A Prelude to the Deliberations on Polish National Culture
Adam RODZIŃSKI
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin , PolandAbstract
The author holds that Polish national culture was shaped by the history of Poland, which not infrequently involved building the state from scratch. Due to this fact the Poles have become a people keeping a healthy distance towards the mundane matters and they tend to focus on the spiritual instead. Therefore it is perhaps easier for the Poles to feel persons than it is for other nations, although they are not a nation of individualists or non-conformists. The Poles need and wish to share the responsibility for matters to which, due to the Polish history, they cannot stay indifferent. This responsibility, which affi rms human dignity and human subjectivity, may contribute to the Poles’ becoming not only better citizens, but also better human beings.
The present article was originally published in Ethos 2, no. 4 (1989): 148-150 and subsequently reprinted in W. Chudy (ed.), Z Karolem Wojtyłą myśląc Ojczyzna (Lublin: Instytut Jana Pawła II KUL–Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL, 2002), 53-56.
Keywords:
nation, civilization, culture, history, the history of Poland, homelandJohn Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
