Europa, kultura, Polska w świecie „śmierci Boga”

One of the basic problems of the Polish culture was – and still is – the answer to the question concerning the place of Poland in Europe and in the world. It is connected with the specificity of the Polish history. What is of special significance, it is the fact that on the threshold of the modern times, Polish and European paths diverged. The shape of modernity was determined by the thought of Descartes, Th. Hobbes and J. Locke. Its starting point is an autonomous and independent individual, taking an economic activity . In the archetype of the Polish culture it is different. This is “Polish dance” (J. Lelewel). And this state of affairs was explicitly criticized by S. Brzozowski and S. I. Witkiewicz. W. Gombrowicz sees it as a chance to take an original place in European culture. Y. Haenel defines the archetype of Polish culture as “the eternal sensivity”.