„Słownik Jaskólskiego”, czyli o historii myśli politycznej holistycznie. Refleksje nad Słownikiem historii doktryn politycznych (t. I–VI, Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, Warszawa 1997–2015)
“Jaskólski’s Dictionary’ – holistically on the history of political thought. Remarks on The Dictionary of the history of political doctrines (vols. I–VI, Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, Warszawa 1997–2015)

Summary/Abstract: The article is a review of the extensive six-volume Dictionary of the History of Political Doctrines elaborated by a wide group of Cracovian historians of political thought under the editorial guidance of Prof. Michał Jaskólski. I argue that The Dictionary of the History of Political Doctrines plays a double role: being a piece of a scholarship it is also a book which should be read by politically responsible citizens who intend to better understand processes and events in public life. In my opinion, the history of political doctrines in Poland was in need of such a work, which is neither a monograph nor a course book, but a reference book. The purpose of The Dictionary… – the same as in the case of the Oxford or Cambridge Companions to… – is to: conceptualize the issue, to indicate the controversies and the arguments within the intellectual debates, and, last but not least, to provide the reader with a basic bibliography. Beyond its ability to give information, the main asset of the reviewed dictionary consists in its interpretation of the discussed aspects of political thought, which is much more difficult and scientifically interesting. In order to complete the work on the six-volume dictionary successfully, one had to be conscious of the complex identity of the discipline, and one had to possess a sense of synthesis. In my opinion the scientific editor of the dictionary, Prof. Michał Jaskólski, is a scholar who possesses both these attributes. To sum up, although the book serves as an invitation to enter the labyrinth of the history of political thought, it also invites the reader to ‘walk’ through it critically.

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