Leonidas Donskis
Leonidas Donskis (13 August 1962 – 21 September 2016) was a Lithuanian-Jewish philosopher, political theorist, historian of ideas, social analyst, and political commentator, professor of politics and head of "VDU Academia Cum Laude" at Vytautas Magnus University, Honorary Consul of Finland in Kaunas and deputy chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. He was also the member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2014.As a public figure in Lithuania, he acted as a defender of human rights and civil liberties. In 2004, Donskis has been awarded by the European Commission the title of the Ambassador for Tolerance and Diversity in Lithuania. A center-right politician, he has always been opposed to all extreme or exclusionary attitudes and forms of violent politics, and, instead, has been leaning to liberalism with its advocacy of individual reason and conscience, ability to coexist with democratic programs of other non-exclusive ideologies, and moderation.
He died on 21 September 2016, in Vilnius Airport of an apparent heart attack. Provided by Wikipedia
Niccolò Machiavelli : history, power, and virtue /
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This volume is an attempt to rethink Niccolò Machiavelli, one of the most challenging political thinkers in the history of European political thought. In 2013, we will mark 500 years since Machiavelli wrote his puzzling letter to Lorenzo de' Medici, Il Principe . This book is an endeavor to cover some of the most complex aspects of Machiavelli's life and work.
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"This book is the outcome of a series of international seminars on Niccolò Machiavelli and early modern European political philosophy held at Vytautas Magnus University School of Political Science and Diplomacy in Kaunas, Lithuania"--Page [ix]. :
1 online resource (114 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789042032781 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Yet another Europe after 1984 : rethinking Milan Kundera and the idea of Central Europe /
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Much of the debates in this book revolves around Milan Kundera and his 1984 essay "The Tragedy of Central Europe." Kundera wrote his polemical text when the world was pregnant with imminent social and political change, yet that world was still far from realizing that we would enter the last decade of the twentieth century with the Soviet empire and its network of satellite states missing from the political mappages Kundera was challenged by Joseph Brodsky and György Konrád for allegedly excluding Russia from the symbolic space of Europe, something the great author deeply believes he never did. To what extent was Kundera right in assuming that, if to exist means to be present in the eyes of those we love, then Central Europe does not exist anymore, just as Western Europe as we knew it has stopped existing? What were the mental, cultural, and intellectual realities that lay beneath or behind his beautiful and graceful metaphors? Are we justified in rehabilitating political optimism at the beginning of the twenty-first century? Are we able to reconcile the divided memories of Eastern or Central Europe and Western Europe regarding what happened to the world in 1968? And where is Central Europe now?
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International conference proceedings. :
1 online resource (x, 223 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789401208178 :
0929-8436 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Academia in crisis : dystopic optimism and postalgic realism in university life /
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Academia is standing at a junction in time. Behind lies the community of the curious, ahead the mass and the market. This book joins in a growing stream of works that explore the vicissitudes of present-day European universities in what Bauman coined as liquid times. Here, a number of concerned (engaged) European scholars attempt to defend and brush up academic core values and practices, starting from their own life worlds and positions in higher education. They share the view that there is no point in turning back, nor in mechanically marching straight on. Above all, they uphold that there is no alternative to treasuring academia as a space for thinking together. Hopefully the fruit of this sine qua non invites to think with, and envision academic activism. Contributors are Samuel Abraham, Stefano Bianchini, Simon Charlesworth, Leonidas Donskis, Frans Kamsteeg, Joost van Loon, Ida Sabelis, Tamara Shefer and Harry Wels.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004402034 :
0929-8436 ;
Politics otherwise : Shakespeare as social and political critique /
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The book is comprised of essays that utilize Shakespeare as a productive window into topics of contemporary social and political relevance. Its interdisciplinary qualities make the book relevant for students of political studies, literature, philosophy, cultural studies, and history.
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1 online resource (xiv, 180 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789401207461 :
0929-8436 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.