2021 – 2023: Philosophy in Socialist Romania. A Case Study in Institutionalized Thought
ABSTRACT
The present project offers an in-depth analysis of philosophical thought under the communist regime in Romania, combining hermeneutical analysis with comparative, historical, and quantitative research. Its main intention is to expose how the institutionalization of philosophical thought between the late 1940s and 1989 addressed the relationship between knowledge, politics, and social practice in ways that still inform the role of philosophy today.
The project analyzes philosophy as a discipline on its own terms, following its repeated reconfigurations during this period in an attempt to invest it with a new theoretical, but also social and political function. At the same time, it offers a periodization of the local philosophical production (including translations) in relation to sociopolitical changes (Sovietization, de-Stalinization, national communism), similarly to the recent historiographies of other fields, such as sociology, literature, and literary translation.
In making use of a comparative approach, it regards philosophy in relation to other disciplines (literature, literary theory and critique, sociology, etc.) and it moves beyond methodological nationalism by considering local philosophy in its transnational context. In reflecting both on the relationship of philosophy under communism with the philosophy of the interwar period and on its repercussions for the academic practice of philosophy in Romania today, it proves highly topical in a contemporary perspective.
PROJECT INFO
- Project director: Dr. Alexandru CISTELECAN
- Project title: Philosophy in Socialist Romania. A Case Study in Institutionalized Thought.
- Project code: PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-0707
- Contract no.: PCE 141/ 2021
- Program: Fundamental and Frontier Research. Exploratory Research Projects (PCE)
- Financed by: UEFISCDI
- Period of Time: January 2021 – December 2023
- Funding: 1.197.938 lei
RESEARCH TEAM
- Dr. Alexandru CISTELECAN, PCE Project Director
- Dr. Christian FERENCZ-FLATZ, Senior Researcher
- Dr. Ștefan BAGHIU, Postdoctoral Researcher
- Dr. Adela HÎNCU, Postdoctoral Researcher
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EVENTS
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2021-2023
Executive Summary
In the third phase of the research project, the team’s work, according to the initial work plan, focused on the last decades (1970-1980) of Romanian communism and its philosophy, following the milestones proposed in the initial project: reconstructing the evolution of philosophy in communist Romania until 1989; analyzing the gradual depoliticization and professionalization of philosophy in the last communist decades; and mapping the last generation of philosophers who worked under communism.
This research has materialized in four ISI articles published or submitted for publication (Christian Ferencz-Flatz, Alexandru Cistelecan, “From Fertile Hostility to Stale Benevolence”; Alexandru Cistelecan, „From Official Ideology to Forgotten Theory: The Curious Case of ‘State Monopoly Capitalism’ in Communist Romania”; Alexandru Cistelecan, Christian Ferencz-Flatz, Adela Hincu, Stefan Baghiu, „Philosophy in Socialist Romania. A Synthetic Survey’; Christian Ferencz-Flatz, Stefan Baghiu, „Cyberaesthetics in Communist Romania”), one antology of the most representative philosophical texts produced in communist Romania, with an introduction by the project team, published in a BDI journal; one edited volume, with the title „Oddities and Orthodoxies in the Philosophy of State Socialism” which has been submitted, and accepted by CEU Press, and which will be published in Open Access; and four presentations at international conferences (Ștefan Baghiu/ Alex. Cistelecan/ Christian Ferencz-Flatz/Adela Hîncu, panel „Revisiting state socialist philosophy”. Historical Materialism Athens. State in/and Crisis. Theory and Movement in a Dangerous World, Athens; Adela Hîncu, “Transnational Marxism-Leninism? Ideological Innovation in 1970s Eastern Europe,” panel “Historical research on transnational social science after 1945,” ENIUGH Congress: Conflict and Inequity, Peace and Justice: Local, Regional and International Perspectives, Haga; Ștefan Baghiu/ Alex. Cistelecan/ Christian Ferencz-Flatz/Adela Hîncu, “Revisiting Eastern European State Socialism: Romania as Paradigm and as Exception,” John Cabot University, Rome; Adela Hîncu, “The Practice of Disciplines: Configurations of scholarly internationalism in the social sciences in 1970s Romania,” panel Socialist Internationalism in Science and Scholarship: Decentering Perspectives from Central Europe,” ASEEES 55th Annual Convention, Philadelphia).
Over the three years, the project has accomplished its stated objectives, in articulating a multi-level analysis of philosophy in socialist Romania, focusing on: a) The Hermeneutics of the Local Philosophical Output, analyzing the relation between philosophy and i. social practice; ii. other sciences; and iii. the history of philosophy; b) The Structure and Historical Dynamics of the Local Context; and c) the transnational context. With its publications and conferences, the project team fulfilled the results announced at its beginning – producing 8 ISI articles, 8 BDI articles, participating at 12 international conferences, organizing an international conference and submitting an international edited volume.
2021-2023
- Alexandru Cistelecan, Christian Ferencz-Flatz: From Fertile Hostility to Stale Benevolence. Guest editors’ introduction, in: Studies in East European Thought, 75 (3), 2023;
- Alexandru Cistelecan: Review of: Nicolas Tertulian, Modernité et antihumanisme. Les combats philosophiques de Georg Lukács, in: Studies in East European Thought, 75 (3), 2023;
- Adela Hîncu, Alexandru Cistelecan, Christian Ferencz-Flatz, Ștefan Baghiu: Filozofia din România comunistă, in: Vatra, 5-6, 2023;
- Alexandru Cistelecan, Christian Ferencz-Flatz: Encounters: East/West Dialogues on Existence, in: Studies in East European Thought, 75 (3), 2022;
- Adela Hîncu, Ștefan Baghiu: Existentialism, existentialists, and Marxism: From critique to integration within the philosophical establishment in Socialist Romania, in: Studies in East European Thought, 75 (3);
- Alexandru Cistelecan, Industrial Policy, Labor Relations, and Ideology in Early Communist Romania, in: Transylvanian Review,XXXI/2022 (1);
- Alexandru Cistelecan, Materialism dialectic si istoric in comunismul românesc (2), in: Transilvania, Vol. 6-7/2022;
- Alexandru Cistelecan, Dialectica primăverii și normalizării, in: Vatra, vo. 5-6/2022;
- Adela Hîncu: Social Science and Marxism Humanism Beyond Collectivism in Socialist Romania, in: History of the Human Sciences 2022 (35/ 2);
- Alexandru Cistelecan: Materialism dialectic și istoric în comunismul românesc (I), in: Revista Transilvania, nr. 11-12/2021, pp. 14-26, ISSN: 0255-0539;
- Christian Ferencz-Flatz: Estetica vieții cotidieneîn filozofia RSR, in: Revista Transilvania, nr. 11-12/2021, pp. 3-13, ISSN: 0255-0539;
- Ștefan Baghiu: Structuralismul în revistele de filozofie din România comunistă: respingere și acomodare (1954-1967), in: Revista Transilvania, nr. 11-12/2021, pp. 27-36, ISSN: 0255-0539;
- Ștefan Baghiu: W.E.B. Du Bois în studiile contemporane: conștiința dublă și modernitatea rasializată, in: Revista Transilvania, nr. 2/2021, pp. 22-30, ISSN: 0255-0539;
- Alexandru Cistelecan: Veșnicia modernității, in: Vatra, nr. 3-4/ 2021, pp. 54-55, ISSN: 1220-6334;
- Alexandru Cistelecan: Peripețiile filozofiei marxiste în comunismul românesc, in: Vatra, nr. 7-8/ 2021, pp. 155-157, ISSN: 1220-6334;
- Alexandru Cistelecan: “XXX”, submitted for publication at „xxx” (Web of Science) (under review);
- Alexandru Cistelecan, Christian Ferencz-Flatz, Adela Hincu, Stefan Baghiu: “XXX”, submitted for publication at „xxx” (Web of Science) (under review);
- Ștefan Baghiu, Christian Ferencz-Flatz: “XXX”, submitted for publication at „xxx” (Web of Science) (under review).
2023
- Adela Hîncu: The Practice of Disciplines: Configurations of scholarly internationalism in the social sciences in 1970s Romania, in panel Socialist Internationalism in Science and Scholarship: Decentering Perspectives from Central Europe, at the ASEEES 55th Annual Convention, Philadelphia, 30 November-3 December;
- Ștefan Baghiu, Alexandru Cistelecan, Christian Ferencz-Flatz, Adela Hîncu: Roundtable Revisiting Eastern European State Socialism: Romania as Paradigm and as Exception, at John Cabot University, Roma, 13 November 2023;
- Adela Hîncu: Transnational Marxism-Leninism? Ideological Innovation in 1970s Eastern Europe,” at the ENIUGH Congress: Conflict and Inequity, Peace and Justice: Local, Regional and International Perspectives, Haga, 29 June-1 July 2023;
- Roundtable Revisting state socialist philosophy at the interantional conference Historical Materialism Athens 2023: State in/and Crisis. Theory and Movement in a Dangerous World, 20-23 April 2023, Panteion University, Athens. Participants: Ștefan Baghiu, Una Blagojevic, Alexandru Cistelecan, Christian Ferencz-Flatz, Adela Hîncu, Jiri Ruzicka.
2022
- Christian Ferencz-Flatz & Adela Hâncu: From ecological crisis to ecological revolution: Marxist reflections on the “Limits to growth”, at the conference of the Society for Romanian Studies: Borders and Transfers, 15-17 June, Timișoara;
- Alexandru Cistelecan & Ștefan Baghiu: World outlooks and foreign policy in communist Romania, at the conference of the Society for Romanian Studies: Borders and Transfers, 15-17 June, Timișoara;
- Christian Ferencz-Flatz: Walter Benjamin in Romania, at the international conference Walter Benjamin in the East: Networks, Conflicts, and Reception, 7-9 July, Berlin;
- Adela Hâncu & Christian Ferencz-Flatz: Ecologie și filozofia științei în România comunistă, at the 2nd edition of the Summer School Ecologii ale emancipării: Știință, stat, societate, 31 August-04 September 2022, Câmpu Cetății;
- Alexandru Cistelecan & Ștefan Baghiu: Futurologii comuniste, at the 2nd edition of the Summer School Ecologii ale emancipării: Știință, stat, societate, 31 August-04 September 2022, Câmpu Cetății;
- Adela Hîncu, Women Philosophers in Socialist Romania: Gendered Subjectivities / Epistemologies?, at the international conference Rethinking Intellectual History in East Central Europe. Transformation of Identities in Central Europe and Politicisation of the Masses, 2–4 September 2022, Faculty of Arts, Bratisalva;
- Adela Hîncu, Crisis and late socialist Marxist theories of global dependency and the world system in Romania, at the international conference Transforming State Socialism in East-Central Europe Historical Sociology of the Long Change, 30 September – 1 October 2022, University of Warsaw;
- Christian Ferencz-Flatz & Adela Hâncu: From ecological crisis to ecological revolution: Philosophical reflections on The Limits to Growth in Socialist Romania, at the international conference Oddities and orthodoxies in the Philosophy of State Socialism, 10-11 November 2022, Cluj-Napoca;
- Alexandru Cistelecan & Ștefan Baghiu: Futurology in Communist Romania, at the international conference Oddities and orthodoxies in the Philosophy of State Socialism, 10-11 November 2022, Cluj-Napoca.
2021
- Adela Hincu & Stefan Baghiu: The Other of Marxism-Leninism: Debates on Existentialism in 1950s Romania, at the Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), December 1-3 (online);
- Alexandru Cistelecan: Materialism dialectic și istoric în comunismul românesc [Dialectical and Historical Materialism in Romanian Communism], at Ecologies of Emancipation summer school, organized by tranzit.ro/Cluj, Câmpu Cetății, 1-5 September;
- Adela Hîncu: Revizionism marxist şi istoria intelectuală a comunismului în România [Marxist Revisionism and the Intellectual History of Communism in Romania], at: Ecologies of Emancipation summer school, organized by tranzit.ro/Cluj, Câmpu Cetății, 1-5 September;
- Christian Ferencz-Flatz: Filozofie și design în România socialistă [Philosophy and Design in Socialist Romania], at Ecologies of Emancipation summer school, organized by tranzit.ro/Cluj, Câmpu Cetății, 1-5 September;
- Ștefan Baghiu, Realism socialist și realism capitalist [„Socialist Realism and Capitalist Realism”], at Ecologies of Emancipation summer school, organized by tranzit.ro/Cluj, Câmpu Cetății, 1-5 September.