Based on solid research, this erudite study is a first attempt at presenting a comprehensive analysis of nineteenth-century Polish liberalism. Polish liberal tradition has generally been considered weak or even nonexistent. Janowski, on the other hand, argues that nineteenth-century Poland inherited a strong protoliberal tradition from the nobility-based democracy, and that in the mid-nineteenth century, liberalism was a dominant trend in Polish intellectual life, even if it rarely appeared in its pure form and did not create political movements separating liberal aims from patriotic ones.
- Cover
- Front matter
- Contents
- Introduction and Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1: Two Sources of Liberal Thought
- Chapter 2: The Rise and Decline of Enlightened Liberality
- Chapter 3: Romantic Liberalism
- Chapter 4: Liberalism as the Ideology of the Intelligentsia
- Chapter 5: The Rise of Positivism
- Chapter 6: Positivism under Attack
- Chapter 7: In a World of Alien Ideals
- Conclusion: Terms and Currents
- Bibliography
- Index
- Back cover