VASILE MUSCĂ, “COORDONATE FILOSOFICE ROMÂNEŞTI”, CLUJ-NAPOCA, ED. ŞCOALA ARDELEANĂ, 2024, 390 P.

Abstract

With a long and constant preoccupation exercised in the perimeter of philosophy - predominantly in the history of philosophy -, university professor Vasile Muscă is an advocate of a harmonized vision of philosophical values, minimizing the temptation of any speculation that does not rest on the firm ground of research and documentation. The vision of the integrative philosophical approach comes from his apollonian nature, a nature that lacks the pathos of sterile disputes, of irrelevant polemics. He prefers the method of clear exposition, using accessible language, free of any artifice or colorful jargon. As his writing bears the distinct stamp of one who has not only enlightened himself with the love of wisdom, but has sought to enlighten many generations of students. He is a philosophical storyteller, simplifying things to the point of total comprehension.

The paideic tendency emerges from the auctorial lines, the ideas evolving towards a synthetic, integrating vision. As he is a speculator with a free will of reason, a thinker who embraces with enthusiasm, but also with circumspection, the so diaphanous realm of philosophical ideas. Ancient Greek and German philosophy constitute his favorite areas of analysis, with an emphasis on German Enlightenment, but also with a constant interest in Romanian philosophy. Calm values, epistemological prudence, belief in hard truths, which can interfere with history, remain his guiding landmarks. As a philosophy teacher, he prefers systematized thinking, philosophy of the rational type. As a private thinker (in the sense of Kierkegaard), he prefers personalized ideation, the courage to think on his own. The professor and philosopher Vasile Muscă is one of the rare cases who can clearly tell us what they have understood of philosophy, who can befriend us with its abstract language. With his infectious kindness, of a hermit forgotten among books (in his huge library), he moves discreetly in the narrow perimeter of philosophical thinking, accompanied by the sounds of classical music, as he oscillates affectively between Cluj and Oradea, in the tendency to inhabit a Hölderlinian and concrete idea  at the same time.