Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb in the Context of Austro-Hungarian Universities 1875-1900, with Special Emphasis on Science and Mathematics Teaching Staff

The structure of the science and mathematics teaching staff at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb in the period 1875-1900 is well known. However, the accounts of that structure lack a comparative analysis that would show whether it met the university standards of the time. The aim of this paper is to satisfy the prerequisite for such an analysis: to explicate the more general status of the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb in an appropriate context. The narrowest appropriate context is the universities in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and the position of the Faculty among them is considered with regard to the number of students, the total number of professors and private docents, and the number of science and mathematics professors and private docents. These considerations form the background against which it will be possible to interpret the results of the comparative analysis as parts of a meaningful whole. At the same time they show that the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb was, on average, the smallest faculty of philosophy in the Monarchy in terms of the total number of professors and the number of science and mathematics professors. It was one of the two smallest faculties of philosophy in terms of the number of full-time students and one of the three smallest in terms of the total number of private docents. Regarding the number of science and mathematics private docents, during the second half of the period under consideration it ranked amongst the medium-sized Austro-Hungarian faculties of philosophy.