такое ʻMы'? Heidegger и реконструкция понятия", Вопросы философии, Москва, 69, No. 6 (2016): 46–56.
  • "Sovereignty and the Origins of War: Leibniz versus Bodin", CR: The New Centennial Review, Michigan State University, Vol. 13, No. 1 (2013): 93–115.
  • "Von einer Analogie zur Souveränität zu Attributen der Gewalt", Brigitta Keintzel und Burkhard Liebsch (Hrsg.), Hegel und Levinas: Kreuzungen, Brüche, Uberschreitungen, Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg – München, 2010: 145–170.
  • Sur la raison de la guerre (Kriegsgrund)", Les Etudes philosophiques, Paris, Vol. 89, No. 2 (2009): 51–61.

References

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  1. ^ IFDT | Petar Bojanić (→ https://ifdt.bg.ac.rs/dt_team/bojanic-petar/?lang=en) Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  2. ^ RECAS | Coordinating Board (→ https://recas.info/coordinating-board/) Retrieved 08 February 2025.
  3. ^ IFDT | Petar Bojanić (→ https://ifdt.bg.ac.rs/dt_team/bojanic-petar/?lang=en) Retrieved 01 March 2025.
  4. ^ IDESE | People (→ https://idese.community/index.php/005-people/) Retrieved 22 February 2025.
  5. ^ CAS – SEE | Directors (→ https://cas.uniri.hr/directors/) Retrieved 23 February 2025.
  6. ^ “Teroristi bez dileme” [The Terrorists Have no Compunction], interview with Petar Bojanić, Politika, January 12, 2016, https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/346932/Teroristi-bez-dileme. Retrieved 09 February 2025.
  7. ^ "Bitter Victory THE NEW INSTITUTE - THE NEW INSTITUTE". 4 December 2024.
  8. ^ THE NEW INSTITUTE | Bitter Victory (→ https://thenew.institute/en/programs/bitter-victory) Retrieved 02 March 2025.
  9. ^ IUC of Turin | Faculty & Researchers (→ https://www.iuctorino.org/faculty-researchers) Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  10. ^ IFDT | Petar Bojanić CV (→ https://ifdt.bg.ac.rs/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/CV_petar_bojanic_ENG_site.pdf) Retrieved 05 March 2025.
  11. ^ Recht als Kultur | Petar Bojanić (→ https://www.recht-als-kultur.de/en/fellows/former-fellows/petarbojanic/) Retrieved 16 February 2025.
  12. ^ https://ifdt.bg.ac.rs/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/CV_petar_bojanic_SRP_sajt.pdf
  13. ^ Raffaella Scarpa, Il caso nuovo realismo: la lingua del dibattito filosofi co contemporaneo, Mimesis, Milano–Udine, 2013, pp. 19, 22, 62, 101, 106, 115, 155. ISBN: 9788857513928
  14. ^ Violence and Messianism: Jewish Philosophy and the Great Conflicts of the Twentieth Century | Routledge (→ https://www.routledge.com/Violence-and-Messianism-Jewish-Philosophy-and-the-Great-Conflicts-of-the-Twentieth-Century/Bojanic/p/book/9780367888503?srsltid=AfmBOoo-4Gvcir5ueTaMhyBri9fmtvgwT2tcCUwM7FO2dIFXYjHsKiuc) Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  15. ^ Eugenio Muinelo Paz, “La enfermedad de la historia”, Isegoría: revista de filosofía moral y política, No. 66, Madrid, 2022, https://isegoria.revistas.csic.es/index.php/isegoria/article/view/1216/1390. Retrieved 05 March 2025.
  16. ^ Марина Симакова, “О насилии истории”, Russian Sociological Review, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2019, Moscow, p. 251, https://sociologica.hse.ru/data/2019/03/28/1187376974/SocOboz_18_1_250-255_Simakova.pdf. Retrieved 08 February 2025. Retrieved 04 March 2025.
  17. ^ “Za razliku od Rusije Zapad ima teoriju rata” [As Opposed to Russia, the West Has a Theory of War], interview with Petar Bojanić, Danas, December 19–20, 2015, https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/za-razliku-od-rusije-zapad-ima-teoriju-rata/. Retrieved 17 February 2025.; П. Боянич (науч. ред.), Этика войны в странах православной культуры, “Владимир Даль”, Санкт-Петербург, 2022.
  18. ^ In-Statuere: Figures of Institutional Building | Vittorio Klostermann (→ https://www.klostermann.de/Bojanic-Petar-In-Statuere) Retrieved 18 February 2025.
  19. ^ Petar Bojanić, In-Statuere: Figures of Institutional Building, Vittorio Klostermann, Franfukrt am Main, 2022, p. 153.
  20. ^ Ibid., 28.
  21. ^ Petar Bojanić and Andrea Perunović (2024), “Derrida’s Counter-Institution and Its Ethics of Promise and Responsibility,” Angelaki, 29 (1–2), 2024, pp. 169–180, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0969725X.2024.2322278. Retrieved 27 February 2025.
  22. ^ P. Bojanić, In-Statuere, p. 22.
  23. ^ IWM | Europe as Project, a Collection of Documents and Counter-Institution (→ https://www.iwm.at/event/europe-as-project-a-collection-of-documents-and-counter-institution) Retrieved 01 March 2025.
  24. ^ “From Shelter (or Refuge) to the Counterinstitution,” interview with Petar Bojanić, Refusing to Be Silent, eds. Z. Zarić and G. Pudar Draško, Mimesis International, Udine, 2023, pp. 219. ISBN: 9788869774386
  25. ^ P. Bojanić, In-Statuere, p. 22.
  26. ^ Ibid., p. 164.
  27. ^ Provocatio: vocativo ius rivoluzione | Mimesis (→ https://www.mimesisedizioni.it/libro/9788857582078) Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  28. ^ Maurizio Ferraris, “La provocazione di chi è con le spalle al muro non si può giustificare (ma compredere sì),” La Stampa, 12 marzo, 2022, p. xiv. https://www.lastampa.it/tuttolibri/recensioni/2022/03/12/news/la-provocazione-di-chi-e-con-le-spalle-al-muro-non-si-puo-giustificare-ma-comprendere-si-1.41289996/. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  29. ^ P. Bojanić, In-Statuere, p. 23.
  30. ^ Petar Bojanić, “The acts of project(ion) / project acts or projacts,” Rivista di Estetica, Vol. 71, No. 2, Torino, 2019; https://journals.openedition.org/estetica/5521#ftn12. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  31. ^ Petar Bojanić and Snežana Vesnić, “Positio(n),” Khōrein: Journal for Architecture and Philosophy, Vol. 1, No. 2, Belgrade, 2023, p. 1–6; https://khorein.ifdt.bg.ac.rs/index.php/ch/about/editorialTeam. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
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