VIENNA HUMANITIES FESTIVAL
PROGRAMM
BACKTRACKING INTELLECTUAL HISTORY, OR THE NEW WAVE OF HISTORICAL REVISIONISM
RICHARD BOURKE IN CONVERSATION WITH MISHA GLENNY
SAMSTAG, 30.09. 2023 / 11h00,
AKADEMIE DER BILDENDEN KÜNSTE WIEN, SITZUNGSSAAL
At a time when truth seems more volatile than ever, exploring history to analyze how societies interpreted specific occurrences or how philosophical ideas were generated and received by contemporaries can be risky, if not reckless. Nonetheless, understanding political concepts such as progress or justice within their original environment is an enlightening exercise, as it grants us an expanded perspective on what might be considered historically accurate. In conversation with IWM Rector MISHA GLENNY, Cambridge Professor of History of Political Thought RICHARD BOURKE will guide us on a journey through the birth, transformation and death of the ideas that have shaped political philosophy, illustrating the ever-complex tension between established truths of the past and the mutating circumstances of the present.
© RB
Richard Bourke is Professor of the History of Political Thought and a Fellow of King’s College at the University of Cambridge. His work focuses primarily on the history of political ideas. His most recent books include Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke (Princeton University Press, 2015) and Hegel’s World Revolutions (Princeton University Press, 2023). In addition to his scholarship, he has written reviews and opinion pieces for a variety of journalistic outlets. He has held visiting academic positions in Austria, Germany and the United States. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.