A natural history of a lonely man

István Danka

pp. 159-163

in: Tamás Demeter (ed), The sociological tradition of Hungarian philosophy, Studies in East European Thought 60, 2008.

Abstract

Philosophy has a lonely role in Hungarian intellectual life. While celebrating scientists and artists for their international reputation in several fields, there is almost no one in philosophy who could be mentioned at the same level. This fact could perhaps be explained by pointing out that it was philosophy which had left the Hungarian intellectual tradition. On the one hand, had someone done philosophy at a high level then he was not taken to represent the “Hungarian spirit.” And on the other hand, had someone worked in the “Hungarian style of thought” then at the international level he was no more than a peculiarity.