Ob osemdesetletnici akademika profesorja
dr. Borisa Majerja
UREDNIŠKA BESEDA
Preteklega maja (4. maja) smo se člani Oddelka za filozofijo in njegovi sodelavci ob slavljenčevi navzočnosti zbrali v sejni sobi Filozofske fakultete ter s prigodnimi govori poskušali orisati filozofsko pot profesorja Majerja in predvsem naše doživljanje slavljenca kot strokovnjaka in kot osebnost. Dogovorili smo se tudi, da bomo naše prispevke objavili in s tem tudi javno obeležili visoki jubilej našega akademika.
Spodobi se, da ob tej priložnosti vsaj približno in na kratko orišemo slavljenčevo Življenjsko pot.
Boris Majer se je rodil v Colu pri Vipavi 15, februarja 1919. leta. Po maturi na poljanski gimnaziji seje vpisal na slavistiko s slovenščino kot glavnim predmetom. Diplomiral je junija 1941. Po kapitulaciji kraljevine Jugoslavije se je priključil narodnoosvobodilnemu boju. Konec junija leta 1952 so ga Italijani odpeljali najprej v Gonars. nato pa v koncentracijsko taborišče v Trbižu. Po zlomu Italije se je vrnil v Ljubljano ter februarja J 944 odšel v partizane, kjer je opravljal različne politične funkcije.
Po vojni je bil urednik in direktor Cankarjeve založbe, kjer je kot urednik bil zadolžen za izdajanje marksistične in filozofske literature. Od leta 1952 do 1959 je poučeval filozofijo na klasični in poljanski gimnaziji ter učiteljišču. Leta 1960 je bil izvoljen v naziv višji predavatelj za dialektični materializem ter prevzel mesto na Oddelku za filozofijo Filozofske fakultete, ki je preživljal prav tedaj težko kadrovsko krizo. Prihod dr. Vojana Rusa iz Beograda je omogočil tudi domačo habilitacijo. Tako je Boris Majer doktoriral 1968, postal še istega leta izredni profesor, leta 1972 pa je bil izvoljen v naziv rednega profesorja. Leta 1973 je zapustil Oddelek ter med drugim prevzel predstojništvo Marksističnega centra CK ZKS. Leta 1975 je postal dopisni, 1981 pa redni član Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti, kjer je organiziral Inštitut z.a marksistično filozofijo (danes Filozofski inštitut).
Osnovni predmet Majerjevega znanstvenega interesa je bila analizo sodobne evropske filozofije v luči dosežkov Heglove filozofske misli. Tako je nastala tudi knjiga Med z nanostjo in metafiziko iz leta 1968, kjer je zagovarjal tezo, da je evropska filozofija po drugi polovici 19. st. nazadovala glede na proces Heglovega ukinjanja tako imenovane idealistične filozofije. Podobno tezo je zagovarjal tudi v zelo informativnem a kritičnem delu Strukturalizem (1971). Za Maje rje v prispevek k navoju slovenske filozofije je nedvomno pomembno, da v svoji kritiki ni bil nikoli zanikovalski, ampak seje v marsičem s filozofijami, ki jih je kritiziral, tudi strinjal.
Frane Jerman
AT THE EIGHTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF ACADEMICIAN, PROF. DR. BORIS MAJER Editorial Foreword
The members of the Department of Philosophy and our associates met on May 4 last year in the council room of the Faculty of Arts to celebrate the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of our honourable guest, professor Majer. We tried to present his philosophical path with our occasional speeches, and above all, our appreciation of him as an expert and a great personality. We also agreed about publishing our contributions, thus to present to the public a high jubilee of our academician.
On this occasion, we should describe his life path at least in some words. Boris Majer was born in Col near Vipava, on February 15, 1919. After he had graduated at the Poljane grammar school, he entered the Faculty of Arts to study Slavonic studies with Slovene language as his major subject. He graduated in June 1941. A fter the capitulation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, he joined the National Liberation Movement. At the end of June 1942. he was captured by Italian army and interned at first in Gonars and then in a concentration camp in Trbiž. A fter the capitulation of Italy, he returned to Ljubljana. In February 1944, he joined the partisan movement and was engaged there in different political functions.
After the war, he was Editor and Director of a publishing house Cankarjeva založba, and his duty was to publish the Marxist and philosophical books. In the period between 1952 and 1959, he taught philosophy at the Poljane grammar school and at the Teacher's Training College. In 1960 he was elected to Senior Lecturer in dialectical materialism in the Department of Philosophy at the Faculty of Arts, which was passing then through a serious crisis because of a luck of qualified professors. It was not possible to organise habilitation proceedings there until Dr. Vojan Rus returned from Belgrade. Thus. Boris Majer was awarded his Ph.D. in 1968. He was elected to Associate Professor in the same year and to Professor in 1972. He left his professorship in 1973, and in parallel with other obligations he took over directorship of the Marxist Centre of CK ZKS (Central Committee of the League of Communists of Slovenia). He became a corresponding member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1975 and its ordinary member in 1981. Within the Academy he organised the Institute of Marxist Philosophy (today's Institute of Philosophy).
Majer's basic scientific interest was the analysis of modern European philosophy in light of the achievements of Hegel's philosophical thought. The result of this was his book Between Science and Metaphysics (1968), in which he argued that, regarding the process of Hegel's Aufhebung of the so-called idealistic philosophy, the European philosophy after the second half of the I9tli century had regressed. In his Structuralism (1971), a very informative, yet critical book, he argued for a similar thesis.
An important feature of his contribution to the development of Slovenian philosophy is undoubtedly his non-denial criticism, for he himself agreed with many items of those philosophies, which he had been criticising.
Frane Jerman