Browsing by Author "Brzechczyn, Krzysztof"
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Item Analityczna filozofia dziejów w poznańskiej szkole metodologicznej. Próba falsyfikacji Popperowskiej krytyki historii teoretycznej(Oficyna Wydawnicza Epigram, 2015) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe purpose of this paper is the reconstruction of the theory of historical process elaborated at the Poznań School of Methodology. The heuristic tool will be Popper’s model of knowledge, according to which, the development of scientific theory went through the phase of the posing of the scientific problem, proposing a tentative theory, a critical discussion and its modification. Proposed by Leszek Nowak the adaptive interpretation of historical materialism was transformed – under the influence of the elaboration of the idealizational theory of science and the categorical interpretation of dialectics – into the generalized version of historical materialism. This version includes theory of the class and primitive societies. Difficulties in the building of the theory of real socialism led to the transformation of adaptive historical materialism into the non-Marxian historical materialism where some tenets of Marxism were refuted (e.g. the domination of economy over politics). In the course of the building of the adaptive interpretation of historical materialism and the non-Marxian historical materialism some primary notions were defined and modified satisfying the criteria of falsification. Although Popper severely criticized the possibility of theoretical history, the theory of history as developed at the Poznań School of Methodology satisfies his criteria of falsification. This throws doubt upon the validity of Popperian critique of theoretical history.Item Anatomia spiskowych teorii dziejów. Próba rekonstrukcji metodologicznej(Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2021-05-11) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofCelem artykułu jest analiza spiskowego (konspiracyjnego) myślenia o rzeczywistości społecznej. W rozdziale pierwszym analizuję poglądy Poppera na spiskową (konspiracyjną) teorię społeczeństwa, w drugim przedstawiam przegląd definicji spisku (konspiracji) i teorii spiskowych, by w trzecim zaprezentować rozważania nad epistemologiczną specyfiką teorii spiskowych, funkcjami społecznymi i społeczno-politycznych warunków, w jakich ten typ myślenia się rozpowszechnia. Rozdział czwarty ilustruję analizą książki Anatolija Golicyna "Nowe kłamstwa w miejsce starych". W podsumowaniu zastanawiam się nad empiryczną wiarygodnością przewidywań Golicyna i przyczynami popularności jego poglądów w Polsce na przełomie 1989 i 1990 r. w radykalnym nurcie opozycji.Item Between Limited Democratisation and Limited Autocratisation. Political Development of the Ukrainian Society(Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2007) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe aim of this paper is to present political development of the Ukrainian society in years 1991-2004 in the light of conceptual apparatus of non-Marxian historical materialism.Item Between Modernization and Enslavement: The Historiosophical Implications of Two Approaches to the Social Divisions in Real Socialism(Peter Lang, 2019-03-11) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe purpose of this chapter is to review and discuss conceptualizations of social divisions in real socialism. Namely, I will compare a neo-Marxist approach to social stratifi-cation with a neo-Weberian ones. The examples of the works made in Marxist tradition are concepts of Milovan Djilas and Michael Voslenski, whereas Leszek Nowak's non-Marxian historical materialism can be interpreted as continuation of neo-Weberian tradition. This comparison will be made according to the following criteria: the position of party apparatus, the manner of explication, the status of political sphere and the vision of historical process. The compared concepts lead to different historiosophical and theoretical implications present in the empirical works which silently assumed a given approach. In the neo-Marxist approach, the very coming into existence of real socialism is discussed in terms of modernization processes, that is, the necessity to 'catch up with' the historical delay of Central and Eastern Europe. In the version of neo-Weberian approach presented here, it is assumed that the basic interest of the political authorities is to gain domination over the rest of a society and that real socialism occurs as a result of the dominance of power over property in the societies of Eastern Europe.Item Between Positivism, Narrativism and Idealisation in Polish Methodology of History(Cultural and Intellectual History Society, 2014) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThis paper has two main purposes. Its primary purpose is to present the reception of the discussion between positivism and narrativism in Polish methodology of history. A secondary one is to paraphrase, using the notion apparatus of the idealisational theory of science, the issue of the accuracy of explanation. The paper consists of six parts. In the first, Hempel’s deductive-nomological (or covering law) model of explanation is presented. In the second part, the main tenets and assumptions of the Poznań school of methodology are described. The emergence of this school at the end of the 1960s was one of the most important intellectual phenomena in the cultural history of postwar Poland. However,the influence of the Poznań school postponed the popularisation of narrativism in the Polish methodology of history. The third part analyses the manifold reasons for this delayed reception. The popularisation of narrativism was only possible in Poland after 1989 but it had primarily an imitative character. This outline of the cultural and scientific context allows Chris Lorenz’s proposals (on the problem of the accuracy of explanation) to be put in a wider perspective (part four). Namely, this author describes “a theoretical historical debate” on the status of scientific laws and talks about a post-positivistic approach to science represented by Nancy Cartwright. This approach was to introduce new perspectives to the understanding of lawfulness. In the fifth part of the article, the main assumptions and tenets (for example, the modes of explanation) of another post-positivistic approach to science, namely the idealisational theory of science, are presented and compared with the Hempelian model of explanation. In the final part, Hempel’s explanatory sketch is paraphrased using the notion apparatus of the idealisational model of science which provides a solution to the problem of the accuracy of explanationItem Between Repudiation and Acceptance. The Evolution of Social Attitudes towards the Baptist Church in Poland(Polskie Towarzystwo Religioznawcze, 2013) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe evolution of social attitudes towards the Baptist Church in Poland is an interesting example that delineates mechanisms of functioning of a religious minority in societies spiritually dominated by one religion: the Roman Catholic Church for the Poles, the Evangelical – Augsburg Church for the German minority and the Orthodox Church for the Belarusians and the Ukrainians. In the introductory chapter I describe history of the Baptist movement in Poland in a nutshell. In the second chapter, I outline the rules ofevolution of attitudes of religious majority toward religious minority. The empirical analyzis of the attitudes of Lutheran, Orthodox and Catholic churches towards baptist in Poland from the second half of 19th century to the beginning of the 21th century will be presented in the third chapter. The paper is ended by ‘Conclusions’ (chapter fourth).Item Bogusław Śliwa (1944-1989) - działacz opozycji demokratycznej i "Solidarności" w Kaliszu(Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2016) Kozłowski, Marek; Brzechczyn, KrzysztofBogusław Śliwa was born in Lvov on 6 October 1944. He graduated in law studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań in 1969. Following the completion of his prosecutor’s apprenticeship he worked, among others, in Wolsztyn, Świebodzin and – from 1975 – in Kalisz. On 22 August 1978 Śliwa was fired from the public prosecutor’s office because he had attempted to detect a person who murdered during the robbery committed by a Civic Militia officer. That time he established and maintained close contacts with activists of the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR), among others: Jacek Kuroń, Mirosław Chojecki, Adam Michnik, Bronisław Geremek, Jan Lityński, Zofia Romaszewska and Zbigniew Romaszewski. In 1978 he began to cooperate with the Kalisz group of the Movement for the Defence of Human and Civil Rights (ROPCiO). In the early 1979 this group started to publish “Wolne Słowo” in which Śliwa was a co-editor. On 28 June 1979 in Poznań he was involved in founding the Social Self-Defence Club of the Wielkopolska and Kujawy Region. In September 1980, during strikes at the FWR “Runotex” and KZKS “Winiary” in Kalisz Śliwa was an expert representing the workers. On 29 September of that year, he arranged in Kalisz a meeting of representatives and delegates of enterprises in Kalisz aimed at appointing the Board of the Inter-Enterprise Founding Committee of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union. He became the secretary. Bogusław Śliwa also engaged in setting up and developing an information team. He was informally responsible for developing an information and printing base. Bogusław Śliwa set up “NSZZ Solidarność” magazine where he published his own articles. He also founded the “Solidarność” Workers’ Community Centre in Kalisz. it is noteworthy that it was the only community centre in Poland established by „Solidarność”. In December the Nationwide Liaison Commission of „Solidarność” appointed him to the Committee for the Defence of Prisoners of Conscience established on 10 December of that year. He participated in the information meeting of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union of Independent Farmers “Solidarność Wiejska” held in Staw, in Szczytniki commune. During that meeting “Solidarność Wiejska” led by Mieczysław Walczykiewicz requested the authorities to liquidate the “Świt” Agricultural Production Cooperative in Cieszyków, in Szczytniki commune. Bogusław Śliwa was involved in this successful event. It was the first liquidation of cooperative in Poland. On 11 January 1981 Śliwa co-organized the 1st Regional Convention of „Solidarność” Wiejska in Kalisz. Following the so-called Bydgoszcz events of 19 March 1981 he advocated the general strike. Due to his attitude, Śliwa was listed as one of 146 „Solidarność” activists executed by the 3rd “A” Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the authorities those activists presented radical views. On 30 June 1981 at the 1st General Delegates Convention of the Kaliskie province, Śliwa, as a delegate of the Kaliskie province, was appointed to the Regional Board of „Solidarność” – Southern Wielkopolska. In July Śliwa set up in Kalisz the underground branch of the Polish Democratic Party. In 1981 Śliwa was a delegate to the 1st National Delegates Convention of „Solidarność” and co-edited with Jan Lityński the document entitled: “Message to the Working People of Eastern Europe” originated by Henryk Siciński and adopted by the 1st National Delegates Convention. On 22 November he participated in the Warsaw-held meeting founding the Self-Governing Republic Clubs “Liberty – Equality– Independence” and signed the founding declaration. On 28 of that month he co-organized with Antoni Pietkiewicz a founding meeting of the Club in Kalisz. When martial law was declared he began to hide in Kalisz. Śliwa was arrested on 25 February 1982 and interned in Ostrów Wielkopolski and then in Gębarzew and Kwidzyn. After being released on 25 November 1982, he was immediately involved in the activity of the underground movement of „Solidarność”. He edited the first two issues of “Nasza Solidarność” magazine published in Kalisz. Śliwa co-invented and co-organized the 1st May march that was independent from the authorities’ one held in Kalisz in 1983. Consequently, he was temporarily arrested and detained in Ostrów Wielkopolski. On 7 June 1983 he was released from custody. The amnesty declared on 21 July 1983 caused that the investigation against him was discontinued. In July of the same year he co-founded the Inter-Regional Coordination Commission of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarność” Kalisz-Konin-Sieradz. As he could not find any work and he and his family were exposed to psychological harassment, he emigrated to Sweden on 30 December 1983. He worked, among other positions, as bookbinder. He was the board secretary of the Congress of Poles in Sweden. In 1984 he commented the death of priest Jerzy Popiełuszko in “Dagens Nyheter” daily. He was also interviewed by Radio Liberty. Śliwa commenced cooperating with representatives of the „Solidarność” Coordination Office in Paris, Brussels and Stockholm. On 18 April 1985 the Military Garrison Prosecutor’s Office in Wrocław initiated investigations against Śliwa, charging him with activities detrimental to political interests of the People’s Republic of Poland. Subsequently, on 10 July 1985 this public prosecutor’s office decided to issue an arrest warrant for him. On the same day the public prosecutor suspended criminal proceedings against him. In December 1985, after the courageous escape of two brothers, Adam and Krzysztof Zieliński, from Poland to Sweden, he helped them prevent their deportation and stay in their new homeland. He expressed his opinion on this issue on Swedish television and in “ Dagens Nyheter” daily. His intervention helped them legally stay in Sweden. In 1989 he arrived in Poland. During this short visit he met and talked with his colleagues from the so-called first „Solidarność”. Bogusław Śliwa died in Stockholm on 23 November 1989. He was buried there on 7 December 1989. On 18 October 2006 he was posthumously honoured by Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland, with the Order of Polonis Restitution. On 15 June 2007 Bogusław Śliwa was posthumously granted the title of an Honorary Citizen of Kalisz by the Town Council of Kalisz.Item Civil Loop and the Absorption of Elites(Rodopi, 1993) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe aim of this paper is to extend Leszek Nowak's theory of power by such categories as civil collapes, elite absorption and balanced revolution.Item Communitarian Dimensions in the Socio-Political Thought of the Solidarity Movement in 1980–1981(Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 2019-02-11) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe purpose of this paper is an interpretation of the social and political thought of the Solidarity movement in the light of the political philosophy of communitarianism. In the first part of the paper, the controversies between liberalism and communitarianism are characterized in order to outline the communitarian response toward the authoritarian/totalitarian challenge. In the second part, the programme of a self-governing republic created by Solidarity is interpreted in the spirit of communitarianism. I reconstruct the ideal vision of human being expressed in of ficial trade union’s documents and essays of Solidarity’s advisers (e.g., Stefan Kurowski and Jozef Tischner), and the efforts of the movement for telling the truth about history and its vision of Polish history. Also, I interpret the programme of Self-Governing Republic adopted during the First National Convention of Delegates of Solidarity. In these programmatic documents of Solidarity, one may find ideas characteristic both of the communitarian and liberal political philosophy. However, the liberal ones—including, primarily, the guarantee of human and citizens’ rights, and of individual liberties—were subordinated to the postulate of reconstructing the national and social community. In the course of transformation after 1989, these communitarian elements of Solidarity programme, incompatible with liberal ideological agenda, have been erased.Item Contingency in the Historical Process. An Attempt at Explication in the Light of Idealizational Theory of Science(Allahabad Association for Historical and Cultural Studies, 2005-04) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe paper presents an extension of L. Nowak's idelization theory of science in order to explicate intuitions about unpredictability and contingency of history shared by professional historians and methodologists of history. In the first part of the paper, a critical analysis of some explications (G. Reisch, M. Shermer) of such intuitions, based on the conceptual apparatus of the chaos theory is presented. In the second part of the paper, an original model od cascade process is elaborated that conceptualizes the contingency of historical events. This model is subsequently compared with M. Shermer's model of historical sequences. In third part of this paper, the model of cascade process is applied in the construction of a scientific theory, historical narrative and in historical research.Item Czy historiozofia zakłada teleologiczną wizję przeszłości?(Wydawnictwo Naukowe Instytutu Filozofii UAM, 2011) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofSubstancjalna filozofia historii budziła i budzi watpliwości i krytyki. Krytykuje się już to społeczne następstwa historiozofii, już to sam status stosowanych w nich wyjaśnień. Jednym z paradoksów historii jest niewspółmierność przyczyn i skutków. W dziejach bowiem zdarza się, że małe przyczyny miewały wielkie skutki. Paradoks ten sprawia, że wielu filozofów opowiada się za teleologiczną wizją historiozofii. Dyskusję paradoksu „małych przyczyn i wielkich skutków” można prowadzić na poziomie metafizycznym, ale można również rozważać, czy paradoks ten nie daje się rozwiązać słabszymi środkami rozstrzygając go na gruncie jakiejś anty-teleologicznej historiozofii. Byłoby to jakimś argumentem na rzecz jej trafności i zarazem kontrargumentem przeciwko teleologicznej wizji dziejów. W artykule wspomniany paradoks będzie analizowany na gruncie historiozofii reprezentowanej przez nie-Marksowski materializm historyczny.Item Despre rolul poliției secrete în evoluţia sistemului communist polonez. Un model de interpretarei(Polirom, 2017) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe purpose of this paper is to explain the specific types of operational control exercised by the secret political police, including manipulation, disintegration and informing about new sphere of social life in extended conceptual apparatus of non-Marxian historical materialism. In this paper I consider the condition of subordination of secret political police by the political authorities and the reasons of secret collaboration of citizens with the secret police. I also specify diferent social roles fulfiled by secret collaborators and their influence on evolution of real socialism in Poland.Item Die Historischen quellen der Identität Mitteleuropas(Logos, 2003) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe aim of this paper is analyse the notion of Central Europe used in historiography. The author reconstructs different meanings of this term used in the works of George Schopflin, Peter Burke, Oskar Halecki, Piotr Wandycz. This notion has not only geographic but also social and historical meaning.Item Dynamika formacji. O Piotra Buczkowskiego koncepcji marksizmu analitycznego(Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Bankowej w Poznaniu, 2005) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofCelem artykułu jest rekonstrukcja koncepcji Piotra Buczkowskiego rozwijanych w ramach adaptacyjnej interpretacji materializmu historycznego. W artykue przedstawiona jest dynamika formacji społeczno-ekonomicznej ujęta w trzech modelach powiązanych ze sobą relacją konkretyzacji oraz - również trójmodelowy - globalny wymiar formacji społeczno-ekonomicznej.Item Dyskusja programowa na łamach czasopism Międzyzakładowego Komitetu Założycielskiego i Zarządu Regionu Wielkopolska NSZZ "Solidarność" w latach 1980-1981(Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2016) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThis article analyses the programme discussion in the trade union’s press supported by the trade union’s regional structures: the Inter-Enterprise Founding Committee, and subsequently the Wielkopolska Regional Board of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarność”. The press of „Solidarność” in the Wielkopolska region is distinguished by two groups of articles: reprints from other independent papers and first-time published articles. This article only interprets the latter group of publications. Those articles mainly focused on dominant topics such as discussions on the trade union’s current programme and its organization, the economic reform, the preparation to local self-government elections and the trade union’s global strategy.Item Dziedzictwo Solidarności a przebieg transformacji systemowej w Polsce(Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 2012) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe aim of this paper is to compare social ideas generated in 1980-1981 by “Solidarność” with results of social transformation in Poland and propose some reasons of discrepancies between the expectations aroused by “Solidarity" in the years l980-1981 and social reality after 1989. the “Solidarność” movement in the years 1980-1981 promulgated its own vision of a “self governed republic” - "the third way of development'' combining ideas from both the right and left of the political spectrum. However, this social vision has been dropped during the years of transformation and replaced by neo-liberalism which has legitimized the course of social change in Poland. There are two main factors responsible for this state of affairs. Firstly, during martial law, “Solidarność” changed from being a revolutionary movement into an elitist reformist movement (especially after 1986) which caused a gradual removal of revolutionary elements from the “Solidarność” program. Secondly, one of the silent conditions of the Round Table compromise was a transformation of the Communist Party apparatus' members into owners with connections to the state. Therefore, the transformation did not lead to the building of democratic capitalism but rather to the creation of an oligarchic system responsible for phenomena such as political clientelism, corruption, and scandals. The idea of a self-governed republic and common good was in contradiction to the interests of oligarchic capitalists, whose social position was based on a violation of such values. This is why the ideas of the “first Solidarność” disappeared from public discourse in Poland in the 1990s.Item Freedom, Solidarity, Independence: Political Thought of the "Fighting Solidarity" Organization(The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2011) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe aim of the paper is presentation of the main tenets of political thought of Solidarność Walcząca and attempt of answer why political and social proposals of this organization were marginalized in Polish political discourse after 1989.Item From Interpretation to Refutation of Marxism. On Leszek Nowak's non-Marxian Historical Materialism(Instytut Filozofii Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2017) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe aim of this article is to outline the theory of a historical process developed within the framework of the Poznań School of Methodology, mainly by Leszek Nowak and a team of his co-workers. In the first part of the paper, the meta-philosophical and meta-theoretical assumptions of Poznań school are reconstructed and juxtaposed with the relevant assumptions of Western analytical Marxism. In the central part of the paper, the main ideas of adaptive reconstruction of historical materialism and non-Marxian historical materialism are presented. In its final part, some problems of reception of Leszek Nowak’s theory of historical process in Polish People’s Republic and the Third Republic are discussed.Item From Proletarian Revolution to National Uprising. An Overview of Conceptualizations of Polish Solidarność(Wydawnictwo Fundacji Humaniora, 2018-09-11) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofThe purpose of paper is to review of various approaches to this movement in the social science and the humanities. The author is going to seek answer to the following interpretative question: whether a given conceptualization grasp „Solidarity” movement in dynamic or in static way. In the second part of the paper interpretations of „Solidarity” in analytical categories of insurrection, civil, ethical revival, postmodern, religious, republican, revolutionary and social movements are presented. Finally, the author tries to identify reasons of dynamic or static approach to „Solidarność.”Item Historiografia dziejów najnowszych po 1989 roku wobec innych nauk społecznych (na przykładzie psychologii). Refleksja metodologiczna i postulaty badawcze(Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2016) Brzechczyn, KrzysztofCelem artykułu jest krytyczna rekonstrukcja stanu refleksji metodologicznej w kwestii interdyscyplinarnej współpracy między naukami historycznymi i psychoiogicznymi.