The misery of the human condition and religion

Piotr Kostyło

doi:10.15633/lie.4040

The misery of the human condition and religion

Authors

Piotr Kostyło Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15633/lie.4040

Keywords:

misery of the human condition, religion, hope, localness, universalism

Abstract

The present essay is devoted to various aspects of the misery of the human condition and their references to religion, as conceived of by Leszek Kołakowski and Józef Tischner. After a preliminary presentation of the two thinkers, the author discusses example aspects of the misery in question, showing at what points Kołakowski’s thinking differed from that of Tischner. However, the author finds that the key issue is the evolution that took place in the views on this subject in each one of them. This evolution shows that Kołakowski’s and Tischner’s hopes for overcoming that which each one of them, in his own manner, understood as the misery of the human condition in the Polish localness were not fulfilled. Thus, Poles did not manage to attain universalism, as perceived by both the thinkers in the context of the Western European culture. This finding, however, involves a question about what in the contemporary culture, and particularly religion is local, and what is universal.

Author Biography

Piotr Kostyło, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz

Piotr Kostyło, a doctor with a habilitation degree, a university professor, the head of the Department of Philosophy of Upbringing and Citizenship Education at the Department of Pedagogy, Casimir the Great University in Bydgoszcz, an originator of “Biblioteka Myśli Pedagogicznej” [Library of Pedagogical Thought] publication series, the editor-in-chief of “Filozofia Edukacji” [Philosophy of Education], a translator of works by, among others, John Henry Newman, William James, Émile Durkheim and Henri Bergson. He specializes in philosophy of education. He is the president of the Polish Society of Pedagogy, and a member of Internationale-Ferdinand-Ebner-Gesellschaft. A student of Rev. Józef Tischner and Leszek Kołakowski.

References

Bergson H., Dwa źródła moralności i religii, trans. P. Kostyło, K. Skorulski, Kraków 1993.

Delsol Ch., Le Souci contemporain, Bruxelles 1996.

Dymarski Z., Między kapłanem a błaznem. O tolerancji w kontekście kultury, in: Tolerancja a edukacja, red. M. Patalon, Gdańsk 2008, pp. 72–80.

Kępiński A., Psychopatie, Warszawa 1977.

Kołakowski L., Czym jest socjalizm?, in: L. Kołakowski, Pochwała niekonsekwencji. Pisma rozproszone sprzed roku 1968, t. 2, Londyn 2002, pp. 172–176.

Kołakowski L., Etyka bez kodeksu, in: L. Kołakowski, Kultura i fetysze, Warszawa 2000, pp. 139–173.

Kołakowski L., Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie – rozwój – rozkład, Londyn 1998.

Kołakowski L., Kapłan i błazen, in: L. Kołakowski, Pochwała niekonsekwencji. Pisma rozproszone sprzed roku 1968, t. 2, Londyn 2002, pp. 263–293.

Kołakowski L., Symbole religijne i kultura humanistyczna, in: L. Kołakowski, Kultura i fetysze, Warszawa 2000, pp. 219–239.

O sztuce oswajania liberalizmu. Z Leszkiem Kołakowskim rozmawia Piotr Kostyło, “Przegląd Powszechny” (1998) nr 4, pp. 14–30.

Tischner J., Chochoł sarmackiej melancholii, in: J. Tischner, Świat ludzkiej nadziei, Kraków 1992, pp. 15–28.

Tischner J., Ludzie z kryjówek, “Znak” (1978) nr 1 (283), pp. 57–72.

Tischner J., Upadek Ikara, in: J. Tischner, Ksiądz na manowcach, Kraków 1999, pp. 295–311.

Tischner J., Wstęp, in: J. Tischner, Świat ludzkiej nadziei, Kraków 1992, pp. 9–12.

Downloads

Published

2021-09-30

Issue

Vol. 27 (2021): Józef Tischner and Leszek Kołakowski – faces of the encounters / Józef Tischner i Leszek Kołakowski – oblicza spotkań

Section

Józef Tischner and Leszek Kołakowski – faces of the encounters

License

The following rules apply to copyright:

1. The author declares that he or she has full copyright to the work, and such copyright it is not limited to the extent applicable to this declaration, that the article is an original work and that it does not infringe any third-party rights.

2. The author agrees to a free-of-charge, non-exclusive and non-restricted use of the work by Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow i.e.:

to record and duplicate: make copies of the work by means of printing, reprography, magnetic or digital storage;
to circulate the original or the copies of the work (disseminate, lend or lease the original or copies thereof, publicly display, screen or make the work publicly available so that everyone is able to access it at the time and in place they wish to do so);
to include the work in a compilation;
the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow may grant sublicenses Creative Commons Acknowledgement of authorship-Non-commercial use-Without derivative work 3.0 Poland

3. The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow makes the work available on the Journals Platform belonging to the University, according to the license Creative Commons Acknowledgement of authorship-Non-commercial use-Without derivative work 3.0 Poland. Accordingly, the author authorizes all interested parties to use the work on the following conditions:

the author and the title of the work will be listed,
the place of publication (name of the periodical and an Internet link to the originally published work),
the work will be distributed in a non-commercial way,
no derivative works will be created.

The UPJPII Press does not waive any of its copyrights to any target group.

If you want to publish the text in Logos and Ethos, you must sign the license. However, the signing takes place at a later stage of publishing. Check the license: [license_en.pdf]