Krytyka polskiej kultury politycznej w Egoizmie narodowym wobec etykiZygmunta Balickiego
Criticism of Polish Political Culture in Zygmunt Balicki's National Egoism and Ethics

Summary/Abstract: RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to present the criticism of Poland and Poles in the thought of Zygmunt Balicki on the basis of his paper National Egoism and Ethics. Balicki named the Ethics of ideals , a paradigm of thinking about the political community and the individual in Polish political culture. He subjects it to crushing criticism. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The criticism of Poland and Poles in Balicki’s thought can be reduced to a question: about the positive or negative evaluation of the political patterns of Polish culture defined within the political culture of The First Republic. In the context based on the dilemmas of the strategy of endure concerning the Polish nation at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Author searches for possible strategies of enduring of the Polish nation under statelessness and presents Balicki’s thought as a project for the modernization of Polish society. In the third and fourth part, there is an appropriate analysis of the ethics of ideals from the perspective of humanities sciences, and an analysis from the perspective of social sciences. RESEARCH RESULTS: The main conclusion of the analysis is the thesis about the internal character of criticism of Poland and Poles in the thought of Zygmunt Balicki. He formulates a thesis about the “backwardness” of Poland, and thus the need for “modernization.” However, without finding adequate cultural patterns, either in Eastern or Western Europe on which it would be possible to achieve. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The concept of ethics of ideals is at the same time a description of the national character of Poles as well as of negative phenomena in the Polish public space. The article may prompt a reflection on contemporary modernization changes taking place in Polish society.

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