Sonntagskreis


The Sonntagskreis was an intellectual discussion group in Budapest, Hungary, between 1915 and 1918. The main focus of the group was on the relationship between ideas and the social and historical context of those ideas, a line of thought that led towards the later concepts of "social history of art" and "sociology of knowledge''.

The Sonntagskreis group

The Sonntagskreis was founded in the autumn of 1915 by Béla Balázs,, Arnold Hauser, György Lukács, and Károly Mannheim; in December of that year Balázs noted the success of the group in his diary. Others members of the group at various times included Frigyes Antal,, Tibor Gergely, Edit Gyömrői, Edit Hajós,,, Anna Lesznai,, Mihály Polányi, László Radványi, Emma Ritoók, Anna Schlamadinger,, Vilmos Szilasi, Károly Tolnay and János Wilde. Admission to the group required the assent of all existing members; members could bring guests to meetings. The group generally met on Sunday afternoons at Balázs' flat, and discussed literature and philosophy.

The Free School of Humanist Studies

In the spring of 1917 members of the group founded the Szellemi Tudományok Szabad Iskolájána, or "Free School of Humanist Studies", which for two semesters in 1917 and 1918 organised lectures in a school building in Budapest. Guest lecturers included Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály and Ervin Szabó.