This paper compares the analysis of the antinomies of modern culture in the work of Agnes Heller and György Markus. It is particularly concerned with Heller’s innovative introduction of a third optative concept of culture as cultural conversation. The rationale, contours and diagnosis linked to this normative concept are explored and contrasted to the historicising alternative presented in Markus. It is argued that some weaknesses in Heller’s account are intimately linked to the utopian aspiration of her understanding of philosophy.
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References
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Heller, A. (1999) A Theory of Modernity. London: Blackwell .
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Markus, G. (2003b) ‘The Paradoxical Unity of Culture: The Arts and the Sciences’ , short version, Thesis Eleven75: 7-24 .
