The Lolle Nauta Forum

 

The Lolle Nauta Forum (LNF)  is initiated by the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Groningen, in cooperation with Studium Generale and de Volkskrant in order to stimulate the public debate, and named after Lolle Nauta, himself a public intellectual and Professor of social philosophy and philosophy of science at the University of Groningen from 1971 till 1994.

 

Philosophical research and education at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Groningen, always has been and still is practiced in close connection to developments within both science and society. Lolle Nauta (1929-2006) embodied this tradition of engaged philosophy par excellence. Averse to ‘philosophologists’, i.e. philosophers only writing about other philosophers, for him philosophy was not a goal in itself but an intellectual vehicel for reflection on scientific and public problems. Consequently, Nauta frequently got involved in public debates and politics – nationally (the Dutch social democratic party) as well as internationally (Russell-tribunal).

In line with this tradition the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Groningen, in cooperation with Studium Generale and de Volkskrant, organizes on a yearly basis the Lolle Nauta Forum – a large-scale public event in which a famous international intellectual (scientist, literator, essayist, journalist or politician) presents a cultural-political diagnoses of a yearly changing, urgent issue, discussed by one or two referents, provoking an open debate, and resulting into trendsetting publications in a daily, weekly and/or another journal.

 

Contact and more information:

Dr Hans Harbers, j.a.harbers@rug.nl