Norbert Leser (May 31, 1933 – December 31, 2014) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Un ...

, political scientist and

social philosopher Social philosophy examines questions about the foundations of social institutions, social behavior, and interpretations of society in terms of ethical values rather than empirical relations. Social philosophers emphasize understanding the social c ...

best known for his lifelong affiliation with, and critical work on, the

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

and Austromarxism in particular. He was born in

Oberwart Oberwart (; hu, Felsőőr; hr, Gornja Borta) is a town in Burgenland in southeast Austria on the banks of the Pinka River, and the capital of the district of the same name. Oberwart is the cultural capital of the small ethnic Hungarian minor ...

and died in

Eisenstadt Eisenstadt (; hu, Kismarton; hr, Željezni grad; ; sl, Železno, Austro-Bavarian: ''Eisnstod'') is a city in Austria, the state capital of Burgenland. It had a recorded population on 29 April 2021 of 15,074. In the Habsburg Empire's Kingdom ...

Bibliography

*''Zwischen Reformismus und Bolschewismus. Der Austromarxismus in Theorie und Praxis'' (1968) *''Die Odyssee des Marxismus'' (1971) *''Jenseits von Marx und Freud'' (1980) *''Das geistige Leben Wiens in der Zwischenkriegszeit'' (1981) *''Grenzgänger'', 2 vols. (1981–82) *''Sozialphilosophie'' (1984) *''Genius Austriacus'' (1986) *''Salz der Gesellschaft'' (1988) *''Von Leser zu Leser'' (1992) *''Elegie auf Rot'' (1998) *''"... auf halben Wegen und zu halber Tat ...". Politische Auswirkungen einer österreichischen Befindlichkeit'' (2000) *''Gottes Türen und Fenster'' (2001) *''Zeitzeuge an Kreuzwegen'' (2003). *''Der Sturz des Adlers. 120 Jahre österreichische Sozialdemokratie'' (2008)

Decorations and awards

*1967: Dr. Karl Renner Journalism Prize of the Austrian Journalists Club * Theodor Innitzer Prize * Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class *1992: Corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences *1999: City of Vienna Prize for Humanities * Norbert Leser carries further the honour band of Catholic Austrian Landsmannschaft Maximiliana {{DEFAULTSORT:Leser, Norbert 1933 births 2014 deaths People from Oberwart Austrian jurists Social philosophers Anton Wildgans Prize winners Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class