Stanisław Brzozowski (philosopher)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Stanisław Leopold Brzozowski (Polish: ; 28 June 1878 – 30 April 1911) was a Polish philosopher, writer, publicist, literary and theatre critic. Considered to be an important Polish philosopher, Brzozowski is known for his concept of the ''philosophy of labour'', rooted in
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
. Besides
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
, among his major inspirations were
Georges Sorel Georges Eugène Sorel (; ; 2 November 1847 – 29 August 1922) was a French social thinker, political theorist, historian, and later journalist. He has inspired theories and movements grouped under the name of Sorelianism. His social and ...
,
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...
,
Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; ; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...
,
Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...
, and
John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...
. Brzozowski's core idea was based on the concept of a socially engaged intellectual (artist). Although he was in favour of
historical materialism Historical materialism is Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx located historical change in the rise of Class society, class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. Karl Marx stated that Productive forces, techno ...
, he strongly argued against its
deterministic Determinism is the metaphysical view that all events within the universe (or multiverse) can occur only in one possible way. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping mo ...
interpretation. In his philosophical approaches, Brzozowski stated his opposition to all concepts that would commodify a human being. Polish intellectuals (
Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz ( , , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish language, Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the ...
, Andrzej Walicki,
Leszek Kołakowski Leszek Kołakowski (; ; 23 October 1927 – 17 July 2009) was a Polish philosopher and historian of ideas. He is best known for his critical analysis of Marxism, Marxist thought, as in his three-volume history of Marxist philosophy ''Main Current ...
) have stressed that Brzozowski's interpretations of Marx's early writings, not widely known at the time of their formulation, largely anticipated those presented later by
György Lukács György Lukács (born Bernát György Löwinger; ; ; 13 April 1885 – 4 June 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, literary critic, and Aesthetics, aesthetician. He was one of the founders of Western Marxism, an inter ...
and
Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , ; ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosophy, Marxist philosopher, Linguistics, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, Political philosophy, political the ...
.


Life and career

Leopold Stanisław Leon Brzozowski was born in 1878 in Maziarnia, a village near
Chełm Chełm (; ; ) is a city in eastern Poland in the Lublin Voivodeship with 60,231 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is located to the south-east of Lublin, north of Zamość and south of Biała Podlaska, some from the border with Ukraine. The ...
. He grew up in an impoverished
gentry Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...
family, but attended private schools, which allowed him to enroll in the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the
University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...
in 1896. In 1897 Brzozowski was involved in student riots against
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
professors teaching at the university. As a consequence, Brzozowski and many other students were expelled from the university for a period of one year. Brzozowski then led the student organization ''Bratniak'', established to maintain financial support for the expelled students. To help his father, who suffered from a fatal illness, Brzozowski decided to use the organization's funds. Although he had promised himself to give the money back as soon as possible, his
embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...
was discovered. The arbitration panel of the fellow members excluded Brzozowski from the activities of the organization for three years. In the same year (1898), he was imprisoned as a result of investigations into the secret activities of the Society for People's Education. Beginning in the autumn of 1898, Brzozowski suffered heavily from
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
, a consequence of the time spent in prison. To recuperate, he went to a sanatorium in
Otwock Otwock (Yiddish: אָטוואָצק) is a city in the Masovian Voivodeship in east-central Poland, some south-east of Warsaw, with 43,895 inhabitants (2024). Otwock is part of the Warsaw metropolitan area. It is situated on the right bank of the ...
. In 1900 he met there Antonina Kolberg and they married the next year. In 1903 Brzozowski's only child, Anna Irena, was born. The health problems continued, and to receive more intensive medical care, in 1905 he traveled to Italy. In 1906 he went to Italy again and resided in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
until his death there in 1911. The last few years of Brzozowski's life, although spent in gradually worsening health and material conditions, were the most productive. During that time he wrote his ''opus magnum'' – the novel ''Płomienie'' (The Flames) – a response to ''
Demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including fiction, comics, film, t ...
'' by
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian literature, Russian and world literature, and many of his works are consider ...
, as well as important books concerning Brzozowski's philosophical and cultural program: ''Idee. Wstęp do filozofii dojrzałości dziejowej'' (Ideas: An introduction to the philosophy of historical maturity) and ''Legenda Młodej Polski'' (The legend of Young Poland).


Intellectual profile

Brzozowski was an influential critic of Polish social and philosophical thought, an analyst of literature, and a piercing observer of Polish and European everyday life. He was an unambiguous critic of the traditionalism and provincialism of the main currents of 19th century
Polish literature Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Latin, ...
. In particular, Brzozowski was a strong opponent of historical novels, such as those written by the
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
winner
Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish epic writer. He is remembered for his historical novels, such as The Trilogy, the Trilogy series and especially ...
. Brzozowski's radical attacks on Sienkiewicz's works made him a ''persona non grata'' in Polish artistic circles. Brzozowski held a unique position as an astute critic of Polish contemporary culture, known as
Young Poland Young Poland ( ) was a modernist period in Polish visual arts, literature and music, covering roughly the years between 1890 and 1918. It was a result of strong aesthetic opposition to the earlier ideas of Positivism. Young Poland promoted tre ...
(Polish
modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
) or
neo-romanticism The term neo-romanticism is used to cover a variety of movements in philosophy, literature, music, painting, and architecture, as well as social movements, that exist after and incorporate elements from the era of Romanticism. It has been used ...
. His ''Legenda Młodej Polski'' represents the most comprehensive denunciation of those forms of the Polish mind, which, in Brzozowski's words, represent "the delusion of cultural consciousness."


Connection of Marxism and religion

Concerning his philosophical heritage, Brzozowski tended to experience rather radical shifts in his world-view as a result of subsequent readings. His first important philosophical inspiration was
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...
and his notion of ''historical sense,'' which Brzozowski found particularly valuable. After focusing on Nietzsche, Brzozowski moved closer towards
Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...
, which eventually enabled him to develop his philosophy on the
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
basis. Besides providing many vital inspirations, Marxism played a central role in Brzozowski's intellectual development, and for the longest period of his short life he was a Marxist thinker. His interpretation of
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
's thought was anti-
naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
and anti- positivist. Brzozowski was an ardent critic of
Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
Finally, he developed his own philosophical program called the ''philosophy of labour'' that emphasized the role of human activity in creating and re-creating the reality. This was a concept rejecting reification and alienation of human acts and, according to Brzozowski, was the natural expansion of key Marxist ideas. In his philosophy Brzozowski focused on subjective factors of work: on the quality of human will and on cohesion and strength of the live social bond determining this quality. He thought that the examination of work from the perspective of experience acquired in the process of its performance, or its "internal" analysis, made it possible to prove that the ultimate basis of work and its products arising in human awareness as the "objectively" given world, was subjective physical effort, maintained by the strength of human will. This effort, in its appropriate level and progress, depends on other forms of labor, creating proper organization and culture of societies; work, its quality, its amount, is a subtle creation of will, maintained by entire cultures, which in turn is a very subtle and complicated creation. Brzozowski reaches the conclusion that an essential condition of the discipline of will is a strong, traditional moral bond. This results in recognizing religion as a valuable school of will and a precious element of intense social bond. The essence of work is therefore the inner life of a human being, spirituality, “willingness to work”, although it is strongly rooted in customs, in culture. This emphasis on roots indicates that community is of crucial importance for the continuity of work.


Contemporary significance in Poland

Stanisław Brzozowski has an established position as one of the most important intellectuals in modern Polish history. His cultural and philosophical activity has been regularly debated throughout the last century in Poland. He became the point of reference for subsequent generations of Polish intellectuals. Although identified mainly with the
political left Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...
, the subtlety and open-endedness of his thought allowed some groups from the
right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...
to identify themselves with Brzozowski's ideas as well. Since 2002, Brzozowski has been the patron of ''
Krytyka Polityczna ''Krytyka Polityczna'' (; "The Political Critique") is a network of Polish left-wing intellectuals. The network is based around a journal of the same name founded by Sławomir Sierakowski in 2002, but is open to voices from across the political s ...
'' (Political Critique), a Polish left-wing intellectual society organized around a journal of the same title founded by Sławomir Sierakowski in 2002. In 2005, the Stanisław Brzozowski Association was established and became the publisher of the journal and the on-line publication ''Dziennik Opinii'' (Opinion Daily). The association's core idea resembles that of its patron: that intellectuals are public figures who ought to live a socially involved and committed life.


Main works

* ''Pod ciężarem Boga'' ("Under the Burden of God") irst published in 1901, novel* ''Filozofia czynu'' ("The Philosophy of Act")
903 __NOTOC__ Year 903 ( CMIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * King Berengar I of Italy proceeds to issue concessions and privileges to the Lombard nobility and monasteries. He gra ...
* ''Wiry'' ("The Whirpools") 904, novel* ''Kultura i życie. Zagadnienia sztuki i twórczości w walce o światopogląd'' ("Culture and Life") 907* ''Płomienie'' ("Flames") 908, novel* ''Legenda Młodej Polski. Studia o strukturze duszy kulturalnej'' ("The Legend of Young Poland. Studies on the Structure of the Cultural Spirit")
910 Year 910 ( CMX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. __NOTOC__ Events By place Europe * June 12 – Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis IV (the Child), using ...
* ''Idee. Wstęp do filozofii dojrzałości dziejowej'' ("Ideas. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Historical Maturity")
910 Year 910 ( CMX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. __NOTOC__ Events By place Europe * June 12 – Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis IV (the Child), using ...
* ''Sam wśród ludzi'' ("Alone Among People") 911, novel* ''Głosy wśród nocy. Studia nad przesileniem romantycznym kultury europejskiej'' ("Voices in the Night. Studies on the Romantic Turning Point in European Culture") 912* ''Pamiętnik Stanisława Brzozowskiego'' ("The Diary")
913 __NOTOC__ Year 913 ( CMXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * June 6 – Emperor Alexander III dies of exhaustion while playing the game '' tzykanion'' (Byzantine n ...
* ''Widma moich współczesnych'' ("The Ghosts of My Contemporaries")
914 __NOTOC__ Year 914 ( CMXIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – Empress Zoe Karbonopsina leads a palace coup at Constantinople and, with the support of the '' ma ...
* ''Książka o starej kobiecie'' ("A Book About an Old Woman") 914, novel


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brzozowski, Stanislaw 19th-century Polish novelists 20th-century Polish novelists Polish male novelists 19th-century Polish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Polish dramatists and playwrights Polish male dramatists and playwrights 1878 births 1911 deaths Polish Marxists 20th-century Polish philosophers 19th-century Polish male writers 20th-century Polish male writers