Ludovika University Press has announced it is republishing two of the famed 20th-century Hungarian American philosopher Thomas Molnar’s books, The American Way of Life and A Critique of the Ideal State. To celebrate the occasion, the university also hosted a book launch event on 7 March at their Budapest campus.
Director of the Eötvös József Research Centre at Ludovika University Bernát Török greeted the attendees with a brief speech. In it, he stressed that this new publication is only a part of the university’s broader programme to republish many of Molnar’s work. He believes that his ideas are extremely relevant today, and even called him ‘a visionary’.
At the following panel, Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America Jeffrey Wilson, Professor of Political Science at Budapest Corvinus University Balázs M Mezei, and Professor of History at Eötvös Loránd University and former Ambassador to Ireland Tamás Magyarics gathered for a discussion.
Professor Mezei spoke first, adding that Ludovika is not only republishing the works of Thomas Molnar, but other great Hungarian thinkers as well, such as John Lukacs. In fact, this very event took place in a building named after Lukacs. As for Molnar, he cited his idea of the necessity to return from utopianism to what he called ‘divine reality’. He also shared that the notion of utopia has biblical origins. Specifically, in the Book of Revelations, a dystopian and utopian vision is described after the battle between good and evil.
Professor Wilson explained that there is a distinction between left-wing and right-wing utopianism. Left-wing utopianism, he explained, is mostly based on the ideas of Karl Marx and Immanuel Kant. Meanwhile, right-wing utopianism is based on Arminianism, a rival theology to Calvinism within the Protestant movement which purported that perfection is achievable by humans. Calvinism, on the other hand, regards human beings as innately flawed. Professor Wilson believes that the founders of the United States were more influenced by Calvinism, which prompted them to include a checks-and-balances mechanism in their new form of government.
‘Calvinism…regards human beings as innately flawed’
Professor Magyarics drew a parallel between the utopianism that Molnar wrote about and that of the Puritans of colonial America. As for the idea of a superior American way of life, he stated that at times the US was trying to propagate that around the world in peaceful ways, and at times in not so peaceful ways, such as in the case of the neocons of the early 21st century. He also shared that the idea of American exceptionalism has been present in American leadership for a long time. A prime example of that would be the foreign policy of President Woodrow Wilson during and after World War I.
Professor Wilson then revealed that, despite being a conservative, he is no fan of President Trump. He described him as both incompetent and arrogant; and stated that America became the wealthiest when it was generous with other nations, namely with the Marshall Plan after World War II during President Truman’s administration.
On the other hand, Professor Magyarics had a more measured take on the topic. He explained that former British diplomat Robert Cooper describes three categories of power: the utopianistic, moralist post-modern; the realist modern one based on a balance of power; and a pre-modern, tribal, less sophisticated power. He believes that the Trump administration is moving away from the post-modern approach to geopolitical power, and is closer to the modern idea of power. A similar thing occurred during the Nixon administration, when, in an effort led by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the US started to de-escalate tensions with its Cold War foes Soviet Union and China, and beaome more open to cooperating with them if it served their national interests.
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