Dr. Dénes

Schreiner

Teacher at the Dharma Gate Buddhist College
(History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Religion and Art, Ethics, Mythology Theory)
I completed my primary and secondary education at Szinyei, where I was mainly interested in biology and geography alongside mathematics. I have two sisters, and my parents were engineers. Initially, I was preparing for a career in natural sciences. However, from the age of about 16, I became interested in music, film, and literature. The underground world of the 1980s fascinated me. After being accepted to the Faculty of Science (eventually to study chemistry and physics), I spent a year in the army at one of the country’s worst barracks in Lenti. It was mentally challenging, but I made excellent friends. These experiences led me to gradually shift my focus at the university, and after some years of struggle, I found my true path: philosophy.
It was love at first sight, and it has lasted ever since. Many topics interested me, including Greek philosophy, classical German philosophy, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, existentialism, etc. I studied the history of philosophy, philosophy of religion, aesthetics, and the history of religions. Alongside philosophy, I also studied aesthetics and later earned my doctorate. My dissertation was titled The Relationship Between Greek Mythology and Art in Schelling’s Philosophy of Art. A slightly revised version of this was published as a book in 2009 titled Schelling and Antiquity.
I grew up in a Christian family, but later distanced myself from formal and institutionalized religion. Philosophy and ancient Greek culture, particularly mythology, were partly meant to fill this void in my life, although I also retained a desire for a deeper understanding of the biblical tradition. Later, at the Dharma Gate Buddhist College, where I became a teacher, I encountered Eastern traditions, which I approach with respect and interest, although partly as an outsider. Outside the college, I also taught philosophy and ethics at Eötvös József High School and served as a senior teacher.
The 2010s brought a turning point in my life, which had been mostly dedicated to teaching and relatively modest academic activity (I published relatively little, focusing more on personal, oral teaching). On the one hand, I suffered from hereditary back problems, undergoing two surgeries. On the other hand, I remarried, and in 2014 our son Jonatán was born, followed by Vilmos in 2017. In 2012, I began writing literary works, mainly short stories and novellas. (Before that, from 2008 to 2010, I had sung in a college band called Titanic.) As a result, I had several readings, appearances in literary magazines, and two books: Like Shells When They Close (2016) and The Book of Small Procrastinations (2019). This also had an impact on my philosophical work: I started writing more, publishing more, and participating in the philosophical public life. Additionally, I now try to express myself in a more independent and new style in these texts. Perhaps I also manage to bring philosophy and literature closer together at times.
From ancient Greece (my book The Philosophy of Myth (2017) more or less concludes this period), my focus in recent years has shifted toward a broadly interpreted phenomenology, primarily because I see in it the possibility of a free, creative philosophy concentrating on phenomena themselves. These texts are expected to be published in my upcoming book, Fading (Elillanások), this year during the 2020 Book Week.
Sports have always been important to me. In my youth, I competed in fencing, but football, basketball, and table tennis have accompanied my life, and if I have time, I occasionally play snooker.
That’s a brief summary of my life.