Photo: Dolph Cantrijn
Hungary, 1929 - 2019
political philosopher

Ágnes Heller

Ágnes Heller was a Hungarian-Jewish philosopher. During her long life, she saw and participated in much of recent European history. As a Jew, she survived the Nazi regime in Budapest during the Second World War. After the war she studied philosophy with György Lukács, under whose influence she joined the movement of Marxist critical theorists. Her convictions caused her to clash repeatedly with the ruling Communist Party, which forced her into exile in 1977. Subsequently Heller lived in Australia and the United States, where she was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York. She then returned to live in Budapest, where Viktor Orbán’s regime treated her as a bothersome dissident who had to be kept silent – something Heller adamantly refused to accept. Heller wrote numerous books on ethics, existentialism and the history of philosophy. Among her many works are A Philosophy of Morals (1990), The Time is Out of Joint (2002) and The Immortal Comedy (2005).

Published in

Cultura Animi
2018

A Letter to My Teacher

Journal Nexus
2018

Nexus 79

Brief aan mijn leraar
Journal Nexus
2016

Nexus 74

Wat zal de wereld redden?
Journal Nexus
2014

Nexus 67

School der beschaving
Journal Nexus
2013

Nexus 63

Hoe veranderen we de wereld?

Speaker at

Aeham Ahmad

Conference

Nexus Conference 2016

What Will Save the World?

12 November 2016 09.40 - 16.00 National Opera & Ballet, Amsterdam

Conference

Nexus Conference 2012

How to Change the World?

2 December 2012 13.00 - 17.30 Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam

Conference

Freedom and Democracy

Civilization and Power

19 November 2004 9.00 - 20.00 Library of Congress, Washington

Ágnes Heller: A witness of history.

First Debate with Ágnes Heller, Roger Scruton, Rory Sutherland and Daniel Pick, moderated by Rob Riemen

large_03.-Agnes-Heller_-Nexus-Conference-2012.-Debate-The-Crisis-in-Our-World-525×350

Ágnes Heller, First Debate ‘The Crisis in Our World’ at the Nexus Conference 2012. Copyright Dolph Cantrijn

Heller_WhatWillSaveTheWorld-525×350

Ágnes Heller geeft de openingslezing tijdens de Nexus-conferentie ‘What will save the world’ in 2016.