The Metaphysics of Cooperation presents the intellectual achievements of the Polish associative socialist and pioneer of social sciences, Edward Abramowski. The volume is divided into five sections, each of them contains an analysis of Polish philosopher's work according to the issues he dealt with: sociology, ethics, politics, cooperativism, and psychology. Each part also contains a selection of his writings. Its intention is to show Abramowski's works in the context of global intellectual history and to include them in the (...) current political debates. Abramowski makes fraternity or cooperation the main concepts of his social metaphysics. The Polish version of cooperativism can be inspiring both for contemporary researchers and political activists in the post-economic-crisis Europe. It also opens up a space for creating more democratic political and economic institutions. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe author traces the impact of Abramowski's ideas on the recent history of Poland. His concepts were not only popular in the Polish Socialist Party and the syndicalist movement in the interwar period, but they also exerted a profound influence on the cooperative movement and democratic left-wing opposition in the 1970s and 1980s. The leaders of the Workers’ Defence Committee were much influenced by Abramowski's ideas and, according to some researchers, the Solidarity movement from 1980 to 1981 in (...) Poland was the culmination of his concepts. Today's anti-systemic movements in Poland are also inspired by Abramowski. The author also draws attention to certain similarities between Abramowski's ideas, Kropotkin's idea, Gramsci's concept of civil society and the thought of the young Marx. The author also outlines Abramowski's social ideas in the context of ideas promoted by the main theoreticians of the Polish left in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. (shrink)

Is Edward Abramowski an ethicist of care? Part II. The comparison of the ethics of care and the ethics of friendship These two papers contribute to the research tendency that seeks an analogy between the ethics of care and other ethical theories. The purpose of this study is to compare the ethics of care with Edward Abramowski’s moral theory. The critical appraisal of both theories requires the reconstruction and confrontation of issues such as friendship‑brotherhood‑care, response to the needs (...) of others, and making friendship‑brotherhood‑care public. The analysis of philosophical sources was carried out with the use of tools from hermeneutics and the history of ideas. In the case of the ethics of care, both the theories of direct caring relations and of group, institutional caring relations were examined. The analysis of Abramowski’s philosophy is focused on the ethics of friendship. In Part I, the ethics of care and the ethics of friendship are presented. Part II refers the results obtained from the analysis of the ethics of friendship to the theses and arguments which feature in the ethics of care. Czy Edward Abramowski jest etykiem troski? Część II. Porównanie etyki troski i etyki przyjaźni Seria dwóch artykułów wpisuje się w tendencję badawczą poszukującą analogii pomiędzy etyką troski a innymi teoriami etycznymi. Celem pracy jest porównanie etyki troski i teorii moralnej Edwarda Abramowskiego. Krytyczne badanie obu teorii polega na odtworzeniu i konfrontacji rozumienia takich zagadnień, jak: przyjaźń – braterstwo – troska, źródła reakcji na potrzeby innego, upublicznienie przyjaźni – braterstwa – troski. Do jego realizacji wykorzystano analizę tekstów filozoficznych przeprowadzoną z uwzględnieniem narzędzi hermeneutyki i historii idei. W przypadku etyki troski badaniu poddano zarówno teorie bezpośrednich relacji opiekuńczych, jak i teorie relacji pośrednich, międzygrupowych, zinstytucjonalizowanych. Przedmiotem analizy w filozofii Abramowskiego stała się etyka przyjaźni. W pierwszym artykule zaprezentowano etykę troski oraz etykę przyjaźni. W drugim odniesiono pozyskane wyniki analiz etyki przyjaźni do tez i argumentacji obecnych w etyce troski. (shrink)

Is Edward Abramowski an ethicist of care? Part I. Introduction to the ethics of care and the ethics of friendship These two papers contribute to the research tendency that seeks an analogy between the ethics of care and other ethical theories. The purpose of this study is to compare the ethics of care with Edward Abramowski’s moral theory. The critical appraisal of both theories requires the reconstruction and confrontation of issues such as friendship-brotherhood-care, response to the needs of (...) others, and making friendship-brotherhood-care public. The analysis of philosophical sources was carried out with the use of tools from hermeneutics and the history of ideas. In the case of the ethics of care, both the theories of direct caring relations and of group, institutional caring relations were examined. The analysis of Abramowski’s philosophy is focused on the ethics of friendship. In Part I, the ethics of care and the ethics of friendship are presented. Part II refers the results obtained from the analysis of the ethics of friendship to the theses and arguments which feature in the ethics of care. Czy Edward Abramowski jest etykiem troski? Część I. Prezentacja etyki troski i etyki przyjaźni Seria dwóch artykułów wpisuje się w tendencję badawczą poszukującą analogii pomiędzy etyką troski a innymi teoriami etycznymi. Celem pracy jest porównanie etyki troski i teorii moralnej Edwarda Abramowskiego. Krytyczne badanie obu teorii polega na odtworzeniu i konfrontacji rozumienia takich zagadnień, jak: przyjaźń – braterstwo – troska, źródła reakcji na potrzeby innego, upublicznienie przyjaźni – braterstwa – troski. Do jego realizacji wykorzystano analizę tekstów filozoficznych przeprowadzoną z uwzględnieniem narzędzi hermeneutyki i historii idei. W przypadku etyki troski badaniu poddano zarówno teorie bezpośrednich relacji opiekuńczych, jak i teorie relacji pośrednich, międzygrupowych, zinstytucjonalizowanych. Przedmiotem analizy w filozofii Abramowskiego stała się etyka przyjaźni. W pierwszym artykule zaprezentowano etykę troski oraz etykę przyjaźni. W drugim odniesiono pozyskane wyniki analiz etyki przyjaźni do tez i argumentacji obecnych w etyce troski. (shrink)

Abstractabstract:The aim of this article is to analyze the close relation between social theory (“sociological phenomenalism”) and the political ideology of the Polish thinker Edward Abramowski. Abramowski’s “applied sociology” involved: (1) the sociology of “fraternity,” examining basic forms of socialization; (2) combining social revolution with ethical self-improvement; and (3) the dissemination of “social laboratories” through the development of a network of cooperatives. As “experiments of the will,” the cooperatives allowed Abramowski to combine science, imagination, and ethics in (...) a coherent project of political utopia-building, extending the possible forms of community. Finally, the article shows that in Abramowski’s case, the meaning of utopia as an element embedded in a wide range of political practices derives from his vision of social science. Due to the influence that Abramowski’s thought had on political reality in Poland, the concept of “experimental” utopia entered the vocabulary of modern social sciences in Poland for good. (shrink)

PRACTISING THE UTOPIA. EDWARD ABRAMOWSKI AND THE RETURNING SPECTRE OF COMMUNISM The article discusses the idea of the communism comprised in the works of Polish radical thinker, Edward Abramowski (1868–1918). The Abramowski's works are examined in a strictly political manner. The article argues, that Abramowski's concept of the communism was created in the opposition to orthodoxical marxism, dominant in European workers movement that time. Abramowski was a determined critic of separating the „theory” and „practice” in (...) workers movement program. The article proposes term „utopian practice” to analyse Abramowski's concept of the political activity and his way of thinking about class struggle and abolition of the capitalism, which – according to Abramowski – should be replaced by the „Cooperative Republic” (Republika Kooperatywna) – pre-communist utopia based on workers free associations. The article points out similarity (based on the concept of the „onologisation of the politics”) between Abramowski's concept of „everyday communism” and theories of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. (shrink)

The article aims to analyse the thought of Edward Abramowski – a Polish philosopher, pioneer of psychology and theorist of the socialist cooperative movement. It attempts to reconstruct the impact that his social thought and his philosophical anthropology have had on the political activity of Polish cooperativism. In keeping with Michael Freeden’s thesis that an ideologist translates philosophical concepts into political practice, the author sees Abramowski as a thoroughly modern thinker who opened an alternative ideological path to the (...) great political narratives of the day. The article points out the originality of the Polish philosopher’s proposition for the socialist movement, the goal being to achieve the political emancipation of the popular classes through economic activity undertaken by grassroots cooperatives operating outside state structures. The philosophical-sociological concept of ‘fraternity’ or ‘pure socialization’ leads Abramowski to formulate a doctrine of ‘stateless socialism’, in which popular political organizations use primordial, human-based cooperation to create new opportunities for community life. The last parts of the article show links between Abramowski's concepts and the modern school of commoning. The aim of this comparison is to show the doctrine of cooperativism can make a contribution to determining the political stakes of contemporary conflicts regarding biopolitical subjectivity. (shrink)

The article refers to the fact that the eco-systemic paradigm of thinking gives new possibilities to understand and evaluate beauty. The paper analyzes the understanding of beauty proposed by a founder of eco-philosophy, Henryk Skolimowski. Moreover, it refers to the conceptions of the relationship between beauty and creative human activity in the writings of Plotinus, Henri Bergson, and Edward Abramowski. Inspired by their reflections on beauty, the paper presents author’s own justification of the value of beauty obeyed the paradigm (...) of eco-systemic thinking. (shrink)