Controversies over the Forms of Government: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Europe 4018-SEM57N-CLASS
The leading idea of the seminar is looking into the political system of old Poland using comparison with the political and social concepts of the modern Europe and the governmental institutions rooted in them. The seminar is provided by three teachers: the historian, the historian of ideas and the sociologist of politics. The reading list comprises classics of political philosophy, historical sources, contemporary academic articles and considerations, and old and new writings. The full list will be given in September.
A list of topics:
I. Balance and Imbalance of Powers
1. The monarchia mixta: Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas
2. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the English eyes: A relation of the state of Polonia
3. Anarchy – an endemic feature of Poles? Samuel Zborowski from the point of view of J.M. Rymkiewicz
II. State and Church
4. Hero or traitor? The saint Stanisław’s affair
5. The state-church relationship: Thomas Aquinas, Hobbes
6. Tolerance: Locke, the Warsaw Confederation
III. The Sovereign Power
7. The absolute power: Bodin, Hobbes
8. The Danish royal law of the 1665: the limitations of absolute power
9. The phantom state: The first Commonwealth in the perspective of Jan Sowa
IV. The Limitations of the Power
10. The limitation of the sovereign power: Locke, Montesquieu
11. The limitation of the sovereign power: the Swedish bureaucratic state in 17th century
V. Republic – the New Reading of the Old Antic Pattern
12. The antic and modern republic: Cicero, the Venetian model
13. The state as an enterprise: the centre and periphery of the power
14. Poland as a democracy of the periphery?
VI. The Empire and its Expansion
15. The idea of the Empire: Dante, Marsilius of Padua
16. The Polish imperial adventures: „Kolęda moskiewska” of Paweł Palczowski
17. Benefactors or victims? The successor nations of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
VII. The Practices of the Modern Republic
18. Republic – the political nation: Rousseau
19. The political nation during reconstruction: The Constitution of May 3, 1791
20. Polish traditions of self-organizing: confederations and county councils
21. The almost modern societal self-organization: the struggle over the Polish schools on the turn of the 20th century.
VIII. The Society on the Left Bank of Elbe and its Peculiarities
22. Folwark: the curse to the Polish history?
23. Walerian Nekanda-Trepka: the first Polish sociologist
IX. The Balance of the Interests
24. Representation: The Federalists
25. Modernity and individualism
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
- K_W02- Comprehensive understanding of the terminology of the humanities and social scienses and knows how to use it
- K_W08-having good organized knowledge on the main trends in philosophical and social thought in a historical and contemporary perspective
- K_W14-comprehensive and in depth knowing of methods of analysis in cultural studies, history, social studies and philosophy in a historical perspective
- K_U11-analysing written and oral academic texts in Polish and in one of the “congress” languages
- K_U13-preparing written and oral presentations accounting for the level and needs of the audience
- K_K03-understanding the dynamics of scientific, cultural and social development and keeping up with new research methods and paradigms
- K_K08-understanding the importance of Europe’s cultural diversity and heritage
Assessment criteria
A paper, presentations, participation in discussions.
A paper (ca 20 pages) on a subject connected to the main themes of the seminar or the bachelor thesis – 50% of the final mark; presentations – 25%, class activities – 25%
Bibliography
The full list will be given in September
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: