From the groundbreaking social and economic transformations of the nineteenth century and the devastation of WWI to the revolutionary explosion of modernity in the early twentieth century, the state was a matter of great urgency for philosophers, social reformers, and political activists alike. The life and thought of Austrian inventor and social philosopher Josef Popper-Lynkeus epitomizes both the promises and challenges of this key period of European classical modernity. Born in 1838 in the Jewish quarter of the small Bohemian town of Kolín, Popper-Lynkeus was barred from an academic career because of both his heritage and radical opinions on religious and social questions. Having earned a modest living as an engineer and inventor for most of his life, his writings on the state’s obligation to provide a minimum of food, housing, welfare, and health care became the center of great attention only in his later years. Key ideas driving his thought include the principle of free enterprise combined with security for all, and the vision of a criminal justice system concerned with protection rather than punishment. While Popper-Lynkeus’s work is largely forgotten today, his prominent interlocutors and, indeed, admirers at the time included Albert Einstein, Bertha Pauli, Arthur Schnitzler, Franz Oppenheimer, Rosa Luxemburg, Sigmund Freud, Max Brod, Edward Bellamy, Bertha von Suttner, Theodor Hertzka, August Bebel, and the founder of the pan-Europe movement Heinrich Coudenhove-Kalergi.
We wish to take the centenary of Popper-Lynkeus’s death as a starting point to reflect on the powers and responsibilities of the modern state, which Friedrich Nietzsche had influentially dubbed the ultimate “idol” and “coldest monster,” but which also became a pillar of social democracies after the collapse of empires. Bringing together both mainstream and marginalized perspectives (race, gender, class), we invite papers from a variety of disciplines (including non-traditional scholars) on the idea of the state from the angles of reform (such as social, economic, political), reimagination (such as ideal states and real utopias), and critique (such as communitarian, life-reform, theo-political, or anarchic).
Sponsored by: Virginia Center for the Study of Religion; Jewish Studies; Center for German Studies; European Studies Program; German Department.
Tentative Schedule:
Wednesday, April 6:
5:00PM: Opening Keynote: George Steinmetz (University of Michigan).
Thursday, April 7:
9:00-10:30am: Opening Session: Imperial States: The Waning of Empires and the Idea of the State. A Conversation With George Steinmetz.
11:00-12:30: Panel 1: Critical States: Visions and Voices from the Margins
12:30-2:00PM: Lunch for panelists and students.
2:15-3:15: Tour of Grounds.
3:30-5:00PM: Panel 2: Alternate States: Reforming Life, Imagining Community
Invited Speaker: Eva Barlösius (University of Hannover): Life Reform as Critique of the State
5:15-6:45: Presentation of Student Works in the Commons Gallery. Alternate I: Austrian Ambassador or Toscano? Alternate II: Steinmetz Keynote.
7:30PM: Conference Dinner
Friday, April 8:
9:00-10:30am: Panel 3: Social States: Welfare and Experimental Economies
Invited Speakers: Young-Sun Hong (Stony Brook): The Emergence of the Welfare State
11:00-12:30: Panel 4: Ideal States: Utopian Visions at the Limits of the Political
Invited Speaker: Claudia Willms (Goethe University, Frankfurt): Franz Oppenheimer’s Utopian State
1:00-2:00pm: Lunch Buffet.
Afternoon program available for participants.
For more information, please contact organizer Asher Biemann, ab5j@virginia.edu Co-Director, Virginia Center for the Study of Religion.