A Centenary Symposium in Memory of Josef Popper-Lynkeus (1838-1921)
This conference took the centenary of the death of the Austrian Jewish social philosopher Popper-Lynkeus as a starting point to re-examine the powers and responsibilities of the modern state. Popper-Lynkeus’s 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 and after the collapse of empires. Among his admirers and interlocutors were prominent figures such as Albert Einstein, Bertha Pauli, Sigmund Freud, Franz Oppenheimer, and Rosa Luxemburg. Key ideas driving Popper-Lynkeus’s thought included the principle of free enterprise combined with security for all, and the vision of a criminal justice system concerned with protection rather than punishment. Today, these ideas resonate in intense debates about the role of government—in everything from equity and social justice to infrastructure and public services, especially in light of a pandemic and of repeated violence against marginalized groups. The conference brought together voices from a variety of perspectives to explore the state—famously dubbed by Nietzsche the ultimate “idol” and “coldest monster”—through the lens of social, economic or political reform; ideal and utopian re-imagination; and communitarian, anarchic, and other forms of critique.
Schedule
Wednesday, April 6
5:00pm
Opening Keynote with George Steinmetz (University of Michigan)
Thursday, April 7
9:00am–10:30am
Opening Session: “Imperial States: The Waning of Empires and the Idea of the State. A Conversation with George Steinmetz”
Chair: Erik Linstrum
Panelists:
Emily Burrill (History)
Kevin Duong (Politics)
Isaac Reed (Sociology)
Jeff Olick (Sociology)
10:45am–12pm
Panel 1: Critical States: Visions and Voices from the Margins
Chair: Asher Biemann (UVA)
Panelists:
Malachi Hacohen (Duke): “Lynkeus and fin-de-siècle Viennese Progressivism: Centennial Reassessment”
Louise Hecht (Vienna/Katz Center): “Jewish intellectuals in Bohemia. The peer group of Popper-Lynkeus”
2:00pm–3:30pm
Panel 2: Alternate States: Reforming Life, Imagining Community
Chair: Marcel Schmid (UVA)
Panelists:
Eva Barlösius (University of Hannover): “Life Reform as Critique of the State”
Steven Press (Stanford): “European States and the Case of Neutral Moresnet, 1815-1919”
4:00pm–5:30pm
Panel 3: Ideal States: Utopian Visions at the Limits of the Political
Chair: Caroline Kahlenberg (UVA)
Panelists:
Claudia Willms (Goethe University, Frankfurt): “Franz Oppenheimer’s Utopian State”
Emma Davis (Northwestern, via Zoom): “Rejecting a ‘Political Surplus’: Brit Shalom’s Anti-Statist Zionism”
Dieter Hecht (Vienna/Katz Center): “Popper Lynkeus and Zionists in Vienna”
Friday, April 8
9:00am–10:30am
Panel 4: Social states: Welfare and Experimental Economies
Chair: Manuela Achilles (UVA)
Panelists:
Sarah Jacobson (University of Tennessee, Knoxville): “Challenging the Modern Welfare State: South Italian Migrants and Housing Activism in 1970s Italy and West Germany"
Anton Korinek (UVA): “Preparing for the (Non- Existent?) Future of Work”
10:30am
Tour of University Grounds for Conference Participants
12:00pm–1:00pm
Public Event with Austrian Ambassador His Excellency Martin Weiss
Locations
The opening keynote address took place at the Colonnade Club (Solarium Room).
Conference panelsw was held in New Cabell Hall 236.
The public lecture by Austrian Ambassador His Excellency Martin Weiss was given in Garrett Hall at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
Collaborating Programs
Supporting UVa units included the Virginia Center for the Study of Religion, the European Studies Program, the Center for German Studies, the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, the Jewish Studies Program, the Center for Politics, and the Department of Germanic Languages and Cultures. Sponsored by the Page Barbour Workshop Committee.
For more information, please contact Quintin Jepson, Assistant to the European Studies Program, qj3dq@virginia.edu.
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