The European Center of Political Philosophy wishes to organize a conference on Eric Voegelin’s political thought to continue seeking and deepening our understanding of reality at the beginning of the 21st century with the help of political theorists who believed that classical European philosophy is indispensable in such an endeavor.

Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) in his Autobiographical Reflections clearly stated that „The most important means of regaining contact with reality is the recourse to thinkers of the past who had not lost reality, or who were engaged in the effort of regaining it.” According to Voegelin modernity has been flooded with an ideological language to an extent that „language has been degraded and corrupted to such a degree that it no longer can be used for expressing the truth of existence.” We believe that Voegelin’s view still holds, and what is more, we should consult his works more intensively in order to regain the meaning of concepts and the reality of our existence.

The European Center of Political Philosophy organizes a conference on October 10-11, 2024 with the most prominent participants of Voegelin’s students and followers (e.g. Tilo Schabert, Barry Cooper, David Walsh, James Stoner etc.) in order to interpret our great contemporary issues and deepening the understanding of Voegelin’s ideas almost forty years after his death.

 

Registration

PROGRAM

10th October (Thursday)

9.00 AM     Opening Remarks

  • Zoltán Szalai, Director General, MCC
  • András Lánczi, Director of the European Center of Political Philosophy, MCC

9.30 AM    Keynote Speech

Tilo Schabert, Professor Emeritus at University of Erlangen – “Autobiographical Reflections on Autobiographical Reflections. My personal recollections of Voegelin engaged in the effort of regaining reality”

10.30 AM    Coffee Break

10.50 AM    Panel Discussion: Strauss and Voegelin: Friends or Foes?

  • Nicoletta Scotti Muth, Assistant Professor at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – “Classical Reason and the Developing of Universal Humanity According to Eric Voegelin”
  • James Stoner, Hermann Moyse Jr. Professor of Political Science at Louisiana State University, Director of the Eric Voegelin Institute – “Eric Voegelin versus Leo Strauss on Post-Constitutionalism”
  • Lee Trepanier, Dean of D’Amour College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Assumption University – “Leo Strauss's and Eric Voegelin's Pathways Out of the Crisis of Modernity”

Moderator: William Wood, Visiting Fellow at Mathias Corvinus Collegium

12.30 PM    Lunch Break

2.00 PM    Panel Discussion: Personal Reflections on Voegelin’s Thought

  • James Greenaway, San José-Lonergan Chair in Catholic Philosophy at St. Mary's University – “Eric Voegelin: Philosopher of Belonging”
  • John von Heyking, Professor at University of Lethbridge – “Thinking in an Age of Forsakenness”
  • Barry Cooper, Professor at University of Calgary – “Voegelin's Understanding of Nazi Germany: From Political Religion to Second Reality”
  • Moderator: Gábor Megadja, Research Institute Director at Századvég

3.30 PM    Coffee Break

3.50 PM    Panel Discussion: Differentiating Voegelin’s Philosophy

  • David Walsh, Professor of Politics at The Catholic University of America – “Truth and Representation as the Original Title of The New Science of Politics”
  • Andreas Kinneging, Professor in Legal Philosophy at University of Leiden – “Eric Voegelin, Karl Marx and Communism”
  • Árpád Szakolczai, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at University College Cork – “Reality, Lost and Found: Eric Voegelin as a Guide in and out of Trickster Land”

Moderator: Róbert Papp, Researcher at Mathias Corvinus Collegium

5.30 PM    End of Day One

11th October (Friday)

9.00 AM    Panel Discussion: The New Science of Politics

  • Tilo Schabert, Professor Emeritus at University of Erlangen
  • David Walsh, Professor of Politics at The Catholic University of America
  • Árpád Szakolczai, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at University College Cork

Moderator: Andreas Kinneging, Professor in Legal Philosophy at University of Leiden

10.30 AM    Coffee Break

11.00 AM    Panel Discussion: On Remembering Ellis Sandoz

  • James Stoner, Hermann Moyse Jr. Professor of Political Science at Louisiana State University, Director of the Eric Voegelin Institute
  • Barry Cooper, Professor at University of Calgary

Moderator: Andreas Kinneging, Professor in Legal Philosophy at University of Leiden 

12.30 PM    Closing Remarks

András Lánczi, Director of the European Center of Political Philosophy, MCC