Arvydas Šliogeris: the philosopher as knight of being
ENArvydas Šliogeris, professor of Vilnius University, is one of the most productive philosophers in Lithuania. In the period of the Soviet regime his intellectual activities proceeded as if under cover and were known mostly in restricted academic circles, where traditionally there circulated free thought and where opposition convictions prevailed. Therefore, when Lithuania regained independence, the accumulated intellectual energy of philosophers, directed against totalitarian ideologies and their philosophical sources, erupted in full force. However the feeling of the restriction and the sense of the imaginary opponent remained, and revealed itself in the frenzied style of his works, — the frenzy, which is intensified by the incomparable rhetorical virtuosity of the professor. The books of Šliogeris emerged one after another, ascending in eloquence and expressiveness. No wonder that the specific philosophical subjects in these essays acquired political, cultural and social significance.
