Kurt Lenk

Kurt Lenk (born January 30, 1929 in Kaaden , Czechoslovakia ) is a German political scientist .

He studied in Frankfurt am Main a . a. with Adorno , Horkheimer and Carlo Schmid . In 1956 he received his doctorate. After completing his habilitation at the University of Marburg , he was a private lecturer and scientific adviser. In 1966 he moved to the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and taught there until 1972. After that he was director of the Institute for Political Science at RWTH Aachen University until his retirement in 1994. His main focus was primarily on conservatism and right-wing extremism in Germany . Lenk published numerous books on ideology and conservatism.

Theories of revolution

The work published in 1973 (2nd edition 1981) tries to clarify the concept of revolution . In it, Lenk structures the “multifaceted topic of the revolution” and reconstructs various revolution theories . He explains the dialectic of the revolution in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and compares it with the revolution theories of Michail Bakunin , Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Ferdinand Lassalle , especially the differences in the concept of the revolutionary state and in the principle of anarchy .

Lenk examines the relationship between reform and revolution in the politics of the Socialist International in the course of the 19th century and shows how the radical left , using the example of Rosa Luxemburg, derived its theory, which gave the masses a decisive role in revolutionary events. Lenk compares the roles of spontaneity and organization in the theories of Luxemburg and Lenin . As the last theory of revolution, Lenk describes Leon Trotsky's “ theory of permanent revolution ” and compares it with Stalin's theses in the work Foundations of Leninism.

Political Sociology

Published in 1982, Lenk focuses on clarifying ideology-related and prejudice-bound terms in this work. Its intention is to explain various terms using a “neutral” political science method. It is important to him that this happens without prior definitions, prejudices or emotions. In particular, Lenk is dedicated to clarifying the concept of politics. He also goes into the public perception. Furthermore, he tries to explain the emergence of resentment within the population towards the concept of politics using sociological methods . In the further course of this work, Lenk then devotes himself to the analysis of key terms in political science such as: power and violence , rule , bureaucracy , elite , democracy as well as mentality and publicity . Many of his works are introductions for students who want to study the basic concepts of political science and its problems.

ideology

In his work Ideology , first published in 1961 , Lenk tries to clarify the concept of ideology and to point out the problem of ideology. He uses the terms of the Cold War as examples, and Critical Rationalism and Critical Theory as methods . In the work, Lenk wants to show the political intention of ideology-critical academic work and the legitimacy crisis of established state systems. In order to contribute to the identification of the critical consciousness, he questions the historical, socio-economic and political aspects of the ideological problem using various political and sociological works.

The structure of the work: In the chapter Criticism of Religion , Lenk u. a. Ludwig Feuerbach and Sigmund Freud . In the chapter on Marx's criticism of ideology and its further training , Lenk deals with works by Karl Marx and Ernst Bloch . He then examines the “positivist theory of ideology” of Auguste Comte and Theodor Geiger and closes with the German sociology of knowledge (with an excerpt from a work by Karl Mannheim ).

In his work Rechts, wo der Mitte ist , Lenk took up the subject again in 1994 and proposed a division of the ideology complex into four types of ideology .

Marx in the sociology of knowledge

In this work, published in 1972, Lenk devotes himself to the correction and reconstruction of Marx's ideological criticism, which he considers necessary due to the falsification by vulgar Marxism and German sociology. First, Lenk analyzes German sociology using the guidelines of ideological criticism. Lenk first deals with the concept of ideology as used by Marx and Hegel , and then makes a structural comparison between the teachings of Marx and Freud. He then devotes himself to the concept of ideology in Mannheim. The next chapter is called: The powerlessness of the spirit.

The last section explains Max Weber's solution to Theodor Geiger's value judgment dispute on criticism of ideology . The original version of this study was Lenk's habilitation thesis in 1964 at the philosophical faculty in Marburg an der Lahn and at that time was entitled: Ideology Concept and Marx Reception in the German Sociology of Knowledge.

German conservatism

German Conservatism is probably Kurt Lenk's best-known work. It was published in 1989. Beginning with a historically specifying interpretation of the definition of conservatism , Lenk also refers to the studies on German conservatism by Karl Mannheim , which he considers outstanding, and refers to any newer approaches in this research area. First of all, Lenk analyzes and explains the structures of conservative thinking and above all refers to the problem of continuity in the sense of constant intellectual motives of conservatism (e.g. the idea of ​​political rule, which is conferred and legitimized by a higher authority).

Even confidence in the "reason of institutions" and the concomitant belief in the need Selbiger in the sense of Hobbes ' rule of man set forth by steering. The difference between liberal and conservative thinking is also explicitly analyzed by Lenk.

Then Lenk explains the historical stages of classical conservatism, which he divides as follows:

• Early conservatism
• Critique of equality
• Political interpretation of the revolution
• Comparison of the values ​​of authority and autonomy
• Historical reference
• The idea of ​​the state

Finally, Lenk deals with conservatism and neoconservatism in the Federal Republic of Germany from the post-war period to post- modernism and, in particular, deals with the change in terms (using the example of totalitarian democracy) and the value clashes of the conservatives, especially after reunification.

Publications

• From the impotence of the spirit. Critical presentation of Max Scheler's late philosophy . Tübingen 1959

• People and state. Structural change in political ideologies in the 19th and 20th centuries . Stuttgart 1971

• How democratic is parliamentarianism? Stuttgart, Kohlhammer 1972, ISBN 3-17-233021-4
• Political science. A floor plan . Stuttgart 1975
• State authority and social theory . Munich 1980
• Theories of revolution. Munich 1973; 2nd edition 1981
• Political Sociology. Structures and forms of integration in society. Stuttgart 1982
• Ideology. Criticism of ideology and sociology of knowledge. 9th edition. Frankfurt a. M. 1984
• Marx in the sociology of knowledge. Studies on the reception of Marx's criticism of ideology. 2nd Edition. Lueneburg 1986
• (together with Berthold Franke): Theory of Politics . Frankfurt / M. 1987
• German conservatism. Frankfurt a. M. 1989
• Right where the middle is. Studies on ideology: right-wing extremism, National Socialism, conservatism . Nomos, Baden-Baden 1994
• Thought leaders of the new right. Frankfurt a. M./New York 1997
• From Marx to Critical Theory. Thirty interventions. Munster 2009

Web links

• Literature by and about Kurt Lenk in the catalog of the German National Library