The Culture Debate Between Terror Threats, Free Speech and Humanism: Lessons from the Case of Danish Post-war Intellectuals

The chapter deals with the Danish culture debate after the Second World War as a historical folio to contemporary culture debates. The focus is on debates about democracy and humanism. I argue that the position of liberal intellectuals – then as well as now – is under pressure from two angles, a more politically activist position and a position endorsing spiritual immediacy. In the post-war debate liberal intellectuals argued for a democracy based on free speech and an academic humanism with focus on the study of culture as an important endeavour of orientation. It was opposed by Marxist intellectuals endorsing a democracy based on equality linked with politically formed humanistic studies and Christian intellectuals promoting a more genuine human relationship underneath both political discussions and academic humanistic studies. All three positions continue to influence contemporary debates. But in contemporary time the positions lack the unambiguous labels and values.