Czesław Znamierowski's conception of a nation

The scientific output of Cz. Znamierowski shows how misleading are the institutional criteria of marking the boundries of scientific disciplines. Being the head of the Chair of the Theory of State and Law, he would find it easy to take up subjects belonging to the humanities sensu largo. Above all, however, he would reveal his predilection for sociology and for the issues of a nation in particular. Researching — by Polish sociology — the problems of a nation is an integral part of the Polish cultural heritage with its characteristic feature of thinking in terms of a nation. The problems of a nation can be found in many works by Cz. Znamierowski. They are most conspicuous in Elementary Knowledge of a State (1934) and The Rehabilitation of a Nation (1938). For Znamierowski, a nation is "a homogenous community which has already reached a certain and rather high degree of cultural development". A national community must meet two requirements. Firstly, there must be a community of speech. Secondly, there must exist a common national feeling. The common language, being a means of maintaining a spiritual contact, is, according to Znamierowski, an especially important bond in a nation. The national feeling may be divided into the following elements: a conviction as to the common descent; attachment for the common history; the feeling of community of interests and life tasks for the future; community of opinions on what is right and beautiful; mutual kindness, goodwill and solidarity among the members of a group. A nation is a natural community whose common features and similarity of attitudes are developed due to many centuries of spatial adjacency. The result of such a coexistence is intimacy of spiritual contact, the whole spiritual world of a nation. A nation is not identical with a state, i.e. a tetic, organized, intentional group. A state is but a security frame, within which the life of a nation develops from its own manifold sources. Czesław Znamierowski's sociological conception of a nation fits in the formulation prevailing in Polish sociology that a nation is a socially solidary community, united by a common national culture. The above approach differentiates Polish sociology from Western sociology; the latter professes political, rather than cultural, principle of national integration.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201