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MIKLÓS HELTAI — PÁL HELTAI
SCHOLARLY CAREER
While engaged in pedagogical work, youth movements and church activities,
Karácsony also continued his studies in psychology, pedagogy, philosophy and
linguistics, and in 1929 he obtained a doctors degree in philosophy, pedagogy
and Hungarian linguistics. From 1934 he was professor of pedagogy at the
University of Debrecen, and from 1942 full professor. Within his department he
set up the Institute for Interpersonal Psychology. His scholarly work, his widely
read pedagogical books and lectures and his activities in the youth movements
made him one of the best-known pedagogical authorities in the country.” He
was especially popular among secondary school and university students. In the
pre-war period he made a significant impact on educational and intellectual
life in Hungary. After the Second World War, as president of an organisation
for adult education, he took part in the short-lived democratic transformation
of the country, but when Communists seized control of the country’s political
and social life, he was ousted from public life, deprived of his university depart¬
ment, forced into early retirement, and finally even his pension was withdrawn.
He died in 1952 in Budapest.
A UNIQUE PEDAGOGICAL THEORY
Karacsony created a unique educational theory based on a unique approach
to psychology, logic, linguistics and philosophy.* He was first and foremost an
educationist, and he treated the problems of philosophy, psychology, logic and
linguistics from the point of view of education, yet in many respects he provided
new insights into these disciplines, too, and some regard him as a philosopher*
and some emphasize his work in linguistics.°
His work reflects his original, creative thinking, which was based on the
traditions and spirit of Protestant thinking, his propensity to relate his prac¬
tical experience to theory, and his problem-sensitivity. He was familiar with
new trends of thinking in early 20th century science, but while he respected
2 LANYI, Gusztav, Magyarság, protestantizmus, társaslélektan. Hagyomány és megújulás konflik¬
tusa Karácsony Sándor életművében, Budapest, 2000, Osiris, 28-31.
KONTRA, Karácsony Sándor, passim.
LENDVAI, L. Ferenc, Protestantizmus, forradalom, magyarság, Budapest, Akadémiai, 1986.
FABRICZIUS-KovÁcs, Ferenc, Nyelvtudomány, kommunkációelmélet, szociálpszichológia, in T.
Szecskö — G. Szepe (eds.), Nyelv &s kommunikäciö II., Budapest, 1969. 41-77.; SIMONCSICS, Peter,
Paradigmavaltas legüres terben. Karácsony Sándor, Lotz János és Laziczius Gyula kísérletei a
magyar grammatika megújítására a XX. század 30-as éveiben, Budapest, Tinta, 2005.
+ 238 *