A presentation of and discussion about the history of critical theory, especially its origins at the Institute for Social Research, what the Frankfurt School—notably Horkheimer and Marcuse—developed from it, and the plural Marxism of their context. The event draws on Dr. Meisner's recently released book Critical Marxist Theory: Political Autonomy and the Radicalising Project of Modernity (2025, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer Nature), emphasizing political autonomy as an unattainable promise of the project of modernity within liberal market-based societies that cannot offer substantial democratisation. A conversation and Q&A will follow the presentation.

Dr. Lukas Meisner is fellow at the Institute of Critical Theory Berlin (InkriT), Marcuse Society Postdoctoral Fellow 2025-26, and editor-in-chief of Das Argument: Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Sozialwissenschaften. He is the author of numerous books on critical theory and philosophy, including Critical Marxist Theory: Political Autonomy and the Radicalising Project of Modernity (2025), Capitalist Nihilism and the Murder of Art (Aporia, 2020), and the novella Wrackmente (2024).

Organized and moderated by Paul V. Schmidt with Gavin Mueller

Registration: g.c.mueller@uva.nl

Supported by
ASCA
The Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Culture
Critical Inquiry Group of Rietveld Sandberg Research