page_title: Lajos Szabó
section_title: Lajos Szabó, the philosopher
hierarchical_section_title: Lajos Szabó / Lajos Szabó, the philosopher
context_page_description: Lajos Szabó was a Hungarian philosopher and one of the founders of the Budapest Dialogical School.
context_section_description: Although the knowledge of Marxism and its ways of thinking were indeed present in Lajos Szabó's thinking, his main sources were existentialist thinkers in particular the twentieth-century philosophy of the dialogue represented by Franz Rosenzweig and, above all, Ferdinand Ebner (Das Wort and die geistigen Realitäten). 
  These are the most important topics in the writings of Lajos Szabó:
  An emphasis was placed on the organic unity of the European tradition as a whole, including the arts, science, philosophy and religion.
  The unity of language and thinking and the methodological use of this conviction were emphasized.
  Based on the above and also on an anti-materialist and anti-Marxist theory of values, all value-creating processes (including the production of material goods) were attributed to 'research'.
  Research in this broad sense was considered to be a fundamental human activity. It was believed to include not only scientific research but also all types of arts and all human acts that indeed bring something new into the world, evidently not out of thin air, but inspired by cultural, linguistic and philosophical traditions.
  His most-cited work, written together with his close associate, Béla Tábor, is Vádirat a szellem ellen (Indictment of the Spirit) consists of three parts.
  This book takes the whole of intellectual life to account: "Someone should at last undertake performing the embarrassing task, and pull off the veil of innocence from the only factor which has remained intact so far in a world splintered along conflicting interests and characterised by the bellum omnium contra omnes, the spirit. (…) We are aware that when we undertake revealing intellectual life we become traitors to the class of intelligentsia. The «creative intelligentsia» seems to have had a very good time in the position which it occupied in the invisible hierarchy of society. It was the social class which could accuse without being accused, which could pass judgements without being judged.  (…) This is an elegant and risk-free position to take. Nations fought terrible battles, millions died and the spirit could be the accuser: come and behold the work of politicians! Masses live in abject poverty, classes lose the ground below their feet, the mechanism of production bogs down, and the spirit can assume the role of the accuser: come and behold the social structure! Terrible epidemics decimate whole peoples and sordid sins are revealed, and the spirit can become the accuser again: come and see today's health-care! And what if we also mentioned all the depraved standards of morality! And all the accusations brought up by the intelligentsia are accompanied by a gestures of being ignored: if only the spirit could assume power…!"
  The first part of the Indictment of the Spirit deals with the ongoing fragmentation of the spirit, which can be primarily seen in the arts and humanities. In this process language as a rational means of dialogue is ruined. The spirit renounces its leadership role, and pursues modest goals. This crisis can only be overcome if everyone who devotes their energies to researching a problem considers all the other proposed solutions to the problem as a personal challenge as a personal question addressed to them. The representatives of the spirit have to be aware of their own character traits, and also know, that in addition to influencing the masses, they themselves should learn from them.
  The second part of this work deals with the practice and the theory of the spirit.  The authors point out that the spirit has retreated into the theory, accepting at the same time the fact that practice has subjugated theory.
  The third part of the book deals with the "geography of the spirit" The problem of Marxism, the authors point out, is that the objective of this movement, i.e. the creation of a new man, is not compatible with the dictatorial means whereby this objective is to be achieved. 
  The authors, followers of the philosophy of the dialogue, assert that the main cause of the crisis is the helplessness of the spirit.
  In his review, Bél
caption: Lajos Vajda: Montage with Lajos Szabó, 1930–33, montage and pastel on paper. 49.66 × 54.5 cm (19.6 × 21.5 in)
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