Przekleństwo pragnienia półptaka.
The Curse of Desiring a Half-Bird

Bronisław Trentowski’s Views on Political Radicalism in a Contemporary Context

Summary/Abstract: The article contains considerations on Bronisław Trentowski’s essay „Political Radicalism” (1843). The author’s considerations are presented in four parts: 1. People’s self-reliance and liveliness of politics – two main characteristics of „political radicalism”; 2. The concept of „the people” in Trentowski: masses or plurality of different individuals? 3. Diagnosis made by the „political radical” confronted with today’s polarised democracy; 4. Conclusion: „democratism” as „coming to one’s feeling”. The author notices that Trentowski created the argumentation which today naturally comes along to the mind of participatory democracy supporters. For example, Trentowski expressed an accusation towards liberals such as Benjamin Constant that they treat the concept of freedom in a selective way: they allow for freedom in private realm but not in the political realm. Trentowski calls this selectivity „half-bird”. Moreover, Trentowski’s argumentation provokes to recognize political polarisation as deadness – „the reign of reason” instead of „the reign of the mind”.

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