Critical Theories and the Budapest School: Politics, Culture, Modernity PDF
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Critical Theories and the Budapest School Critical Theories and the Budapest School brings together new perspectives on the Budapest School in the context of contemporary developments in critical theory. Engaging with the work of the prominent group of figures associated with Georg Lukács, this book sheds new light on the unique and nuanced critiques of modernity offered by this school, informed as its members’ insights have been by first-hand experiences of Nazism, Soviet-type societies, and the liberal-democratic West. With studies of topics central to contemporary critical theory, such as the political and historical consciousness of modernity, the importance of biopolitics, the complexity of the human condition, and the relevance of comedy and friendship to developing critical perspectives, the authors draw on the works of Ágnes Heller, Maria Márkus, György Márkus, and Ferenc Fehér, demonstrating their enduring relevance to critical theory today and the ways in which these philosophers can inform new perspectives on cul- ture and politics. An innovative reassessment of the Budapest School and the importance of its legacy, this book opens a much-needed and neglected dialogue with other schools and traditions of critical theorizing that will be of interest to scholars of sociology, philosophy, and social theory. Jonathan Pickle teaches in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at New Jersey City University, USA. John Rundell is Principal Honorary and Associate Professor and Reader in Social Theory at The University of Melbourne, Australia. Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/series/ RSSPT 122 The Property-Owning Democracy Freedom and Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century Gavin Kerr 123 Weber, Schumpeter and Modern Capitalism Towards a General Theory John Love 124 The Cultural Contradictions of Anti-Capitalism The Liberal Spirit and the Making of Western Radicalism Daniel Fletcher 125 Peter Berger on Modernization and Modernity An Unvarnished Overview Robert Bickel 126 Imaginaries of Modernity Politics, Cultures, Tensions John Rundell 127 Complexity, Society and Social Transactions Developing a Comprehensive Social Theory Thomas Whalen 128 Critical Theories and the Budapest School Politics, Culture, Modernity Edited by Jonathan Pickle and John Rundell 129 Social and Political Life in the Era of Digital Media Higher Diversities David Toews Critical Theories and the Budapest School Politics, Culture, Modernity Edited by Jonathan Pickle and John Rundell First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Jonathan Pickle and John Rundell; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Jonathan Pickle and John Rundell to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Pickle, Jonathan, editor. | Rundell, John F., editor. Title: Critical theories and the Budapest School: politics, culture, modernity / edited by Jonathan Pickle and John Rundell. Description: 1 Edition. | New York: Routledge, 2018. | Series: Routledge studies in social and political thought; 128 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017040888 Subjects: LCSH: Critical theory—Hungary. | Heller, Agnes— Political and social views. | Mâarkus, Mâaria—Political and social views. | Mâarkus, Gyèorgy, 1934—Political and social views. | Fehâer, Ferenc, 1933–1994—Political and social views. Classification: LCC HM480 .C735 2018 | DDC 301.09439—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017040888 ISBN: 978-1-138-20302-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-47245-4 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by codeMantra This book is dedicated to the memory of György Márkus (1934–2016) and Maria Márkus (1936–2017) This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements ix List of contributors xi Introduction: the Budapest School and its legacies: migration, modernity, philosophy 1 JONATHAN PICkLE AND JOHN RUNDELL PART I A School? Or its homecoming in migration 13 1 The Budapest School – travelling theory? 15 PETER BEILHARz 2 Learning from the Budapest School women 34 PAULINE JOHNSON 3 Criticism and aesthetics: Ferenc Fehér’s views on art 49 SÁNDOR RADNóTI PART II From critique of totalitarianism to critique of political modernity 63 4 The Budapest School on totalitarianism: toward a new version of the critical theory 65 WALDEMAR BULIRA 5 The critical power of needs: the radical potential in Márkus’s and Heller’s philosophical anthropology 82 AARON JAFFE viii Contents 6 Praxis beyond the political: György Márkus contra Hannah Arendt 100 JONATHAN PICkLE 7 Pathways to the ‘Open Utopia’: Heller and Fehér on Lukács’s messianic Marxism 120 MICHAEL E. GARDINER 8 Adventures in biopolitics 140 JOHN GRUMLEY 9 The absolute present of historical consciousness: Ágnes Heller between the postmodern and the contemporary 157 DAvID ROBERTS PART III Critical theories and the Budapest School: reflections on György Márkus and Ágnes Heller 173 10 Philosophy in the times of late modernity: reflections on György Márkus’s Culture, Science, Society 175 JÁNOS kIS 11 Ágnes Heller’s theory of action: the incompleteness of the human being 188 JOHN RUNDELL 12 Ágnes Heller and the Kantian imaginary 208 MARCIA MORGAN 13 Existential choice as existential comedy: Ágnes Heller’s wager 217 kATIE TEREzAkIS 14 The comic political condition: Ágnes Heller’s philosophy of laughter and liberty 239 PETER MURPHY 15 The image of the ‘good friend’ in Heller: a bridge between everyday life and transcendence 262 SERGIO MARISCAL Index 283 Acknowledgements We would like to thank Neil Jordan, Alice Salt, and the production team at codeMantra for bringing this book to fruition. Previously published work with minor copy-editing János kis, ‘Philosophy in the times of late modernity: Reflections on György Márkus’s Culture, Science and Society’, Thesis Eleven, 2015, vol. 126 (1): 7–18. Jonathan Pickle, ‘Praxis beyond the political: György Márkus contra Hannah Arendt’, Thesis Eleven, 2015, vol. 126 (1): 70–87. David Roberts, ‘The Absolute Present. Agnes Heller’s Philosophy of History in Fragments’, Revue Internationale de Philosophie, 2015/3, No. 273: 279–287.
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