Krzysztof Michalski is a Polish philosopher. He is the founder and current rector of Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen in Vienna. He also teaches at Boston University in the United States.[1]
He was a student of Hans-Georg Gadamer.
"Krzysztof Michalski" graduated in 1974 with a dissertation on Heidegger (Heidegger i Filozofia Wspolczena, Warsaw 1978; second edition 1998; Russian translation 2010). In 1977, he translated and edited a selection of Heidegger¹s essays in Polish Budowac, Mieszkac, Myslec (Building, Dwelling, Thinking) and translated and edited a volume of Gadamer¹s works: Rozum, Slowo, Dzieje (Reason, Word, Event , 1979). He moved to Germany in 1977 as a Humboldt Fellow. During his stay, he joined an international team working on Logic and Time at the Protestant Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Heidelberg; with K. Maurin and E. Rudolph he edited and published its results (Logik und Zeit Heidelberg 1981). In 1978, he returned to Poland to teach philosophy at the University of Warsaw. Dr. Michalski co-chaired (with Hans-Georg Gadamer and Gottfried Boehm) post-graduate courses at the Interuniversity Centre in Dubrovnik on Hermeneutics and the Arts (1981-82); worked as Fellow Commoner of Churchill College in England (1982-83); as a Thyssen Fellow at the University of Heidelberg, and as Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Vienna (1984-85). In 1983, he assumed his present position of Rector of the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen in Vienna. In 1986, Michalski was appointed Visiting Professor and in 1990 Professor of Philosophy at Boston University. In 1995 he was elected chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Institute for Public Affairs (Instytut Spraw Publicznych), Warsaw. In 1986, he was habilitated in Philosophy at the University of Warsaw and became Professor at this university. His second book Logika i Czas (Logic and Time), an analysis of Husserl¹s theory of sense, was published in 1988 in Warsaw; in 1996 in English Logic and Time. An Essay on Husserl¹s Theory of Meaning (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht/Boston) and in 2010 in Russian. He is the editor of the bi-annual journal Transit Europäische Revue published by Verlag Neue Kritik, Frankfurt/M., and of the series Castelgandolfo-Gespräche, published by Klett-Cotta in Stuttgart. 2003-2004 he was the Chairman of the Reflection Group advising the President of the European Commission on the ³The Spiritual and Cultural Dimension of Europe²; he edited the result of this work in “Conditions of European Solidarity”, Central European University Press, 2006 (Vol. I: What Holds Europe Together?, Vol. II: Religion in the New Europe). In 2007 he published a book on Nietzsche (“Plomien wiecznosci”, ZNAK Publishers; US edition: “The Flame of Eternity”, Princeton 2011). In 2010 a book “Zrozumiec przemijanie” (“To Understand Time”), KRONOS Publishers. In 2004 he was awarded the 39th Theodor Heuss Prize. The ceremony took place in the presence of the German Federal President Johannes Rau and former President Richard von Weizsäcker. The laudation was held by the former Prime Minister of Saxony and Professor of Law, Kurt Biedenkopf. Previous laureates include Ralf Dahrendorf, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Günther Grass, Juergen Habermas, Vaclav Havel, Helmut Schmidt, and Carl-Friedrich von Weizsaecker. Excerpt from the Jury statement: “Since the 1980s, the Polish philosopher Krzysztof Michalski has played an important role in the deepening of the political and cultural dialogue between East and West. Before 1989 he contributed to the liberation from Communism, and in the 1990s he supported the development of a democratic civil society in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Michalski and his Vienna Institute combine the highest intellectual standards with policy-oriented approaches and the promotion of young researchers. After EU enlargement this kind of work has become even more relevant. Europe can only thrive if West and East are ready to rethink their relationship and jointly face the challenges of the future. Krzysztof Michalski has also been an important mediator in the transatlantic dialogue. He is a professor at Boston University where the Institute for Human Sciences has an affiliate concentrating on US-European relations.” Among his other numerous awards and honours, was decorated with the Officer´s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, with the Officer¹s Cross of L¹Ordre National du Mérite of the Republic of France as well as with the European Cultural Prize (1998). In 2010 he was elected the President of the Association of the European Institutes for Advanced Study. Dr. Michalski¹s graduate level teaching has included courses on Husserl, on Heidegger, and on Nietzsche.
2010 - President of the Network of European Institutes for Advanced Study (NezIAS)
2007 - Expert for the Musée de l’Europe, Brussels
2005 - Board Member, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw
2003 - 2004 Chairman, Reflection Group of the European Commission “The Spiritual and Cultural Dimension of Europe”, Brussels/Vienna
2001 - Chairman, Board of Directors, Institute for Human Sciences at Boston University
2001 - Member of the Jozef Tischner Prize Jury
2000 - 2001 Member of the Reflection Group of the European Commission on “Diversity and Unity in the Enlarged European Union“, Florence/Brussels
2000 - Member of the Board of Patrons, Institut für eine offene Gesellschaft, Vienna
2000 - Member of the Jerzy Giedroyc Prize Jury
1999 Member of the Advisory Committee to the European Commission on the EU enlargement, Florence/Brussels
1999 – 2001 Member of the Board of Trustees Accademia Istropolitana Nova, Svaty Jur (Slovak Republic)
1998 – 2000 Member of the Jury Pirelli INTERNETional Award, Rome
1996 - Member of the International Advisory Council Duitsland Instituut, University of Amsterdam
1996 - Member of the Advisory Committee for International Academic Freedom Human Rights Watch Academic Freedom Project, New York
1995 - Chairman of the Supervisory Board Institute for Public Affairs (Instytut Spraw Publicznych), Warsaw
1995 - Member of the Academic Advisory Board mitteleuropa-institut muerz (Styria)
1995 - Member of the International Advisory Committee The Graduate School for Social Research, Warsaw, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Science)
1993 – 1995 Member of the Hannah Arendt Prize Jury
1991 - Member of the American Association for Polish-Jewish Studies
1990 – 1992 Member of the Academic Planning Board Central European University, Prague
1990 & 1991 Steering Committee Member East-West Parliamentarian Practice Project European Cooperation Fund/The Ford Foundation, Amsterdam
1990 - Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Transit. Europäische Revue (bi-annual journal), Frankfurt am Main
1989 - Member of the Board of Trustees Stefan Batory Foundation, Warsaw
1980 - Founding Member Polish Society for the Advancement of Science
1978 - Member of the Polish PEN Club
1977 – 1994 Corresponding Member F.E.S.T. (Protestant Institute for Interdisciplinary Research), Heidelberg
1977 - Member of the German Society of Phenomenological Research
Zrozumieć przemijanie (Understanding Time. Selected Essays). Biblioteka kwartalnika Kronos. Fundacja Augusta Hrabiego Cieszkowskiego. Warsaw 2011th. ISBN 978-83-62609-02-4
Płomień Wieczności - English edition: The Flame of Eternity. Princeton University Press. 2012
Płomień Wieczności. O Eseje myslach Fryderyka Nietzschego ("The Flame of Eternity. Essays on Nietzsche's thought"). Krakow: Coat of arms, 2007. ISBN 978-83-240-0824-7
What Europe believes in? Religion and Political Culture in the New Europe (as editor). Vienna: Passagen Verlag, 2007. ISBN 978-3851657937
Conditions of European Solidarity (as editor). Budapest / New York: Central European University Press, 2006.Vol. I: What Holds Europe Together, ISBN 978-963-7326-48-6.
Conditions of European Solidarity (as editor). Budapest / New York: Central European University Press, 2006.Vol.II: Religion in the New Europe, ISBN 978-963-7326-50-9
Europe laica e religioso puzzle (as editor, with Nina zu Fürstenberg). Venice: Marsilio Editiori, 2005. ISBN 978-8831786829
Boston University