The Relation between Work and Political Emancipation from a Central and Eastern European Perspective: Autocreation, Work and Suffering in Stanisław Brzozowski

The Relation between Work and Political Emancipation from a Central and Eastern European Perspective: Autocreation, Work and Suffering in Stanisław Brzozowski” is a postdoctoral project proposal that intends to explore the thought of Stanisław Brzozowski (1879 – 1911), with an emphasis on the philosophy of work that he primarily develops in the years between 1906 – 1909. The main aim of the project is to contribute to the contemporary interdisciplinary discussions on the nature of work through a hermeneutical-phenomenological approach to Brzozowski’s texts, which span the fields of literature, philosophy, literary critique, and cultural criticism. The general approach of the project towards its source material is to interpret it from the horizon of the specific Polish Central and Eastern European context where Brzozowski’s thinking is situated, in such a way that the universalizing and foundational tendency of the Western European perspectives on work may be challenged. The project will offer new perspectives to the interdisciplinary research conducted on the Baltic Sea Region at Södertörn University and CBEES through a pluralization of European horizons of experience regarding the historical, cultural, political and philosophical significance of work. It will also develop the understanding of work within the context of Centre for Practical Knowledge, where I am currently employed. This is important for Södertörn University since Centre for Practical Knowledge is responsible for those parts of the teacher education programmes, and the police education programme, at Södertörn University that are immediately connected to the students’ multifaceted experiences of work. The proposed project will therefore contribute to a development of the understanding of work that is crucial for Södertörn University as a whole, but which has largely remained unthematized. With the proposed project I am applying for a 2 year postdoctoral position, with 80% employment per year. The first half year of the project will be devoted to preparatory readings. In each remaining 6 months of the project one article will be written and published, in the following order: “Autocreation and Titanism in the Philosophy of Stanisław Brzozowski”, “The Phenomenon of Work in Stanisław Brzozowski’s Philosophy of Work”, “The Political and Tragic Suffering in Stanisław Brzozowski”.

Documents

Final report - Krystof Kasprzak - The Relation between Work and Political Emancipation from a Central and Eastern European Perspective: Autocreation, Work and Suffering in Stanisław Brzozowski