Trwanie i humanizacja rodu ludzkiego. Recepcja dorobku kulturowego Stanisława Wawrzyńca Staszica

The exceptional position of Father Stanisław Wawrzyniec Staszic in the history of Poland inspires one to reconstruct and interpret his views also in the field of “human philosophy”, “philosophy of upbringing”or social philosophy. Not disregarding other works by Staszic, this paper focuses first of all on the contents of Ród ludzki, due to its originality and the possibility of transmitting the cultural capital of the past to contemporary and future recipients of culture. The priority cognitive aim of the author of the article was to obtain significant material for the social and cultural development of mankind, using hermeneutic methods. The research problems were formulated as follows: How does Staszic understand mankind/human race? (or how does he define this notion?); Is it possible, according to Staszic, to humanize mankind?; If so, how does it take place and how does it manifest itself?; What factors of persistence (or, possibly, survival) and what factors of humanization of mankind can be identified?; What, according to Staszic, most seriously impeded these processes in the history of mankind?; What role does he think philosophers, the clergy and pedagogues played in this area?; What message for modern generations can be drawn as a result of the analysis and interpretation of Ród ludzki?