25.09.2026 – 27.09.2026
As part of the 14th International Søren Kierkegaard Conference on the theme ‘The Actualisation of the Totalitarian Problem: Subject, Truth and Resistance in Post-Totalitarian Reality’, Wolfgang Müller–Funk will deliver a lecture entitled ‘The Riddles of Power and Cruelty. In Dialogues with Hannah Arendt, Václav Havel, and Others’ and will present his book ‘Crudelitas – Twelve Chapters in a History of the Discourse on Cruelty’. Human beings ‘are also the cruel animal’: this radical thesis forms the starting point of his book. Müller-Funk understands cruelty as part of the process of civilisation and sheds light on an often obscured aspect of human evolution: artificial forms of violence that are neither accidental nor inevitable. Their uncanny allure lies in the promise of unhindered self-assertion. Through a dialogue with literature and philosophy, Müller-Funk ultimately opens up ways to resist the temptations of cruelty.
Kierkegaard Conference
25.09.2026 – 27.09.2026
Austrian Cultural Forum Ljubljana
https://austriakulturdigital.at
