# Constantin Noica

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Constantin_Noica
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Constantin_Noica.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_Noica
> Source revision: 1344771847
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Romanian philosopher, essayist and poet (1909–1987)

Constantin Noica Noica circa 1980 Born (1909-07-25)25 July 1909 Vitănești, Teleorman County Died 4 December 1987(1987-12-04) (aged 78) Păltiniș, Sibiu County Resting place Păltiniș, Sibiu County Alma mater University of Bucharest Occupations philosopher, essayist, poet Years active 1934-1987 Notable work Mathesis or simple pleasances (1934) Life and philosophy of René Descartes (1937) Pages on the Romanian soul (1944) Eminescu or Thoughts on the complete man of Romanian culture (1975) Parting with Goethe (1976) Movement Humanism, continental philosophy, Orthodox Christian philosophy

This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Constantin Noica" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

**Constantin Noica** (Romanian: [\[konstanˈtin ˈnojka\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Romanian); July 25 [[O.S.](/source/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates) July 12] 1909 – 4 December 1987) was a [Romanian](/source/Romania) philosopher, essayist, and poet. His preoccupations were throughout all philosophy, from [epistemology](/source/Epistemology), philosophy of culture, [axiology](/source/Axiology), and philosophic [anthropology](/source/Anthropology) to [ontology](/source/Ontology) and [logics](/source/Logic), from the history of philosophy to systematic philosophy, from ancient to contemporary philosophy, from translating and interpretation to criticism and creation. In 2006 he was included to the list of the [100 Greatest Romanians](/source/100_Greatest_Romanians) of all time by a nationwide poll.

## Biography

Noica was born in [Vitănești](/source/Vit%C4%83ne%C8%99ti), [Teleorman County](/source/Teleorman_County).

He studied at the [Dimitrie Cantemir](/source/Cantemir_Vod%C4%83_National_College) and Spiru Haret [lyceums](/source/Lyceum), both in [Bucharest](/source/Bucharest). At Spiru Haret his math teacher was [Dan Barbilian](/source/Ion_Barbu) ([pen name](/source/Pen_name) Ion Barbu, poet and mathematician). His debut was in *Vlăstarul* magazine, in 1927. Between 1928 and 1931 he attended courses of the [University of Bucharest](/source/University_of_Bucharest)'s Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, where he graduated in 1931 with thesis "Problema lucrului în sine la Kant" ("The matter of [thing-in-itself](/source/Thing-in-itself) in [Kant](/source/Immanuel_Kant)'s philosophy"). Here he met as a teacher philosopher [Nae Ionescu](/source/Nae_Ionescu).

Noica worked as a librarian at the History of Philosophy Seminar and attended the courses of the Faculty of Mathematics for one year (1933). He was a member of the *Criterion* Association (1932–1934). Along his friends there, including [Mircea Eliade](/source/Mircea_Eliade), [Mihail Polihroniade](/source/Mihail_Polihroniade), and [Haig Acterian](/source/Haig_Acterian), he later supported the fascist [Iron Guard](/source/Iron_Guard).

After attending courses in [France](/source/France) between 1938 and 1939 on a French government scholarship, he returned to Bucharest where in 1940 he earned his doctor's degree in philosophy with thesis *Sketch on the history of How is it that there is anything new*, published the same year. After General [Ion Antonescu](/source/Ion_Antonescu) installed his [dictatorship](/source/National_Legionary_State) in collaboration with the Iron Guard in September 1940, Noica served as editor-in-chief of *[Buna Vestire](/source/Buna_Vestire)*, the official newspaper of the Iron Guard. In his articles during the period he extolled the organization and its leader, [Horia Sima](/source/Horia_Sima). According to historian [Zigu Ornea](/source/Zigu_Ornea), his allegiance to the fascist organisation continued after the Iron Guard was suppressed following their failed [rebellion](/source/Legionnaires'_rebellion_and_Bucharest_pogrom).[1]

In October 1940, he left for [Berlin](/source/Berlin) as a reviewer at [Sextil Pușcariu](/source/Sextil_Pu%C8%99cariu)'s Romanian-German Institute. After the war, the Soviet Army [remained in Romania](/source/Soviet_occupation_of_Romania), backing the establishment of a communist regime. Noica was harassed by the new regime.

Constantin Noica

In 1949 he was sentenced by the communist authorities to 10 years of forced residence in [Câmpulung-Muscel](/source/C%C3%A2mpulung), remaining there until 1958. In December of that year, after making public the book *[History and Utopia](/source/History_and_Utopia)* by [Emil Cioran](/source/Emil_Cioran) (who had left for France), he was sentenced to 25 years of [forced labor](/source/Forced_labour) in the [Jilava Prison](/source/Jilava_Prison) as a political prisoner, and all his possessions confiscated. He was pardoned after 6 years as part of a general amnesty and released in August 1964.

From 1965 he lived in Bucharest, where he was the principal researcher at the [Romanian Academy](/source/Romanian_Academy)'s Center of Logics. In his two-room apartment, located in Western [Drumul Taberei](/source/Drumul_Taberei), he held seminars on [Hegel](/source/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel)'s, [Plato](/source/Plato)'s, and [Kant](/source/Immanuel_Kant)'s philosophy. Among the participants there were [Sorin Vieru](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sorin_Vieru&action=edit&redlink=1) (his colleague at the Center of Logics), [Gabriel Liiceanu](/source/Gabriel_Liiceanu), and [Andrei Pleșu](/source/Andrei_Ple%C8%99u).

In 1975 he retired and went to live in [Păltiniș](/source/P%C4%83ltini%C8%99), near [Sibiu](/source/Sibiu), where he remained for the next 12 years, until his death on 4 December 1987.[2] He was buried at the nearby hermitage, having left behind numerous philosophical essays.

In 1988 Constantin Noica was posthumously awarded the [Herder Prize](/source/Herder_Prize), and in 1990, after the [fall of communism in Romania](/source/Romanian_Revolution), he was inducted as a posthumous member of the [Romanian Academy](/source/Romanian_Academy).

## Philosophy

The 20th century is thought to be dominated by science. The model of [scientific knowledge](/source/Scientific_knowledge), which means transforming reality into formal and abstract concepts, is applied in judging the entire environment. This kind of thinking is called by Noica "the logic of Ares", as it considers the individual a simple variable in the Whole. The existence is, for this scientific way of considering things, a statistical fact.

In order to recover the individual senses, the sense of existence, Noica proposes, in opposition with "the logic of Ares", "the logic of Hermes", a way of thinking which considers the individual a reflection of the Whole. The logic of Hermes means understanding the Whole through the part, it means identifying in a single existence the general principles of reality. This way of thinking allows one to understand the meaning of the life of a man oppressed by the quick present moment.

Noica appreciated Greek and German philosophers, as well as several Romanian writers. He recommended to read philosophy, to learn classical languages, particularly ancient Greek, and modern languages, particularly German.[3]

## Books

- 1934 – *[Mathesis](/source/Mathesis_universalis) or simple pleasances* ("Mathesis sau bucuriile simple")

- 1936 – *Open concepts in the history of philosophy in [Descartes](/source/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes), [Leibniz](/source/Gottfried_Leibniz) and [Kant](/source/Immanuel_Kant)* ("Concepte deschise în istoria filozofiei la Descartes, Leibniz și Kant")

- 1937 – *De caelo. Essay around knowledge and the individual* ("De caelo. Încercare în jurul cunoașterii și individului")

- 1937 – *Life and philosophy of René Descartes* ("Viața și filozofia lui René Descartes")

- 1940 – *Sketch for the history of How is it that there is anything new* ("Schiță pentru istoria lui Cum e cu putință ceva nou")

- 1943 – *Two introductions and a passage to idealism* ("Două introduceri și o trecere spre idealism")

- 1944 – *Philosophical journal* ("Jurnal filosofic")

- 1944 – *Pages on the Romanian soul* ("Pagini despre sufletul românesc")

- 1962 – *"[Phenomenology of Spirit](/source/Phenomenology_of_Spirit)" by [G.W.F. Hegel](/source/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel) narrated by Constantin Noica* ("*Fenomenologia spiritului* de G.W.F. Hegel istorisită de Constantin Noica")

- 1969 – *Twenty-seven levels of the real* ("Douăzeci și șapte trepte ale realului")

- 1969 – *Platon: Lysis*

- 1970 – *The Romanian philosophical utterance*[4] ("Rostirea filozofică românească")

- 1973 – *Creation and beauty in Romanian utterance*[4] ("Creație și frumos în rostirea românească")

- 1975 – *[Eminescu](/source/Mihai_Eminescu) or Thoughts on the complete man of Romanian culture* ("Eminescu sau Gânduri despre omul deplin al culturii românești")

- 1976 – *Parting with [Goethe](/source/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe)* ("Despărțirea de Goethe")

- 1978 – *The Romanian sentiment of being* ("Sentimentul românesc al ființei") - translated into English in 2022[5]

- 1978 – *Six maladies of the contemporary spirit. The Romanian spirit at the conjuncture of time* ("Șase maladii ale spiritului contemporan. Spiritul românesc în cumpătul vremii")

- 1980 – *Narrations on man*, after [Hegel](/source/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel)'s "[Phenomenology of Spirit](/source/Phenomenology_of_Spirit)" ("Povestiri despre om")

- 1981 – *Becoming in-to Being*,[6] vol. 1: *Essay on traditional philosophy*, vol. 2: *Treatise of [ontology](/source/Ontology)* ("Devenirea întru ființă", vol. 1: "Încercare asupra filozofiei tradiționale", vol. 2: "Tratat de ontologie")

- 1984 – *Three Introductions to Becoming in-to Being*[6] ("Trei introduceri la devenirea întru ființă")

- 1986 – *Letters on the Logic of Hermes* ("Scrisori despre logica lui Hermes")

- 1988 – *De dignitate Europae* (in [German](/source/German_language))

- 1990 – *Pray for brother Alexander!* ("Rugați-vă pentru fratele Alexandru")

- 1991 – *Journal of Ideas* ("Jurnal de idei")

- 1992 – *Sunday essays* ("Eseuri de duminică")

- 1992 – *Simple introductions to the kindness of our time* ("Simple introduceri la bunătatea timpului nostru")

- 1992 – *Introduction to the Eminescian miracle* ("Introducere la miracolul eminescian")

- 1997 – *Cîmpulung manuscripts* ("Manuscrisele de la Cîmpulung")

- 1998 – *The spiritual equilibrium. Studies and essays (1929–1947)* ("Echilibrul spiritual. Studii și eseuri (1929–1947)")

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Ornea, Zigu](/source/Zigu_Ornea) (2016). *Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească*. [Cartea Românească](/source/Cartea_Rom%C3%A2neasc%C4%83). pp. 173–176. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-973-46-5906-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-973-46-5906-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Constantin Noica (n. 1909 – d. 1987). Cu Securitatea pe ultimul drum"](https://infocultural.eu/constantin-noica-n-1909-d-1987-cu-securitatea-pe-ultimul-drum) [Constantin Noica (b. 1909 - d. 1987). With the Securitatea on the last road] (in Romanian). Info Cultural. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Ițu, Mircia, "Conceptul de spirit la Constantin Noica raportat la Mircea Eliade" ("The Concept of Spirit in Constantin Noica's and in [Mircea Eliade](/source/Mircea_Eliade)'s Vision"), in Manole, Georgică (2010), *Lumină lină*, *Luceafărul*, Botoșani [\[1\]](http://www.luceafarul.net/citind-%E2%80%A6-lumina-lina). Retrieved on 7 June 2016. ISSN 2065-4200: "Noica talked to me about Greek philosophy, particularly [Aristotle](/source/Aristotle) and [Plato](/source/Plato) and about German philosophy, particularly [Immanuel Kant](/source/Immanuel_Kant) and [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](/source/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel). I remember that philosopher Noica highlighted that one cannot have a personality if one does not read these authors. He said it, then he referred to [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](/source/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe). His face brightened when I had mentioned his name. The readings on Romanian culture are important, as well. Noica drove my attention towards writers, such as: [Mihai Eminescu](/source/Mihai_Eminescu), [Titu Maiorescu](/source/Titu_Maiorescu) and [Lucian Blaga](/source/Lucian_Blaga), and particularly to authors who had been forbidden during the communist regime, such as the following: [Mircea Eliade](/source/Mircea_Eliade), [Emil Cioran](/source/Emil_Cioran) and [Mircea Vulcănescu](/source/Mircea_Vulc%C4%83nescu). He insisted on the need for learning languages, emphasizing on the study of classical languages and especially ancient Greek, as well as modern languages, out of which he warmly recommended German".

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-rostire_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-rostire_4-1) The title is built on a word game: "rost" = *sense*, *meaning*, but "a rosti" = *to pronounce*, translated here by *to utter*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Constantin Noica: The Romanian Sentiment of Being"](https://reviews.ophen.org/2022/09/30/constantin-noica-the-romanian-sentiment-of-being/). *Phenomenological Reviews*. 30 September 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2023.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-intru_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-intru_6-1) Noica uses the old Romanian word "întru" (< Lat. *intro*), now rarely used and substituted in the current use of the language by "în" (= Eng. *in*). See here how Noica explains its use: "If a nourishing plant, that we can not find elsewhere, would grow on the Romanian soil, we should have to answer for it. If words and meanings that can enrich man's soul appeared in our language, but they didn't appear in others speech or thought, we should also have to answer for them. Such a word is *întru*; such a meaning appears to be that of beingness. Actually, our peculiar understanding of beingness is, maybe, the result of the peculiar meanings of *întru*, that came to seemingly express the beingness *from within*, suggesting that "to be" means "to be into /*întru*/ something", that is to be, but not fully, in something, to rest but also to aspire, to close oneself but also to open oneself. In this way the beingness was pulled out from stillness and shook. But if it wouldn't be shaking, would it still be truly? What kind of beingness is the one that has no place for neither a vibration, nor an advance?".

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Constantin Noica](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Constantin_Noica).

- (in Romanian) [Noica's page](http://humanitas.ro/constantin-noica) at the [Humanitas publishing house](/source/Humanitas_publishing_house)

- (in Romanian) Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba, [Filosofia lui Noica între fantasmă și luciditate](https://www.academia.edu/25694763/Isabela_Vasiliu-Scraba_Filosofia_lui_Noica), Ed. E&B, 1992

- (in Romanian) Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba, [In labirintul răsfrângerilor. Nae Ionescu prin discipolii săi: Petre Țuțea, Emil Cioran, Constantin Noica, Mircea Eliade, Mircea Vulcănescu si Vasile Băncilă](https://www.academia.edu/25694750/Isabela_Vasiliu-Scraba_In_labrintul_rasfrangerilor), preface by Ion Papuc, Slobozia, 2000, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [973-8134056](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/973-8134056)

- (in Romanian) Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba, [Pelerinaj la Păltinișul lui Noica](https://www.academia.edu/34577081/Isabela_Vasiliu-Scraba_Incultura_P%C4%83ltini%C5%9F_sau_Vila_Noica_de_la_P%C4%83ltini%C8%99_)

- (in Romanian) Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba, [Himericul discipolat de la Păltiniș, pretext de fină ironie din partea lui Noica](https://www.academia.edu/37449881/Isabela_Vasiliu-Scraba_Himericul_discipolat_de_la_P%C4%83ltini%C8%99_pretext_de_fin%C4%83_ironie_din_partea_lui_Noica)

- Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba, [An adventure beyond which everything is possible, except repetition](https://www.academia.edu/27126910/Isabela_Vasiliu-Scraba_AN_ADVENTURE_BEYOND_WHICH_EVERYTHING_IS_POSSIBLE_EXCEPT_REPETITION)

- *Doing Time*. An anthology of Noica's works "for the benefit of the students that Noica was never allowed to have", with the volume *Brother Alexander* translated into English by his wife, Katherine Muston, and an introductory essay (*Atitudinea Noica*) by [C. George Sandulescu](/source/C._George_Sandulescu), Contemporary Literature Press (University of Bucharest) [\[2\]](http://editura.mttlc.ro/noica.doing-time.html)

- Noica Anthology. Volume Two: *General Philosophy*, edited by [C. George Sandulescu](/source/C._George_Sandulescu), Contemporary Literature Press (University of Bucharest) [\[3\]](http://editura.mttlc.ro/noica.general-philosophy.html)

- Noica Anthology. Volume Three: *Rostirea românească de la Eminescu cetire*, edited by [C. George Sandulescu](/source/C._George_Sandulescu), Contemporary Literature Press (University of Bucharest) [\[4\]](http://editura.mttlc.ro/noica.rostirea-romaneasca.html)

- *Counterfeiting Noica! Controversatul Noica răsare din nou!*, edited by [C. George Sandulescu](/source/C._George_Sandulescu), Contemporary Literature Press (University of Bucharest) [\[5\]](http://editura.mttlc.ro/sandulescu-counterfeiting-noica.html)

v t e Philosophy Branches Branches Applied philosophy Logic Metaphilosophy Philosophical methodology Philosophy of education Philosophy of information Philosophy of language Philosophy of mathematics Philosophy of religion Philosophy of science Political philosophy Practical philosophy Social philosophy Theoretical philosophy Aesthetics Aesthetic response Formalism Institutionalism Epistemology Empiricism Fideism Naturalism Particularism Rationalism Skepticism Solipsism Ethics Consequentialism Deontology Virtue Free will Compatibilism Determinism Hard Incompatibilism Hard Libertarianism Metaphysics Atomism Dualism Idealism Monism Naturalism Realism Mind Behaviorism Eliminativism Emergentism Epiphenomenalism Functionalism Objectivism Subjectivism Normativity Absolutism Axiology Nihilism Particularism Relativism Skepticism Universalism Ontology Action Event Process Reality Anti-realism Conceptualism Idealism Materialism Naturalism Nominalism Physicalism Realism By era By era Ancient Western Medieval Renaissance Early modern Modern Contemporary Ancient Chinese Agriculturalism Confucianism Legalism Logicians Mohism Chinese naturalism Taoism Yangism Greco-Roman Pre-Socratic Ionians Pythagoreans Eleatics Atomists Sophists Cyrenaics Cynicism Eretrian school Megarian school Academy Peripatetic school Hellenistic philosophy Pyrrhonism Stoicism Epicureanism Academic Skepticism Middle Platonism School of the Sextii Neopythagoreanism Second Sophistic Neoplatonism Church Fathers Dispositio Indian Hindu Samkhya Nyaya Vaisheshika Yoga Mīmāṃsā Ājīvika Ajñana Cārvāka Jain Anekantavada Syādvāda Buddhist Abhidharma Sarvāstivadā Pudgalavada Sautrāntika Madhyamaka Svatantrika and Prasangika Śūnyatā Yogacara Tibetan Persian Mazdakism Mithraism Zoroastrianism Zurvanism Medieval East Asian Neotaoism Tiantai Huayan Chan Zen Neo-Confucianism Korean Confucianism European Christian Byzantine Augustinianism Scholasticism Thomism Scotism Occamism Renaissance humanism Indian Vedanta Acintya bheda abheda Advaita Bhedabheda Dvaita Nimbarka Sampradaya Shuddhadvaita Vishishtadvaita Navya-Nyāya Islamic Aristotelianism Averroism Avicennism Illuminationism ʿIlm al-Kalām Sufi Jewish Judeo-Islamic Modern Anarchism Classical Realism Collectivism Conservatism Determinism Dualism Edo neo-Confucianism Empiricism Existentialism Foundationalism Historicism Holism Humanism Anti- Idealism Absolute British German Italian Objective Subjective Transcendental Individualism Kokugaku Liberalism Materialism Modernism Monism Naturalism Natural law Nihilism New Confucianism Neo-scholasticism Pessimism Pragmatism Phenomenology Positivism Reductionism Rationalism Social contract Socialism Transcendentalism Utilitarianism People Cartesianism Kantianism Neo Kierkegaardianism Krausism Hegelianism Marxism Newtonianism Nietzscheanism Spinozism Contemporary Analytic Applied ethics Analytic feminism Analytical Marxism Communitarianism Consequentialism Critical rationalism Experimental philosophy Falsificationism Foundationalism vs. coherentism Internalism and externalism Logical positivism Legal positivism Meta-ethics Moral realism Quinean naturalism Normative ethics Ordinary language philosophy Postanalytic philosophy Quietism Rawlsian Reformed epistemology Systemics Scientism Scientific realism Scientific skepticism Transactionalism Contemporary utilitarianism Vienna Circle Wittgensteinian Continental Critical theory Frankfurt School Deconstruction Existentialism Feminist Hermeneutics New Historicism Phenomenology Posthumanism Postmodernism Post-structuralism Social constructionism Structuralism Western Marxism and Neo-Marxism Miscellaneous Kyoto School Objectivism Postcritique Russian cosmism By region By region African Bantu Egyptian Ethiopian Africana Eastern Buddhist Chinese Indian Indonesian Japanese Korean Taiwanese Vietnamese Middle Eastern Iranian Islamic Jewish Pakistani Turkish Western American Australian British Scottish Canada Czech Danish Dutch Finland French German Greek Italian Maltese Polish Slovene Spanish Miscellaneous Amerindian Aztec Georgian Romanian Russian Yugoslav Philosophy portal Category

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States France BnF data Italy Czech Republic Spain Romania Netherlands Norway Greece Poland Vatican Israel Catalonia Belgium People LibraryThing Deutsche Biographie DDB Other IdRef Open Library Yale LUX

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Constantin Noica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_Noica) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_Noica?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.