Authoritarianism & Philosophy: After Orbán’s Ouster, an Effort to Reopen the Lukács Archive

“Philosophers were the first targets of Orbán’s ‘culture war.’” That’s László Szücs (Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg), talking to Courthouse News Service about “the so-called ‘philosophers’ affair’: Orbán’s and his media’s first major anti-intellectual campaign.” It is “the saga of how the government slowly throttled an archive and research center inside the old apartment of György Lukács, a world-renowned Marxist philosopher from Budapest.” Szücs is part of the Lukács Archive International Foundation, a group working to reopen the apartment to the public. Reporter Cain Burdeau writes: The throttling began on Jan. 8, 2011, when the Magyar Nemzet ran a slanderous editorial accusing a group of prominent Hungarian philosophers—many of them associated with Lukács and fierce Orbán critics—of receiving “morally and legally questionable” funding worth about $2 million when Hungary was under a previous socialist-liberal government. The funds actually did not go directly to the prominent…