Bronisław Trentowski
Encyclopedia
Bronisław Ferdynand Trentowski (21 January 1808 in Opole
– 16 June 1869) was a Polish
"Messianist" philosopher, pedagogist, journalist
and Freemason, and the chief representative of the Polish Messianist "national philosophy."
in the Polish November 1830–31 Uprising
. After the uprising's suppression, he emigrated to Germany
, eventually settling at Freiburg
in Baden
. He developed an interest in philosophy, became an assistant professor at Freiburg University and remained there to the end of his life. He attempted to return to Poland
, but was expelled from Poznań
in 1843 by the Prussia
n government, and from Kraków
in 1848 by the Austria
n government.
He published his first work in 1837 in German, but from 1842 he wrote only in Polish, beginning with Chowanna, czyli system pedagogiki narodowej jako umiejętności wychowania, nauki i oświaty, słowem wykształcenia naszej młodzieży (Chowanna, or the System of National Pedagogy as the Science of Education and Instruction, in a Word, of Educating Our Youth).
Trentowski, in his book Stosunek filozofii do cybernetyki, czyli sztuki rządzenia narodem (The Relation of Philosophy to Cybernetics, or the Art of Governing a Nation, 1843), was the first Polish-language author to use the term "cybernetics."
In 1847–48 he wrote a book, Wiara słowiańska, czyli etyka piastująca wszechświat (The Slavic Faith, or the Ethics that Governs the Universe), demonstrating that the Slavic gods were a form of the same god that was worshipped by Christians.
From 1840 Trentowski wrote for Tygodnik Literacki (The Literary Weekly), Rok (The Year), Biblioteka Warszawska (The Warsaw Library) and Orędownik Naukowy (The Spokesman of Science).
Trentowski preached the concept of a "national philosophy," i.e., a philosophy sprung from the peculiar characteristics of the Polish people that would serve that people in the accomplishment of its historic mission. Based on his philosophy, he created a pedagogical system that was intended to revive the Polish nation through education
and an upbringing in a spirit of patriotism
(a program of "national pedagogy
"). In psychology
, he introduced the concept of an individual, singular "self" (jaźń); and he treated a society
as a collection of "selves." In political philosophy, he postulated the reconciliation of reform
s with national tradition
.
Trentowski had much in common with fellow Polish Messianist Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński
. He had the same speculative mentality; the same maximalist
aspirations in philosophy and conviction that "God had destined [him] for the complete reform of learning, and through it the rebirth of society."
The chief object of his philosophy was universality, an emergence from one-sided solutions. One-sided to him were realism
and idealism
, objective
and subjective
points of view
, experience
and mind
, empirical
and metaphysical
knowledge
. He sought to go beyond these antitheses
to a synthesis
. He judged Messianism severely and rejected any connection with German philosophy; in fact, however, he was taken with German Hegelianism
, and in his later writings also with the Messianist national ideology, and the union of these two elements constituted the fabric of his philosophy.
Opole
Opole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 125,992 and is the capital of the Upper Silesia, Opole Voivodeship and, also the seat of Opole County...
– 16 June 1869) was a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
"Messianist" philosopher, pedagogist, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and Freemason, and the chief representative of the Polish Messianist "national philosophy."
Life
Bronisław Trentowski was an alumnus of the Piarist college in Łuków. In his youth, he taught school in Podlasie, then fought as an ulanUlan
-Places:*Ulan, New South Wales, a town in Australia*Ulan, Qinghai, a county in Qinghai Province, China*Ulan-Ude, Russia, the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia-Military:...
in the Polish November 1830–31 Uprising
November Uprising
The November Uprising , Polish–Russian War 1830–31 also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress...
. After the uprising's suppression, he emigrated to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, eventually settling at Freiburg
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
in Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
. He developed an interest in philosophy, became an assistant professor at Freiburg University and remained there to the end of his life. He attempted to return to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, but was expelled from Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
in 1843 by the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n government, and from Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
in 1848 by the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n government.
He published his first work in 1837 in German, but from 1842 he wrote only in Polish, beginning with Chowanna, czyli system pedagogiki narodowej jako umiejętności wychowania, nauki i oświaty, słowem wykształcenia naszej młodzieży (Chowanna, or the System of National Pedagogy as the Science of Education and Instruction, in a Word, of Educating Our Youth).
Trentowski, in his book Stosunek filozofii do cybernetyki, czyli sztuki rządzenia narodem (The Relation of Philosophy to Cybernetics, or the Art of Governing a Nation, 1843), was the first Polish-language author to use the term "cybernetics."
In 1847–48 he wrote a book, Wiara słowiańska, czyli etyka piastująca wszechświat (The Slavic Faith, or the Ethics that Governs the Universe), demonstrating that the Slavic gods were a form of the same god that was worshipped by Christians.
From 1840 Trentowski wrote for Tygodnik Literacki (The Literary Weekly), Rok (The Year), Biblioteka Warszawska (The Warsaw Library) and Orędownik Naukowy (The Spokesman of Science).
Trentowski preached the concept of a "national philosophy," i.e., a philosophy sprung from the peculiar characteristics of the Polish people that would serve that people in the accomplishment of its historic mission. Based on his philosophy, he created a pedagogical system that was intended to revive the Polish nation through education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and an upbringing in a spirit of patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
(a program of "national pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
"). In psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, he introduced the concept of an individual, singular "self" (jaźń); and he treated a society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
as a collection of "selves." In political philosophy, he postulated the reconciliation of reform
Reform
Reform means to put or change into an improved form or condition; to amend or improve by change of color or removal of faults or abuses, beneficial change, more specifically, reversion to a pure original state, to repair, restore or to correct....
s with national tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
.
Trentowski had much in common with fellow Polish Messianist Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński
Józef Maria Hoene-Wronski
Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński was a Polish Messianist philosopher who worked in many fields of knowledge, not only as philosopher but also as mathematician, physicist, inventor, lawyer, and economist. He was born Hoene but changed his name in 1815.-Life:...
. He had the same speculative mentality; the same maximalist
Maximalist
Maximalist is a quality of excessive redundancy oft exhibited by way of the overt accumulation of appurtenances that reflect current society. In other references the term refers to either the ostentatious displays of the extensive possessions of the super-rich or the obsessive collecting as...
aspirations in philosophy and conviction that "God had destined [him] for the complete reform of learning, and through it the rebirth of society."
The chief object of his philosophy was universality, an emergence from one-sided solutions. One-sided to him were realism
Philosophical realism
Contemporary philosophical realism is the belief that our reality, or some aspect of it, is ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc....
and idealism
Idealism
In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...
, objective
Objective
Objective may refer to:* Objective , to achieve a final set of actions within a given military operation* Objective pronoun, a pronoun as the target of a verb* Objective , an element in a camera or microscope...
and subjective
Subjectivity
Subjectivity refers to the subject and his or her perspective, feelings, beliefs, and desires. In philosophy, the term is usually contrasted with objectivity.-Qualia:...
points of view
Perspective (cognitive)
Perspective in theory of cognition is the choice of a context or a reference from which to sense, categorize, measure or codify experience, cohesively forming a coherent belief, typically for comparing with another...
, experience
Experience
Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
and mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
, empirical
Empirical
The word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation or experimentation. Empirical data are data produced by an experiment or observation....
and metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
. He sought to go beyond these antitheses
Antithesis
Antithesis is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition...
to a synthesis
Thesis, antithesis, synthesis
The triad thesis, antithesis, synthesis is often used to describe the thought of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel never used the term himself, and almost all of his biographers have been eager to discredit it....
. He judged Messianism severely and rejected any connection with German philosophy; in fact, however, he was taken with German Hegelianism
Hegelianism
Hegelianism is a collective term for schools of thought following or referring to G. W. F. Hegel's philosophy which can be summed up by the dictum that "the rational alone is real", which means that all reality is capable of being expressed in rational categories...
, and in his later writings also with the Messianist national ideology, and the union of these two elements constituted the fabric of his philosophy.
Works
- Chowanna, czyli system pedagogiki narodowej (Chowanna, or the System of National Pedagogy, vols. 1–2, 1842).
- Stosunek filozofii do cybernetyki, czyli sztuka rządzenia narodem (The Relation of Philosophy to CyberneticsCyberneticsCybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
, or the Art of Governing a Nation, 1843). - Myślini, czyli całokształt logiki narodowej (Myślini, or the Complete National Logic, vols. 1–2, 1844).
- Wizerunki duszy narodowej z końca ostatniego stulecia (Images of the National Soul from the End of the Last Century, 1847)
- Wiara słowiańska, czyli etyka piastująca wszechświat (The Slavic Faith, or the Ethics that Governs the Universe, 1847–48)
- Przedburza polityczna (The Approaching Political Storm, 1848).
- Die Freimaurerei in ihrem Wesen und Unwesen (GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: The Freemasons..., 1873). - Panteon wiedzy ludzkiej... (The Pantheon of Human Knowledge..., vols. 1–3, 1873–81).
- Bożyca (The God Book, fragments, 1965).
See also
- History of philosophy in Poland
- List of Poles
External links
- Kopie cyfrowe dzieł in the Kujawsko-Pomorska Biblioteka Cyfrowa
- Trentowski jako reformator masonerii
- Die Freimaurerei. About Trentowski's book.
- Myślini czyli całokształt logiki narodowej