Klemens Hankiewicz’ Idea of National and Slavic Philosophy

Abstract

This article takes into consideration three aspects of Klemens Hankiewicz’s book Zarys filozofii słowiańskiej: 1. the relation between nation and philosophy; 2. relation between Slavic characteristics and philosophy; 3. philosophy in the Slavic nations. A nation is treated by Hankiewicz as origin of a philosophy that determines the mainstream and content of philsophical thought. However, philosophy is the most important field of national culture and enables the higher level of nation’s development. Hankiewicz’s book is one of the first history of Slavic philosophy and was published in Rzeszów in 1873. It has not only a historical significance but is also a testimony to the vitality of Slavic philosophy at that time when the most Slavic notions lost their independence.