PRINCIPLES OF WISDOM FOR THE ORDER OF THE WORLD OF HASAN KAFI PRUŠČAK AND NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI’S PRINCE

Abstract

UDK 321.01:929 Machiavelli N.
          321.01:929 Pruščak H.K.

The article presents a lecture delivered at the conference on the occasion of “400 years of the legacy of Hasan Kafi Pruščak (1615.-2015.)” in Gazi Husrev-bey’s library in Sarajevo and in methodological sense it is of a comparative character. In the introduction part of the text we bring some general comparative biographical data of Hasan Kafi Pruščak, Bosnian author and a thinker of late Ottoman period and Niccolo Machiavelli, representative of early Renaissance political turmoil in Europe. The main part of the article deals with the second chapter of Kafi’s most renowned work Principles of Wisdom for the Order of the World about – “counseling, istihara, thinking and contemplation” and chapters “of the Princes ministers” or “how far reaching is the effect of fortune within a domain of human and how we can resist it” from Niccolo Machiavelli’s Prince. The intention was to point out, on the bases of these examples, without any further pretentions, to the individual style and historical and geographical background in contemplating political and social motivations and causes, that were to bring about different, or opposing historical processes and contemporary political conclusions. The article suggests that the attention has to be drawn to the significance of political consultations with learned and aware young people in order to develop a politically and socially responsible vision.