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Professor Feliks Koneczny | |
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 Portrait of Feliks Koneczny (2015) | |
| Born | 1 November 1862 |
| Died | 10 February 1949 (aged 86) Kraków,Polish People's Republic |
| Academic background | |
| Influences | |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | History |
| School or tradition | Empiricism National Democracy Catholic social teaching Litvinism |
| Main interests | Civilisation,History of Poland,Tradition |
| Notable ideas | Science of Civilisation Latin civilisation German Byzantinism Quinqunx of existential values |
| Influenced |
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Feliks Karol Koneczny (Polish pronunciation:[ˈfɛliksˈkarɔlkɔˈnɛt͡ʂnɨ]; 1 November 1862 – 10 February 1949) was a Polishhistorian,theatrical critic,librarian,journalist andsocial philosopher. He founded the original system of thecomparative science ofcivilizations.[1][2][3]
Koneczny was born in Kraków on 1 November 1862. His father was of Moravian origin. Koneczny's mother abandoned him at a young age while his father studied, although he had to work at atrain station due to being expelled from theJagiellonian University for partaking in theKraków uprising.[4]
Koneczny graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy at theJagiellonian University in Kraków and began work at the Jagiellonian Library. After Poland regained its independence, he became an assistantprofessor in 1919. In June 1920, after he had qualified and received the degree ofdoctor habilitatus, he became a professor atStefan Batory University inWilno. After retiring in 1929, he moved back to Kraków.[5]
His interests ranged from purely historical research to the philosophy of history, religion and philosophy.[5] His pioneering works deal with thehistory of Russia. Koneczny authored extensive monographs onByzantine andJewish civilizations, which he considered to beless developed than theLatin civilization ofCatholicwestern Europe. In 1948, after sixty years of research work, Koneczny calculated that his written scholarly output encompassed 26 volumes, each of them being 300 to 400 pages long, not to mention more than 300 articles, brochures and reprints.[5] His theory of civilizations might have inspired those ofAnton Hilckman,Samuel P. Huntington and others.[5]
Koneczny’s theory on civilizations offered a diagnosis of a crisis of European culture and proposed a program of cultural revival. Koneczny developed a pluralistic theory that would serve as a structure for understanding human history as it is based on a presupposition that there exist many civilizations, which have complex forms of social organization. These civilizations are the primary structures of the history. All other forms of social organization (e.g., cultures, nations, institutions, social movements) are derivative or secondary.[6]
Koneczny divided civilizations into about twenty types, of which seven types still exist. Four are ancient: "Brahmin," "Jewish," "Chinese," and "Turanian". Three are medieval: "Latin," "Byzantine," and "Arab." The differences between civilizations are based on their attitude to law and ethics.
Koneczny did not tie civilizational type to any particular race or nation. Hence, Poles could represent the Turanian type of civilization (as, according to Koneczny, didJózef Piłsudski's Poland) and Germans could represent the Jewish type. In his publicationHitleryzm zażydzony ('The Judaized Hitlerism') Koneczny even claimed thatAdolf Hitler was an example of the Jewish civilization type.[7] On the other hand, an ethnic Jew could represent the Latin type of civilization.
Most in Polish; seven books are available in English translation.
English Translation:Web page,Word (1.2MB)
