In this issue, the readers will find the following articles:
Today Through the Lens of the Ancient Debate on the Value of Mētis
Petr Slováček
In the article “Today Through the Lens of the Ancient Debate on the Value of Mētis”, the author examines contemporary challenges to freedom of speech in art, science, and politics through the ancient Greek concept of mētis—practical wisdom enabling success in life. He argues that mētis, rooted in the common sense of non-experts, faces suppression by those in power, termed the “anointed,” amid growing censorship and moralistic polarization. Drawing on Greek drama, particularly tragedies like Antigone and Prometheus Bound, the author highlights the role of mētis in exploring human complexity and fostering moral reflection, supported by insights from neuroscience and philosophy. The text contrasts mētis with hybris—excessive pride—illustrating how drama avoids simplistic judgments, promoting epistemic humility. The author connects these ideas to modern issues, suggesting that the erosion of liberal values and the marginalization of practical knowledge threaten individual agency. He concludes that mētis, alongside the moderation of sōphrosynē, offers a counterbalance to authoritarian tendencies. This interdisciplinary study underscores drama’s enduring relevance as a tool for understanding ethical dilemmas and resisting the overreach of power, urging a renewed appreciation for experiential wisdom in today’s world.
Mirror – Landscape – Swedenborg. On the Secret of Reflections in Selected Poems by Leopold Staff
Bartłomiej Borek
The article analyses selected works of Leopold Staff through the lens of Emanuel Swedenborg’s philosophy, focusing on the motif of mirror reflections as a cognitive medium. The mirror – both literal and metaphorical – serves in Staff’s poetry as a symbol of transition between the sacred and the profane and as an epistemological tool for revealing the boundaries of human perception. The author highlights Swedenborg’s role as a key interpreter of these relations, drawing analogies between his vision of reality and Staff’s poetic imagery. The analysis also considers concepts such as synesthesia, correspondence, and sacrofanalisation, offering a novel research perspective.
The Moral Personality of the Russian Revolutionary
Kamil Wojtowicz
From the second half of the 19th century in Tsarist Russia, due to turbulent politics and social changes, revolutionary groups (Narodnik, socialist, and anarchist) developed rapidly. To fully capture this period in the history of Russian revolutionary thought, it seems crucial to understand the ethos of a revolutionary and the moral personality that should define them. Therefore, the following article presents the personality of the Russian revolutionary. First, the concept of moral personality is briefly presented, followed by a presentation of the “Catechism of the Revolutionary” by Sergei Nechayev as a work containing premises as to the nature of the moral personality of the (anarchist) revolutionary. What follows is a reconstruction of the moral personality of a (socialist) revolutionary based on Russian revolutionary literature. The article ends with a summary underlying the conclusions from the analysis of the texts, indicating the character of the moral personality of the Russian revolutionary.
Traumatic History and its Psychological and Moral Consequences
Magdalena Skoneczna
The article addresses the issue of traumatic historical events, collective methods of commemorating them, and their long-term psychological and moral consequences. It takes as its starting point Michał Bilewicz’s book Traumaland, which explores the impact of historical violence – war, persecution, genocide – on collective identity and cognitive attitudes. The article juxtaposes psychological diagnoses with selected philosophical categories drawn from Friedrich Nietzsche, particularly his typology of history and the concept of ressentiment. On this basis, it introduces the notion of “traumatic history” as a cultural form of commemorating collective injury, which may both sustain memory and identity and perpetuate reactive attitudes leading to ressentiment. It identifies the link between historical trauma and a morality shaped by fear, rancor and impotence, while also exploring the possibility of critically working them through. As an alternative to ressentimental fixation, the article proposes critical reflection on collective historical experience as a path toward self-knowledge and the transformation of collective identity.
The Metaphysics of Touch: Remarks on the Margins of Richard Kearney’s Touch
Tomasz Sieczkowski
This paper examines Richard Kearney’s book Touch: Recovering our most vital sense, analysing how Kearney positions touch as our most fundamental sense in an increasingly digital and disembodied world. The author first contextualizes Kearney’s work within recent empirical and philosophical research on touch, comparing it with approaches by Fulkerson, Linden, Banissy, and Classen. The paper then explores Kearney’s central concept of tact, which represents a special bodily intelligence that precedes abstract knowledge and serves as the foundation for all sensory experience. Through philosophical analysis drawing on Aristotle and phenomenological traditions, Kearney challenges the dominant Western opto-centric tradition that privileges sight over touch. The author highlights Kearney’s argument that touch has healing potential through the archetype of the “wounded healer” and discusses how Kearney proposes a balanced integration of physical and virtual experiences to counter the modern process of excarnation (i.e. disembodiment). The paper concludes that Kearney’s rehabilitation of touch represents not just a philosophical project but an urgent cultural imperative for reintegrating our individualized selves and communities through embodied contact.
Upominając się o zwierzęta poza-ludzkie. Recenzja książki Oscara Horty pt. Po stronie zwierząt [Advocating for non-human animals. Review of Oscar Horta's book On the Side of Animals]
Oskar Szwabowski
Lech Witkowski wobec dziedzictwa Alfreda Northa Whiteheada. Recenzja książki Whitehead. Naddania i (w)zrosty dla humanistyki i edukacji [Lech Witkowski on the legacy of Alfred North Whitehead. Review of the book Whitehead. Contributions and growth for the humanities and education]
Antoni Kania
Join us in philosophising with “Hybris”!
