Cultural and Intellectual History Between East and West

general courses

Completion of first degree in artes liberales.

The course is designed for students who have the skills certified by the preparation of a Bachelor's thesis (collecting bibliography of the subject and object, identifying the state of research, analysis and interpretation of texts, making and verifying hypotheses, composing an argument, creating a comprehensive text in a scientific style).

A good command of the English language is recommended

Notions of East and West are linked to the geography of cultural mythology. They facilitate communities' self-determination and distinction. They are expressions of myths that embody ideas about the past and the future. Defined differently in different areas of Europe, they influence each other. Deeply conditioned by culture, they express and shape collective emotions. They are an important manifestation of the political and historical situation, and at the same time influence the ideas and actions of the collective.

Our classes educate and hone interdisciplinary research skills on issues related to the cultural contacts of Eastern and Western Europe, dialogues and ideological disputes, and the connections between literature, aesthetics, philosophy, theology, politics and iconography. They support the writing of master's theses on cultural texts in an interdisciplinary approach in their native cultural context.

Berdyaev, a freedom thinker, was exiled from the USSR in 1922. A year later, in Berlin, he published The New Middle Ages, which gained wide acclaim in the West. His view of historiosophy focused on the phenomena of decadence, indicating that modernity had come to an end due to internal exhaustion. The crisis, which from the Renaissance onward shapes the history of modern man, leads to the loss of the "person" as a kind of center of the spirit and freedom of existence. Although the idea of revolution itself was born in the West and as such is incapable of changing the course of history here, its adoption and realization in Russia have quite a different meaning. This is because, according to Berdyaev, the revolution is part of Russia's messianic spirituality and is the beginning of a new Middle Ages as a spiritual phenomenon (although realized by inadequate political means).

In the first part of the class, we will deal with the political-messianic writings of Berdyaev, as well as try to understand why his philosophical writings on the categories of person, existence and freedom were the most respected in France.

In the second part of the class, we will deal with the eschatology of Berdyaev and his master Soloviev. Along this path we will arrive at a consideration of the Antichrist, focusing on the differences and similarities of reflections on the end times in Western and Eastern thought.

The classes train and refine skills in interdisciplinary research on issues concerning the cultural contacts of East and West Europe.

They enable deep reflection on the genesis, cultural conditions, content and transformations of the notions of East and West, as well as on the consequences of their use in order to define oneself and others.

They develop and perfect the ability to analyse and interpret cultural texts and phenomena which are the subject of study.

The course develops an attitude of respect for different cultural traditions and methodological choices, combined with the ability to consciously evaluate them, an attitude of research integrity, the ability to evaluate one's own and other researchers' findings in a reasoned manner, and the ability to engage in informed discussion among discussants from different research and cultural traditions.

Note: The topics of subsequent classes and the scientific texts and source texts to be analysed and interpreted in the course will be determined in consultation with the seminar participants, using the topics and literature proposed in the syllabus.

Student workload:

- 60 hours of participation in the seminar (“contact hours”)

- 90 hours of self-study (work needed to achieve the planned learning outcomes).

The Balkans and the West: Constructing the European Other, 1945-2003. Ed. by A. Hammond. London and New York: Routledge, 2016.

R. Barthes, Mitologie. Przeł. A. Dziadek. Warszawa 2000 (lub wyd. nast.).

A. de Custine, Rosja w roku 1839. T. 1-2. Tłum. P. Hertz. Warszawa 1995.

M. Eksteins, Święto wiosny. Wielka wojna i narodziny nowego wieku. Przeł. K. Rabińska. Poznań 2014.

Facing the East in the West. Images of Eastern Europe in British Literature, Film and Culture. Ed. by B. Korte, E. Ulrike Pirker and S. Helff. Amsterdam - New York: Rodopi, 2010.

D. Freedberg, Potęga wizerunków. Studia z historii i teorii oddziaływania, przekład E. Klekot, Kraków 2005.

B. Hamann, Wiedeń Hitlera. Lata nauki pewnego dyktatora. Przeł. J. Dworczak. Wyd. 2., popr. i uzup. Poznań 2013.

Imagining the West in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Ed. by G. Péteri. University of Pittsburgh Press 2010.

R. Koselleck, Semantyka historyczna. Wybór i oprac. H. Orłowski. Tłum. W. Kunicki. Poznań 2012.

P. Matvejević, Istocni epistolar. Inteligencja i disidencja. Zagreb 2013.

M. Mihajlov, Tematy rosyjskie. Paryż 1966.

E. Panofsky, Idea. Ein Beitrag zur Begriffsgeschichte der älteren Kunsttheorie. Berlin 1960 (ang. E. Panofsky, Idea. A Concept in Art Theory. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1968, lub wyd. nast.).

E. Rosenstock-Huessy, Out of Revolution. Autobiography of Western Man. Providence - Oxford: Berg Publishers,‎ 1993 (lub inne wyd.).

P. Rumiz, Trans-Europa Express. Milano 2012.

P. Rumiz, Maschere per un massacro. Quello che non abbiamo voluto sapere della guerra in Jugoslavia, Milano 2011.

P. Rumiz, Come cavalli che dormono in piedi. Milano 2014.

L. Szestow, Ateny i Jerozolima. Przeł. Cezary Wodziński. Kraków 1993 (lub wyd. nast.).

J. Taubes, Zachodnia eschatologia. Przeł. i wstępem opatrzył A. Serafin. Warszawa 2016.

G. Tihanov, Pan i niewolnik. Lukács, Bachtin i idee ich czasów. Przeł. M. Adamiak, Warszawa 2010.

A. de Tocqueville, O demokracji w Ameryce. Przeł. B. Janicka i M. Król. Kraków - Warszawa 1996 (lub wyd. nast.).

A. Warburg, The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity. Los Angeles 1999.

In addition, scholarly texts and sources selected in consultation with course participants.

Upon completing the seminar students will be able to:

- can present the results of their interdisciplinary research in an oral presentation, respecting the requirements of the research method they have adopted and their purpose;

- finds and analyses, interprets and evaluates scientific texts in their field of research;

- analyse and interpret their own choice of source texts, placing them within the appropriate cultural contexts and making critical use of the existing studies;

- be able to undertake a matter-of-fact academic discussion, in which they are able to:

a) clearly formulate and defend their stance

b) modify their own hypotheses taking into account the weight of the argumentation offered in the discussion

The main requirement consists of:

a) attendance (10% of the final grade);

b) preparation for the classes (10% of the final grade);

c) involvement (20% of the final grade);

d) exam (60% of the final grade).

The exam consists of oral presentation of the analysis and interpretation of a selected scientific or source text related to the subject of the course.

The teacher has to priorly agree upon the topic and the bibliography of the presentation.

The assessment criteria of the oral presentation are:

a) the relation of the presentation to the general topic of the course

b) independence, insightfulness, and the interdisciplinary character

c) the use of bibliography

d) the structure of the presentation (logic, transparency, sense).

Oral exam