(in Polish) Polish Philosophy of 19th Century. Romanticism, Its Antecedents and Descendents 3800-PPRA26-M

One of the most eminent phenomenon of the history of Polish philosophy – next to the Lvov-
Warsaw School in 20 th century – was the thought of Romanticism, with such thinkers as
August Cieszkowski (1814-1894), Karol Libelt (1807-1875), Bronisław Trentowski (1808-
1869), and also Edward Dembowski (1822-1846) and Henryk Kamieński (1813-1866), not to
mention the Maurycy Mochnacki (1803-1834), who could be regarded as the effective
founder of the Polish philosophy of 19 th century. We will mention also its early predecessor,
Józef Gołuchowski (1797-1858).
It is a consensus in historiography that one of the most impactful and prevailing feature of the
ideas of this time was the practical philosophy, i.e. the theory of action, history, and ethics.
Hence one of its names: the philosophy of act (filozofia czynu, Philosophie der Tat). We will
talk about the evolution of August Cieszkowski’s thought, beginning with his first book,
Prolegomena to Historiosophy, in which he presents a tripartite division of history, claiming
that the humanity stands on the verge of a new epoch, the epoch of the act. He criticized
Hegel’s philosophy of history as incoherent and not sufficiently theoretically courageous.
Later, Cieszkowski introduces a theory of reincarnation stemming from theoretical problems
of personal identity (God and Palingenesis). Finally, he outlines an original combination of
historiosophy with philosophy of religion, writing till his old age the monumental Our Father,
philosophical treatise and a commentary on Lord Prayer, trying to trace down the concept of
the third epoch, the epoch of the act to the Chrisitan revelation and tradition.
Not neglecting the practical philosophy, we will turn our attention also to the Polish
theoretical philosophy of 19 th century, especially Cieszkowski’s philosophy of religion,
Libelt’s philosophy of imagination, and Trentowski’s speculative philosophy. The first one
called his ontology a “spiritualism”, to differentiate both from realism (and especially
materialism) and idealism. He argued that ultimately the world consist not from things or
thoughts, but from living spirits, who transform creating new lives. We will compare this
theory with Juliusz Słowacki’s “philosophy of genesis” (filozofia genezyjska) and its later
reinterpretation by Wincenty Lutosławski. Karol Libelt argued that among the two basic
topics of philosophy, the reason (rozum) and the will, the third, the imagination shall be put
on an equal basis. Therefore, he proposed a philosophy of imagination, in which the
representations play a rȏle analogous to the thoughts for reason. The world of representations
together with the world of thoughts give the full picture of the reality. Finally, Bronisław
Trentowski aimed at creation a speculative philosophy that will surpass both the empiricism
represented by reason (rozum) and a purely intellectualistic, aprioristic intellect (umysł). A
symbol of this surpassing would be the “mysł”, word without any established English
translation. This third faculty of knowing had its correspondence in Trentowski’s structure of
human being, in which he differentiated the body (ciało), the soul or spirit (dusza, duch), and
the jaźń that can be roughly translated as the ‘I’ or ‘ego’. Jaźń is, once again, something
surpassing both the body and the mind. All of those theories paint before our eyes a very
interesting picture, still important and, after necessary interpretation, fruitful, as it deals, i.a.,
with problems of the sense of human existence, place of imagination in our cognition or
mind-body problem.
The plan of the semester (each subject corresponds to a single class):
1. Introduction: general outline of the topic. Józef Gołuchowski’s idea of the philosophy of
life; the anticipation of Polish Romanticism and the later philosophy of life (known under this
name), developed in the fin de siècle (Friedrich Nietzsche, Wilhelm Dilthey et al.).
2. Jan Nepomucen Kamiński on the nature of language and the relation between the
philosophical content and linguistic form; the discussion of conventionalism and naturalism in
the philosophy of language.
3. Recognition and self-recognition of the individual and of the nation (society) in thought of
Maurycy Mochnacki; his theory of literature and of revolution; his appeal on the need of
speculative philosophy in and for Poland.
4-5. Materialist philosophy of Polish Romanticism: Edward Dembowski and Henryk
Kamieński; for both the concept of material creation was the most fundamental idea of
philosophy; therefore they combined the practical feature of Polish philosophy with the thesis
that the matter is the only element of the reality.
6-7. August Cieszkowski: from “Prolegomena to historiosophy”, and his philosophy of
history, through “The God and palingenesis”, presenting an ontological and ethical theory of
the necessity of reincarnation, to “Our Father”, where he tries to combine the theology with
philosophy and state the thesis on the inevitability of the third epoch, epoch of the act (either
evolution or barbarity).
8-9. The function of imagination in Karol Libelt’s concepts of folk (lud) and nation (naród),
Slavic philosophy, and philosophy of the act. The use of the concept of “um” (neologism for
the phantasy in its pure form), derived from the discourses of Kamiński, Mochnacki, and
Trentowski.
10-11. Bronisław Trentowski’s reflection on the state of Anglo-European rationality. The
need for the new form of rationality, called by him “mysł” (neologism for the both pure and
complete process of thinking and cognizing). A proposition of surpassing the mind-body
problem by the concept of “jaźń” (neologism for the “I’ as not only an ego, but also the
entirety of human condition).
12. Adam Mickiewicz as the inspirator and evaluator of the endeavours of Polish
philosophers: his approval for Cieszkowski, inspiration for Libelt, and argument with
Trentowski. Wincenty Lutosławski as a 20 th century continuator of Polish philosophy of
reincarnation. His relation to Juliusz Słowacki, and comparison with Cieszkowski’s theory.
13. Adam Żółtowski, the student of August Cieszkowski the younger, son of the prominent
philosopher of the same name, as the Lutosławski active in 20 th century, developed further the
philosophy of the act, trying to develop on the same time also the Kantian and Hegelian
studies as an answer to neopositivism and scientism.
14. Henryk Elzenberg, and one of his disciples Zbigniew Herbert, were presenting a
philosophy grounded in Polish Romanticism in which the individualism and heroism played
the key rȏle. For Elzenberg the heroism was the greatest ideals; but more than any military
achievements he praised the doctrine of non-violence as requiring the most discipline and
courage.
15. Summary, closing remarks.