The Slav Master. Hegel and Polish Nobility
The Slav Master. Hegel and Polish Nobility

Summary/Abstract: The Slav master is the Polish nobleman whose position will be tested in the light of the critique of Hegel’s master and slave dialectic. Two places which, according to Hegel, are deserted by the Spirit of history, will be focused on in the light of contemporary critique: the XIX century Haiti and Siberia. In both places Polish nobles (Polish Legionnaires helping Napoleon to put an end to the Revolution of the slaves in Haiti and Polish insurrectionists sent into exile to Siberia) are considered a singular multiplicity (using Alain Badiou’s terminology), whose faithfulness to the event (revolution, insurrection) brings to life a truth procedure, which will nevertheless be suppressed by double colonization of the dominant colonial discourse and by post-colonial critique of the dominant West-oriented discourse. Re-reading of Mickiewicz’s lectures given at the Collège de France with the use of contemporary apparatus (Badiou), and remapping of the specifi city of Polish post-feudal legacy in comparison with its Western European version shows the ongoing relevance of mentally interpretative frameworks of the reality shaped by class division.

• Details
• Contents