On Human Vices: Ethical and Educational Challenges, as depicted in Wincenty Kadłubek’s Historiography

Alicja ŻYWCZOK

Instytut Pedagogiki, Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicach, ul. Grażyńskiego 53, 40-126 Katowice, Poland , Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3994-9558

Abstract

The article presents a hermeneutic interpretation of a less known part of the literary output of Wincenty Kadłubek, medieval thinker and chronicler, whose work belongs, in the author’s view, to a cultural heritage of particular importance for Polish history. The author provides a detailed discussion not only of negative moral dispositions (their manifestations, causes, and effects) as opposed to virtues, but also of the criteria which make it possible to effectively identify and distinguish different kinds of vices. An analysis of such negative dispositions seems helpful in eliminating them from both individual and social life. The aim of the presented research is to answer the following questions: What negative moral dispositions does Kadłubek identify and how does he evaluate them? What are the manifestations, causes, and effects of the vices he describes? How, in his view, should such dispositions be prevented and eradicated in the process of educating the younger generation? What ethical and educational message can be drawn today from the chronicler’s literary output?

Keywords:

negative disposition, vice, fault, virtue, historiography, ethics, moral education