“More and more phenomena are assuming a political dimension, and the surrounding world of politics is beginning to overwhelm us. Despite its grounding in rationality, and despite efforts to adapt it to the changing forms of social life, it systematically yields to derealisation. The key notions in this area, such as liberty, equality, democracy, raison d’état, revolution, counter-revolution, are becoming increasingly disconnected, receive variegated explanations and interpretations in political practice, are readily subject to manipulation.” Cultural myth expresses a collective, emotionally charged belief in the veracity of a conceptual content, a memory, and simultaneously provides a model, a set of rules for social behaviour. Leszek Kołakowski draws attention to the ubiquity of mythological thinking in contemporary culture in which it addresses the universal need to find meaning and continuity in the world and its values. Myth is then a particular mode of perception, cognition, and understanding of reality, part of man’s mentality, his national and cultural identity.
Existing studies on the historical knowledge of the nobility within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth primarily rely on printed sources. However, these studies often overlook the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, focusing on the Kingdom of Poland instead. This article aims to present Lithuania’s history as depicted in the silvae rerum of eighteenth-century noblemen. Through scientific investigations, it is evident that descriptions of Lithuanian history were less frequent compared to Polish history. The period covered in these descriptions typically ranges from the origin narrative (ethnogenetic legend) to the reign of Władysław Jagiełło. Notably, the history of the Jagiellonian dynasty is incorporated into the history of Poland. By comparing the noblemen’s silvae rerum with historiographical works, both from the 18th century and earlier periods, the article examines the sources of the nobility’s historical knowledge. The analysis reveals the continued influence of works by Maciej Stryjkowski and Wojciech Wijuk Kojałowicz, while also acknowledging the impact of eighteenth-century writers such as Kasper Niesiecki, Władysław Łubieński, and Franciszek Paprocki on the historical content of the silvae rerum.
The manuscript books (silva rerum) written by the nobility of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth often contain geographical and historical information about other countries and continents. In the 18th century, compendia of knowledge were published more and more frequently. They described the world in an easy-to-understand way. From these works, certain pieces of knowledge were copied into the noblemen’s silva. This article examines an image of the New World, and more precisely of North America, created by Adam Jan Warakomski. While analysing various works containing geographical references that Warakomski may have used during the writing of his silva, it becomes evident that the sources of his knowledge were the works of the Jesuit Jan Drews. Therefore, an analysis of characteristics of North America as depicted by both authors is conducted. This article is supplemented by a source edition with the purpose of comparison between the content of the sources.
PL
Rękopiśmienne księgi szlachty Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów często zawierają informacje geograficzno-historyczne na temat innych państw i kontynentów. W XVIII w. coraz częściej publikowane były kompendia wiedzy, które w przystępny sposób opisywały świat. Z nich wiadomości te trafiały na karty szlacheckich sylw. W artykule zaprezentowano obraz Nowego Świata, dokładniej: Ameryki Północnej w księdze autorstwa Adama Jana Warakomskiego. Na podstawie analizy różnych dzieł zawierających tematykę geograficzną, z których Warakomski mógł korzystać podczas tworzenia swej sylwy, okazało się, że źródłem wiedzy autora były te autorstwa jezuity Jana Drewsa. Przeanalizowano więc charakterystykę Ameryki Północnej obydwu autorów. Artykuł został uzupełniony edycją źródłową, służącą porównaniu treści źródeł.
The freedom of speech and the right to information are essential human and citizenship rights, which are guaranteed in the constitution and numerous international conventions. The book under review focuses on widely understood issues of the free expression of views. The authors of the articles are either scholars who deal with the legal aspects of mass media or journalists, who are part of those media. As a result, the authors’ opinions and proposals for change not only deepen our knowledge, but also broaden the scope of thinking about the freedom of speech as practiced by the media.
A widely held belief has it that mass media is the fourth power. A question arises, however, as to whether the media create information instead of simply providing it. The editor of the book under review indicates that this situation leads to a number of pathologies, such as sponsoring, lack of objectivity, manipulations etc. The media, especially those in the hands of private owners, are profit-driven. Sensational journalism is aimed at attracting as wide audience as possible.
The aim of this article is to present the view of Polish rulers by the nobility of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the eighteenth century. These reflections were based on the silva rerum books written in the eighteenth century, containing separate sections on the history of the Polish Kingdom. As in the printed works, there is a noticeable slow change in the manner of descriptiveness – the abandonment of factual information in favour of an attempt to evaluate the ruler and the times of his reign. The painful reality of the successive partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and then its collapse, resulted in a more critical approach to certain rulers, but also to the mechanisms of governance.