János Kis

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János Kis (born September 17, 1943) is a Hungarian philosopher and political scientist.

Kis was born in Budapest, Hungary. He graduated from Philosophy at the Eötvös Loránd University in 1967. In 1973 he was dismissed as a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences after co-authoring a book criticizing Marxist socialism. Strongly opposed to the communist regime in Hungary, he helped to create the first opposition journal Beszélő which was first issued in December 1981. He was the Editor-in-Chief of this underground journal until the democratization of the country in 1989. He was also member of the democratic opposition party Alliance of Free Democrats (SzDSz).

From 1988 to 1989 he was visiting professor at the New School for Social Research in New York City.

After the fall of communism in 1989-1990, the SzDSz entered the democratic government and Kis was elected as the party leader in February 23, 1990. He remained in this office until November 23, 1991, when he left active politics and returned to an academic career. In 1992, he became a professor at the Central European University. From 1996, he is also visiting professor at the New York University.

Kis has written numerous articles and books on political science, such as Politics as a Moral Problem. Despite having left the political arena years ago, he continues to take positions on controversial issues such as the war in Iraq, voicing his liberal and democratic points of view.

[edit] Sources

• Biography at the New York University Website
• Gale Stokes, The Walls Came Tumbling Down(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 88-89.