Ruch filozoficzny lat czterdziestych XIX wieku jako program reedukacji i modernizacji narodu

In the years 1837-1848 the Grand Duchy of Poznan was the center of a strong philosophical movement known as „philosophy of action” or philosophy of creativity. Its leaders – August Cieszkowski, Bronislaw Trentowski, Karol Libelt and Henryk Kamienski – tried to transform German Idealism (especially Hegelianism) into a philosophy of social praxis, capable of paving the ways for a wholesale modernization of Poles and, thereby, to national independence. The present article is divided into four parts. The first one deals with Libelt’s views on the national calling of the intelligentsia as natural leaders in the process of transforming the unenlightened masses into conscious, active citizens. The second deals with Trentowski’s comprehensive programme of reeducating conservative Polish gentry in the spirit of modern European values. The third part analyzes Kamienski’s views on the philosophical meaning of the “material economy” and on the urgent need of preparing Polish society to cope with the problems of economic modernization. Finally, the last part shows the originality and importance of Cieszkowski’s, Trentowski’s and Libelt’s most ambitions task: to achieve a thorough modernization of religion through a philosophical interpretation of the revealed truths. In Polish conditions it was to be a radical break with the Sarmatian-type Catholic traditionalism, seen as the main obstacle on the way to the new regenerated Poland.