Jakiej Cywilizacji Polacy Potrzebuja: Studia Z Dziejów Idei I Wyobrazni XIX Wieku

Nineteenth-Century Polish Approaches to Western Civilization
Erscheinungsjahr 1998
ISBN: 978-963-9116-27-6
Verlag: Central European University Press

Buch, Englisch, 336 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 635 g

In this lively and original book, the distinguished Polish historian Jerzy Jedlicki tells the story of a century-long Polish dispute over the merits and demerits of the Western model of liberal progress and industrial civilization.

As in several countries of Europe, also in Poland, intellectuals--conservatives, liberals, and (later) socialists--quarrelled about whether such a model would suit and benefit their nation, or whether it would spell the ruin of its distinctive cultural features.

This heated debate revolved around several pairs of opposing ideas: native cultures v. cosmopolitan civilization; natural v. artificial ways of economic development; Christian morals v. capitalist laissez-faire; traditional customs v. mobile society; romanticism v. scientism, and so on. It is these various aspects of the main issue which the author analyzes and links together here. He describes how difficult and painful the process of modernization was in a nation deprived of its political independence and cultural autonomy.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Jedlicki, Jerzy

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

Chronology

Maps

Part 1: Images of the Future (from the 1780s to 1863)

Chapter 1: National identity and cosmopolitan civilization

Chapter 2: 'Natural' or 'artificial' development

Chapter 3: The gospel and economy

Part 2: Ambiguities of Progress (from 1864 through 1880s)

Chapter 4: Vicious circles
4.1 The First Circle: the Semi-intelligentsia with no Professional Training
4.2 The Second Circle: The "Academic" Intelligentsia
4.3 The third Circle: The technical and Industrial Intelligentsia

Chapter 5: Affirmation and negation

Chapter 6: Growth and distribution

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jedlicki, Jerzy
Jerzy Jedlicki is Professor of History at the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where he is the head of a group engaged in research into the history of the intelligentsia. He also teaches history at the Graduate School for Social Research in Warsaw. Professor Jedlicki lectured at several American Universities including Harvard University and the University of Michigan. He is fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C.