Od historiografii do historiozofii. Mickiewiczowska refleksja o metodach poznania przeszłości (1832–1840)
From Historiography to Historiosophy. Mickiewicz’s Reflections on Methods of Knowing the Past (1832–1840)

Summary/Abstract: By analyzing Mickiewicz’s original attempts to develop his historiographical ideas ("The Books of the Polish Nation and of the Polish Pilgrimage [Księgi narodu polskiego i pielgrzymstwa polskiego]", "The First Centuries of Polish History [Pierwsze wieki historii polskiej]", his "Lausanne lectures" and "Paris lectures"), the author of this paper shows how the poet’s views evolved during the years 1832–1840: from his fascination with the rationalistic view of historical processes (i.e. with Enlightenment inspirations) to his messianic, mythical, mystical and theosophical conception of them, shaped under the influence of Andrzej Towiański’s theosophical doctrine, during the period when he was Professor of Slavonic Literatures at the Collège de France. The analysis reveals the process by which two historiographical tendencies overlap and interact in Mickiewicz’s texts: the “realistic” and the “messianic”. The latter leads to a transformation of his historiographic interpretation of historical phenomena into a vision characteristic of a messianic philosophy of history. Moreover, under the influence of messianism, a reinterpretation takes place in Mickiewicz’s approach to the question “what is an historical narrative?” According to the realistic conception, it was the “narrating” of events which had taken place in a defined time and place, their treatment in chronological order, and with reference to the criterion of truth. In the historiosophic conception, on the other hand, the historiographic narration undergoes a metamorphosis and becomes a narrative whose aim is above all to grasp the “spiritual essence” of the historical process created both by man and by Providence.

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