Where is the Public Sphere in Polish History?

• Authors: Adrian Wesołowski

Abstracts

EN

Jürgen Habermas’ theory of the public sphere has provoked a massive reaction in European historiography in the last thirty years. However, methodological debates driven by the new questions that it inspired in Germany, England, or France had no equivalent in Poland and more broadly in Eastern Europe. This essay suggests why this might have been the case and argues for the deeper engagement of Polish historians with the Habermasian theory. In the text, I reintro-duce the aims of the theory of the public sphere and look for the possible roots of its lacklustre reception among Polish historians in the idea about the Polish case’s supposed incompatibility with the course of modern history assumed by Habermas. I argue against this view, emphasising the flexibility and open‑endedness of the main Habermasian concepts, as well as underlining the necessity for a specifically Polish answer to Habermas’ theoretical enterprise. In the final part, I present the opportunities brought by adapting the theory to the Polish case, claiming that the original history of the Polish public sphere could be a prospective topic for both Polish historians and other historians of the public sphere.

Keywords

EN

Habermas; public sphere; public opinion; Polish historiography

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk
• Journal: Historyka Studia Metodologiczne
• Year: 2023
• Volume: 53
• Pages: 549-563

Dates

published

2023

Contributors

author

Adrian Wesołowski

• Jagiellonian University

• https://orcid.org/0000000227141749

Identifiers

Biblioteka Nauki

56558692