Inductive method of Feliks Koneczny in the study of civilizations and historical laws

The article presents an inductive research method used by Cracow historian Felix Koneczny, used in the study of civilization and historical laws, which according to the scientist proved, that history is on par with the natural sciences.

Europa posiada wyraźne odmienności kulturowo-cywilizacyjne, określane na przestrzeni dziejów jako cywilizacja łacińska, chrześcijańska, europejska oraz zachodnia. Przełom ideowy w rozwoju tej cywilizacji spowodowała przede wszystkim rewolucja francuska (1789–1799), przewartościowując w istotnym zakresie wcześniejsze wartości i idee społeczności europejskich. Niemniej obecny charakter cywilizacji zachodniej – ujawniający kryzys dotyczący szczególnie warstwy aksjologicznej – ukształtowany został w długim procesie dziejowym, pod wpływem idei, które uznawano za najbardziej nośne w poszczególnych epokach historycznych.

Azja Południowo-Wschodnia stanowi region ekstremalnie różnorodny kulturowo. Współczesna rzeczywistość cywilizacyjno-kulturowa stanowi efekt licznych interakcji międzygrupowych, różnorodnych grup etnicznych i wyznawców odmiennych religii, do których dochodziło na przestrzeni dziejów. Charakter regionu determinowany jest także przez ukształtowanie terenu oraz bliskie sąsiedztwo dwóch ważnych cywilizacji: Indii oraz Chin. W artykule omówione zostaną źródła zróżnicowania cywilizacyjno-kulturowego Azji Południowo-Wschodniej.

ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIANS – LOST IN CIVILIZATION

Aboriginal Australians last in the age of perdition. There has been 224 years since the day that Captain Arthur Phillip came to Australia with British convicts. Since then almost every day Aboriginal ‘collide with civilization’ and fight for surviving. All rules of tribal life had to be replaced by new ones. They had to wear clothes, live in houses of bricks, and work. All of this was completely different from the previous life. ‘White civilization’ that has brought the development into the Antipodes has also brought reasons of perdition. Among those: illnesses, which decimate Aboriginal clans, and alcohol, which destroys all residues of ancient Stone Age culture and causes many social problems. For several dozen years, Australian government has been trying to make up for Aboriginal wrong, but programs for improvement of their situation do not work. ‘Civilization’, in social evolutionists’ opinion, should be the highest level of people’s culture, for Aboriginal though it is some kind of abyss in which they cannot or they do not want to find a proper place for themselves.

Podstawowym wyznacznikiem odrębności poszczególnych cywilizacji jest środowisko. Z tej perspektywy wynikają zasadnicze różnice pomiędzy cywilizacją chińską i europejską. Wskazując środowisko jako podstawowy czynnik rozwoju cywilizacyjnego, rozumiemy nie tylko środowisko geograficzne, ale także środowisko jako przestrzeń geopolityczna, w której kształtują się relacje, zależności, powiązania i konkurencyjność, kształtujące na poszczególnych poziomach rozwoju cywilizacyjnego środowisko międzynarodowe i międzynarodowe stosunki. Do czasu podjęcia przez państwa europejskie dzieła eksploracji nieznanych obszarów Ziemi, świat polityczny podzielony był na strefy wpływów wielkich cywilizacji, których poziom rozwoju nie wyróżniał zdecydowanie żadnej z nich. Europa znaczną część swego dziedzictwa kulturalnego i naukowego przejęła od islamu, podobnie jak społeczeństwa muzułmańskie przez całe wieki wcześniej inkorporowały z Chin, poprzez wymianę handlową, podboje i osiedlenia.

Ecological barriers to economic growth and the Third Great Depression are usually only seen as a threat. I argue that they can and should be treated as an opportunity to overcome the model of civilization of wastefulness and military expansionism, by creating and implementing a higher stage of progress: a civilization of rational sufficiency. Premises of such progress are now visible – not only in the virtual ideas and projects, but in the real innovations. Such progress requires changes not only in economics but also in political relations – democracy understood not only as the right to co-decision, but also as a duty of responsibility for social and ecological consequences of economic and political decisions.

The representatives of the Austrian School versus importance and the role of the individual and the social cooperation in the development of the civilization

This article is an attempt to analyze and interpretation of position of the representatives of the Austrian School versus importance and the role of the individual and the social cooperation in the development of the civilization. The aim of this article is examined, according to the representatives of the Austrian School, that the individuals and the social cooperation have influence on the development of the wealth of the society and increase of human liberty and also guarantee of peaceful cooperation between humans. Author focus on political thought of the representatives of the Austrian School in the persons like Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Butler Shaffer or Thomas DiLorenzo. Article show that in opinions of the representatives of the Austrian School social institutions like property rights, personal freedom, social cooperation or free market are products of Western Civilization. In the text discuss will be belief that bad ideas are main causes of destructions of civilizations. Author used an interpretative approach and context analysis.

According to W. Lutosławski, every nation has its language/tongue, its historical past, but none of these features alone or in whole, does not determine the nation. He notices, that “only an existing national type, the kind of the ego is creating its language, its history and is impersonating the certain race”. The amount of such types is, according to W. Lutosławski, limited and not every people speaking the different language are a nation even if it has the racial distinction/separatness and the political history. His further statement is not entirely understandable, that “the real nation in its being isn’t limited to one planet, but has its representatives in the entire universe, although on the different planets they are not speaking the same language and have a various history”. The language, the race, the history, the custom – they aren’t creating the nation the more so that everyone can speak foreign languages. A nation isn’t the entire mass of people speaking one language but a slim circle of spirits, which are conscious of their separateness amongst the other nations. “The national awareness is an awareness of the existence of the ego fundamentally similar to our ego and whereby differing in the equal way as we do from the other egos we come across”. This way W. Lutosławski seems to be one of the precursors of the researches about the identity, also the national one. A nationality is an outside word of the invisible existence which a nation is, and it won’t be possible to reduce the contacts of the individual with the nation to such elements as language, tradition, custom. So there is/exists a serious difference between the nation and the nationality. The people living at present are only a material for nations. The state, compared with the nation, is a lower-level existence, dependent on time and space The work of Wincentego Lutosławski is located in a current of the Utopian social-political novels of the turning point of the 19th and 20th century. It is worth the attention on the account of the role which, according to this author, the Poles should play after the world war, which burst in four years after publishing this book by him. It is worthwhile noticing the similarity of some, or even a majority, of his political ideas with the views of Polish conservatives. However what must strike the today’s reader is an inconsistency of the arguments of the author, the numerous repetitions, returning to the topics/threads/trains that seemed to be already closed, the lack of historical reflection, not to say factual mistakes in this area. There is no doubt that the philosophical knowledge of Wincenty Lutosławski turned out to be insufficient for making an effort of supporting the framed vision of the future with the historical material. However very interesting are the accurate predictions concerning the growth of industry, the trade, the transport – albeit the current state of affairs still does not fulfill the forecasts of W. Lutosławski.

Unification and diversification of cultural life

Nowadays, one can observe signs of world’s unification and, at the same time, its diversification. These interdependences relate primarily to the economic, social, political and cultural spheres. It is assumed that in the postwar period, Western civilization has shifted from the industrial to the post-industrial phase, which is called information, consumer or a business civilization. There are many factors and phenomena that imply the unification and diversification of cultural life in modern conditions, closely related to uniformity and standardization. The most important of these are: scientific and technological progress and development, legal solutions and media. The modern socio-political and economic image of Europe reveals a characteristic discrepancy between declarations and reality visible especially in the creation and functioning processes of the European Union. The process of unification and disintegration of Europe raises issues such as: a crisis of values, of humanism, depreciation of moral principles.