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Possessed: Imre Lakatos' Road to 1956

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2008

Lee Congdon
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Extract

Of those Hungarian intellectuals who fled abroad after the 1956 revolution, the maverick philosopher Imre Lakatos achieved the greatest prominence. In 1959, nearly three years after he reached England's shores and two years before he completed his doctorate at Cambridge, he began a brilliant teaching career at the London School of Economics and Political Science. ‘A lecture by Lakatos was always an occasion’, his colleague John Watkins has recalled, ‘the room crowded, the atmosphere electric, and from time to time a gale of laughter.’1

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Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , November 1997 , pp. 279 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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References

1 Watkins, John, ‘Lakatos, Imre’, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Biographical Supplement, Vol. XVIII (New York: The Free Press, 1979), 402.Google Scholar

2 In 1976, two years after his death, two of his students edited a book-length version of the extended essay as Proofs and Refutations: The Logic of Mathematical Discovery, ed. John Worrall and Elie Zahar (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976).

3 Popper wrote a letter of congratulation in August 1964. ‘I love this paper of yours, and I have recommended it to many people the world over. It is a flawless piece of art, and the greatest advent in the philosophy of mathematics since the great logical discoveries around 1930–32.’ Cited in John Watkins, ‘Karl Popper: A Memoir’, The American Scholar (Spring 1997), 212.

4 Lakatos, Proofs and Refutations, 49n.

5 Jacob Lipsitz to Imre Lakatos, 9 June 1971, Imre Lakatos Papers, File 13/268, British Library of Political and Economic Science (thereafter BLPES), London, UK. I am grateful to Professor John Worrall for granting me permission to quote from the Imre Lakatos Papers.

6 See Zimán-Izsák, Mária, Betu″sírko″ Évának (Verbal Monument to Éva) (Israel, 1989), 44.Google Scholar

7 Although a majority of Hungarians were Roman Catholic, Catholicism was viewed as the religion of the Austrian Habsburgs.

8 The Arrow Cross was a fascist and anti-Semitic movement.

9 Interview with Gábor Vajda conducted by Alex Bandy, AP correspondent in Budapest, Budapest, 1992. I am grateful to Mr Bandy for the series of interviews he conducted on my behalf.

10 Gábor Vajda to Michael F. Hallett, 25 Nov. 1980, Imre Lakatos Papers, File 11.2 (g), BLPES.

11 István Márkus interview. Conducted by László Kardos in 1989. Oral History Archive of the Institute on 1956 (Budapest), ccxvii. 185.

12 Alex Bandy, interviews with Sándor Lukácsy, Mrs Ferenc Mérei, Gábor Mihályi and Béla Köpeczi, Budapest 1992.

13 Alex Bandy, interview with Mrs Ferenc Mérei. Szabó is an internationally known philologist and historian of Greek mathematics – and a former Communist. He dedicated the English edition of his book, The Beginnings of Greek Mathematics, 1978, ‘to the memory of my friend Imre Lakatos’.

14 Testimony of Weisz and Wettemek to the Nagyvárad political police, 1945. See Zimán-Izsák, Betu″sírko″ Évának, 34, 55.

15 ibid., 42.

16 ibid., 37.

17 See Imre Lakatos, ‘Modem fizika, modem társadalom’ (Modern Physics, Modem Society), Imre Lakatos Papers, File 1.8, 356n., BLPES; and Szerdahelyi, István, Lukács György (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1988), 194.Google Scholar To a large extent, Lakatos always remained a dialectician.

18 See my ‘From “Geschichte und Klassenbewusstsein” to the Blum Theses’, in Marcus, Judith and Tarr, Zoltán, eds, Georg Lukács: Theory, Culture, and Politics (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1989), 169–79.Google Scholar

19 Lakatos, Imre, ‘Citoyen és munkásosztály’ (Citoyen and Working Class), Valóság, Vol. 2, no. 6–9 (1946), 88.Google Scholar In England, Lakatos became a friend of Arthur Koestler, Hungarian-born author of the famous anti-Communist novel Darkness at Noon.

20 Varga, János F., ‘A Magyar Radikális Párt újjáalakulása 1945-ben’ (The Re-establishment of the Hungarian Radical Party in 1945), Történelmi Szemle, Vol. 18, no. 1 (1975), 98–9.Google Scholar

21 See Jászi, Oszkár, Jászi Oszkár publicisztikája (Oszkár Jászi's Publicism), ed. Litván, György and Varga, János F. (Budapest: Magveto″ Könyvkiadó, 1982), 453–8.Google Scholar

22 Lakatos, Imre, Huszadik Század, (Twentieth-century), Forum, Vol. 2 (1947), 316–18.Google Scholar

23 Alex Bandy, interviews with Gábor Vajda and with József Szigeti, Budapest, 1997.

24 Király, István, ‘A múltról a mának: Beszélgetés (From the Past to the Present: Conversation)’, Kritika, No. 4 (1981), 7;Google Scholar Szerdahelyi, Lukács György, 210–11.

25 Hegedüs, András, A történelem és a hatalom igézetében: Életrajzi elemzések (Under the Spell of History and Power: Biographical Analyses) (Budapest: Kossuth Könyvkiadó, 1988), 46.Google Scholar

26 Hegedüs, András, Élet egy eszme ámyékában (Life in the Shadow of an Idea) (Budapest: Bethlen Gábor Könyvkiadó, 1989), 47.Google Scholar At the time of the 1956 revolution, Hegedüs was the Stalinist Prime Minister of Hungary. Later still he became a sociologist and a leading dissident.

27 Lakatos, Imre, ‘Molnár Erik: Dialektika’ (Erik Molnár: Dialectics), Valóság, Vol. 2 (1946), 77.Google Scholar

28 Alex Bandy, interview with Dezso″ Keresztury, Budapest 1992; see also Keresztury, Dezso″, ‘Emlékezés az Eötvös Collegium utolsó éveire’ (Recollections of Eötvös College's Last Years), Valóság Vol. 32, no. 3 (1989), 67.Google Scholar

29 Keresztury, ‘Emlékezés’, 67.

30 Fodor, András, A Kollégium: Napló, 1947–1950 (The College: Diary, 1947–1950) (Budapest: Magvetzo″ Könyvkiadó, 1991), 186, 343.Google Scholar

31 Keresztury, ‘Emlékezés’, 67.

32 Lakatos, Imre, ‘Eötvös Collegium – Györffy Kollégium (Az Eötvös Collegium a mérlegen)’ (Eötvös College – Györffy College [Eötvös College in the Balance]), Valóság, Vol. 3 (1947), 280–91.Google Scholar

33 ibid., 296.

34 As a result of the Ausgleich, Hungary gained virtual home rule in exchange for continued allegiance to the Habsburg monarchy.

35 Kossuth led Hungary during the 1848–9 War of Independence against Austria; Peto″fi was a Romantic poet and Jacobin revolutionary who died fighting in the same war; Ady was a great poet and political radical of the fin de siècle.

36 Lakatos, , ‘Eötvös Collegium – Györffy Kollégium’, 311.Google Scholar

37 Collegium ifjúsága, Eötvös, ‘Válasz Lakatos Imre cikkére’ (Reply to Imre Lakatos’ Article), Valóság, Vol. 3 (1947), 312–22.Google Scholar

38 Alex Bandy, interview with Dezso″ Keresztury.

39 Alex Bandy, interview with Sándor Lukácsy.

40 Alex Bandy, interviews with Gábor Vajda and with Árpád Szabó, Budapest, 1992.

41 The document – which can be found in the section of the Hungarian National Archives reserved for documents relating to the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party – contains the minutes of the Committee's disciplinary hearing concerning charges brought by the Romanian Communist Party and stemming from Lakatos’ and Levente Soós’ involvement in Éva Izsák's suicide. Access to such documents is, except in very special cases, restricted for 30 years from the time of the subject's death. This document was obtained by Mária Zimán-Izsák and given to Dr Jancis Long, a psychologist who is also doing research on Lakatos. Dr Long kindly allowed me to review it.

42 Maier, John, ‘Vienna Report’, No. 6, 4–5 Dec. 1956, 24.Google Scholar Rockefeller Archive Center, N. Tarrytown, NY.

43 Bandy, Alex, interview with Ágnes Heller, Budapest, 1997.Google Scholar

44 Bandy, Alex, interview with Miklós Szabolcsi, Budapest, 1997.Google Scholar József Szigeti, who had no reason to lie in this regard, has testified that ‘Révai hated Lakatos’. Alex Bandy, interview with József Szigeti. Then, too, Lakatos had reason to believe that Révai was heading for a fall. The atmosphere within the Party was Byzantine.

45 Zoltán Zsámboki interview, conducted by András Kovács in 1987–8. Oral History Archive of the Institute on 1956 (Budapest), Vol. 3, 130.

46 Bandy, Alex, ‘Inmates Revisit Hungary's Gulag Hell’, Budapest Week, Vol. 6, no. 31 (1996), 3.Google Scholar

47 Jacob Lipsitz's letter to Lakatos, 26 April 1957, Imre Lakatos Papers, File 13/265, BLPES; Lakatos does not seem to have retained a copy of his letter to his father. But see Faludy, George, My Happy Days in Hell, trans. Szasz, Kathleen (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1962), 333–469Google Scholar, and Alex Bandy, ‘A néma tábor’ (The Silent Camp), unpublished paper.

48 Sztáray, Zoltán, ‘A recski kényszermunkatábor’ (The Forced Labour Camp at Recsk), Új Látóhatár, Vol. 32, no. 3–4 (1981), 382.Google Scholar

49 Bandy, Alex, interview with Tivadar Pártay, Budapest, 1992.Google Scholar

50 Telephone interview with Professor Paul Jonas (Pál Jónás), 10 Sept. 1996. Gábor Vajda told Alex Bandy (1997) that, as a young man, Lakatos organised a small ‘Hebrew language and literature study circle’; perhaps at the time he was studying Hebrew at the University of Debrecen.

51 Gábor Vajda remembers that Lakatos had a photograph of Nagy in his office at the LSE. My interview with Vajda, Budapest, 1996.

52 Alex Bandy, interview with Gábor Vajda and his wife.

53 Telephone interview with Professor Paul Jonas, and Alex Bandy, interview with the Vajdas. There is some reason to believe that Lakatos co-operated with the ÁVH while he was at Recsk.

54 ‘Professor Imre Lakatos’, The Times, 6 Feb. 1974, 16.

55 Hegedu″s, András B., ‘Peto″fi Kör – a reformmozgalom fóruma 1956-ban’ (Peto″fi Circle – the Forum of the Reform Movement in 1956), Világosság, Vol. 30, no. 1 (1989), 23.Google Scholar

56 Déry, Tibor, ‘Déry Tibor felszólalása a Peto″fi Kör vitáján’ (Tibor Déry's Contribution to the Peto″fi Circle Debate), Világosság, Vol. 30, no. 2 (1989), 132–7.Google Scholar

57 Imre Lakatos, in Hegedu″s, András B. and Rainer, János M., eds, A Peto″fi Kör vitái VI: Pedagógusvita (The Peto″fi Circle Debates: The Pedagogues’ Debate) (Budapest: Múzsák és 1956-os Intézet, 1992), 36.Google Scholar

58 ibid., 36–7.

59 Imre Lakatos Papers, File 1.10, BLPES.

60 Lakatos to Vajda, 25 Nov. 1956, Imre Lakatos Papers, File 12.10, BLPES.

61 My interview with Éva Pap, Budapest, 1996.

62 Ernest Gellner, ‘The Last Marxists’, Times Literary Supplement, 23 Sept. 1994, 4. Gellner was one of Lakatos’ colleagues at the LSE. Andrei Zhdanov was Stalin's cultural tsar in the years immediately following the Second World War. The Open Society and Its Enemies was the title of Karl Popper's principal work of political philosophy.

63 Lakatos to Lipsitz, 23 Oct. 1968, Imre Lakatos Papers, File 13/266, BLPES.

64 Lakatos, Imre, Mathematics, Science and Epistemology. Philosophical Papers, Vol. 2, ed. Worrall, John and Currie, Gregory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), 247–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

65 Lakatos to Lipsitz, 6 April, 27 June 1968, Imre Lakatos Papers, File 13/266, BLPES.

66 Cited by John Worrall and Gregory Currie in Lakatos, Mathematics, Science and Epistemology, 253n.

67 Lakatos to Lipsitz, 2 Feb. 1969, Imre Lakatos Papers, File 13/266, BLPES.

68 Imre Lakatos Papers, File 11/19.

69 Lakatos to Lipsitz, 1 Nov. 1969, Imre Lakatos Papers, File 13/267, BLPES.

70 Lakatos, Mathematics, Science and Epistemology, 249–50.

71 Lakatos to Marx Wartofsky, 30 March 1972, Imre Lakatos Papers, File 12.1, item 12, BLPES.

72 Lakatos, Imre, The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes. Philosophical Papers, Vol. 1, ed. Worrall, John and Currie, Gregory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), 5–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

73 See Lakatos’ use of this term with respect to the improvement of mathematical ‘conjectures’, Proofs and Refutations, 40.

74 ibid., 49n.