Sorin Lavric (born 27 November 1967 in

Turnu Severin Drobeta-Turnu Severin (), colloquially Severin, is a city in Mehedinți County, Oltenia, Romania, on the northern bank of the Danube, close to the Iron Gates. "Drobeta" is the name of the ancient Dacian and Roman towns at the site, and the modern ...

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian Peop ...

) is a Romanian writer, philosopher and politician. Having started studying medicine in 1987, Lavric later began studying philosophy as well. Posteriorly, as he did not want to be a physician, he focused entirely on philosophy. Lavric finished his university studies in 1996 and obtained a doctorate in philosophy in 2005. Lavric has written several books. He has made in the past numerous comments that have been deemed as racist,

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

and

misogynistic Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced f ...

that have provoked his expulsion from the

Writers' Union of Romania The Writers' Union of Romania (), founded in March 1949, is a professional association of writers in Romania. It also has a subsidiary in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. The Writers' Union of Romania was created by the communist regime by taking ...

. Despite this, he has affirmed that he is not a misogynist. Lavric eventually became a politician "to confront the corruption and political class of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

". He joined the

Alliance for the Union of Romanians The Alliance for the Union of Romanians ( ro, Alianța pentru Unirea Românilor, AUR) is a right-wing populist and nationalist political party currently active in Romania and Moldova. It was founded on 19 September 2019. This was done with the ...

(AUR), of which he is the President of the Senate. Lavric was also the proposed senator of the AUR for the

Neamț County Neamț County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the historic region of Moldavia, with the county seat at Piatra Neamț. The county takes its name from the Neamț River. Demographics Population In 2011, it had a population of 470,766 ...

Biography

Sorin Lavric was born in 1967 in

. He studied medicine at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy between 1987 and 1993. The following year, he did an

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

at the Brăila County Hospital, which included 3 months of gynecology. However, in 1990, he also started studying philosophy and joined in 1991 at the Faculty of Philosophy at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

. According to him, he only studied medicine because at that time (1987), during the communist period of Romania, it was not worth studying philosophy. After his internship, Lavric realized he disliked medicine and had to choose between becoming a physician and not being able to aspire to be a philosopher or giving up medicine. Lavric chose the latter option and had to be supported by his wife for 2 years. He completed his studies on 1996 and was offered in 1997 a job as an editor at the publishing house

Humanitas ''Humanitas'' is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below. Classical origins of term The Latin word ''humanitas'' corresponded to the Greek concepts of '' philanthr ...

by the Romanian philosopher

Gabriel Liiceanu Gabriel Liiceanu (; b. May 23, 1942, Râmnicu Vâlcea) is a Romanian philosopher. He graduated from the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Philosophy in 1965, and from Faculty of Classical Languages in 1973. He earned a doctorate in philosop ...

. In 2005, he obtained a doctorate in philosophy. Liiceanu, who was coordinator in Lavric's thesis for the doctorate, has expressed surprise at his posterior controversial comments, saying that it is as if Lavric had undergone "a personality substitution operation", "as in

science fiction movie Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...

s". Lavric has written several books, such as ''Cartea de Craciun'' ("Christmas Book", 1997), ''Ontologia lui Noica. O exegeza'' (" Noica's ontology. An exegesis", 2005) and ''Noica și Mișcarea Legionară'' ("Noica and the

Legionary Movement The Iron Guard ( ro, Garda de Fier) was a Romanian militant revolutionary fascist movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel Michael () or the Legionnaire Movement (). It was strongly ...

", 2007). He has also done several translations.

Ideology and political career

Lavric has made several comments characterized as racist,

and

; these have given him a certain notoriety in the past. In his book ''Decoct de femeie'' ("Decoction of women"), he wrote that "no man seeks in women cleverness, depth, or lucidity". He has also described the

Roma people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

(Gypsies) as a "social plague". In an interview, Lavric denied being a misogynist and explained his thoughts and declarations, stating that "I cannot say that a woman excels in logical thinking, especially in philosophical skills". Furthermore, Lavric has admitted being a

misanthrope Misanthropy is the general hatred, dislike, distrust or contempt of the human species, human behavior or human nature. A misanthrope or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings. The word's origin is from the Greek words μῖσ ...

. Because of his comments, the

expelled him from the association and from the position of editor in the magazine ''

România literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared o ...

''. In the same interview, which was posterior to this event, Lavric said he was surprised when he heard about this as it was not directly communicated to him and that he felt "hit" by his own teammates. He added that he did not feel resentful for this. Lavric joined the

(AUR) because, according to him, he was against the

corrupt Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

attitudes of the political class and because he coincided with the thoughts of

George Simion George Nicolae Simion (born 21 September 1986 in Focșani, Romania) is a Romanian right-wing to far-right politician and civic activist. He is the president of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), a political party in Romania that g ...

and Claudiu Târziu, then the co-presidents of the AUR. He also stated that he was

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Politi ...

and supported

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, but opposed a European "federal superstate run ..from

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

". In an interview with Simion and Târziu, they said that Lavric (and the AUR) did not hate women or support misogynistic ideas. Lavric was the proposed senator of the AUR for the

in 2020. Currently, he is the President of the Senate of the AUR.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavric, Sorin 1967 births Living people People from Drobeta-Turnu Severin 20th-century Romanian male writers 21st-century Romanian male writers 20th-century Romanian philosophers 21st-century Romanian philosophers Romanian translators Alliance for the Union of Romanians politicians Members of the Senate of Romania Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy alumni University of Bucharest alumni Controversies in Romania