Collegium Intermarium

REKRUTACJA

CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON WESTERN CIVILIZATION

The world is undergoing rapid changes, the principles of individual and social life, truth and the possibility of knowing it, human nature, its normative character, the purposefulness of things and human life are being questioned in a theoretical and practical way. Many institutions of social order, including the state and the Church, are not only helpless in the face of ongoing changes, but are clearly influenced by them and sometimes are their initiators. The task and purpose of CBCZ is to point out the topicality and „enduring novelty” of the elements contained in the philosophical, anthropological and natural law solutions proposed by the pioneers of Christian thought and their precursors – thinkers of Greek and Roman antiquity. At the Center, we will also show that these elements constitute the proprium of Western civilization, in opposition to other intellectual and cultural phenomena which, although geographically and historically created in the West and in this sense constitute its heritage, are, however, the negation of Western culture (e.g. Marxism and National Socialism). The Center’s researchers will demonstrate which of these elements stand the test of time and circumstances, as well as consider how they should be applied in a changing reality.

CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON WESTERN CIVILIZATION It carries out its tasks through:

  • showing the key elements of Western culture – philosophy, law, Christianity, the concept of man as a person and the consequences of this for particular areas of life. The Center conducts research on the detailed content of these elements, their historical manifestations, transformations, and mutual conditions;
  • describing the process of erosion of constitutive elements of Western culture, indicating and determining the causes of this process, their mutual determinants, analyzing historically undertaken remedial measures;
  • pointing to those constitutive elements of Western culture that remain current, eternally new and everlasting;
  • searching for how these elements can be applied in changing circumstances and conditions, including those caused by the development of specific sciences and the presence of new technologies in everyday life;
  • Influencing public opinion and educational centers by explaining the need to apply elements of Western culture in order to maintain order, dignity of the human person and save a decent human existence in the global dimension.

Att. phd. Bartosz Lewandowski

Director of the Center for Research on Western Civilization

 

Attorney, doctor of law. A graduate of law studies at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, which he graduated with honors in 2012. In 2013-2014, he completed general training at the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution, during which he practiced in prosecutorial units and common courts in Warsaw, becoming familiar with with the specificity of work in law enforcement and justice agencies. In 2014-2016, he completed his legal training at the District Bar Council in Warsaw, and in 2017 he obtained a positive result in the bar exam (Warsaw Bar Association). Doctor of law and a graduate of full-time doctoral studies at the Institute of State and Law Studies at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, where he conducted research and teaching activities in the field of sociology of law, political and legal doctrines and legal theory. Author of publications in the field of substantive and procedural criminal law, history of law and the theory and philosophy of law, published in prestigious nationwide (including „Państwo i Prawa” and „Przegląd Sejmowy”) and international scientific periodicals. Author of the monograph „The Constitutional Court of Czechoslovakia in the years 1920-1939” (Warsaw 2020, WydawnictwoTru Konstytukcji). In his scientific work, he also focuses on the legal aspects of the position of court experts in trial practice, which is reflected in the book „Position and role of an expert in the Polish legal system” (Warsaw 2016), published under his editorship.

SCIENTIFIC PROJECTS

A century of attempts to renew Christian civilization.

 

The aim of the project is to examine how, since the mid-19th century, attempts have been made to renew Christian civilization in a rapidly changing world undergoing an industrial and technological revolution. The broad socio-cultural contexts of the creation of great Church documents will be examined, especially the encyclicals: Aeterni Patris, Rerum Novarum, Pascendi dominici gregis, Divini Redemptoris, Quadragesimo anno – as documents changing the Church’s approach to social issues and science, which were the reaction of Church representatives, and thus, Christian civilization into completely new phenomena. The project will examine attempts to renew Christian civilization from a historical perspective, in the fields of philosophy, art, sociology and humanities. Philosophical, historical and sociological works, as well as literary, painting and musical works will be examined. It will be examined to what extent they carried Christian civilization in a new form, and to what extent they retained the traditional identity by changing their form. The project is interdisciplinary in nature. The research covers various fields: philosophy, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of law and social philosophy, sociology, sociology of the family, history of art, and literary criticism. The aim of the research is to analyze the specificity of Christian civilization, present in various manifestations of human activity, its adaptability and the ability to leave its mark on many different spheres of social life while maintaining its own identity in changing conditions. In this context, an important element is to point to contemporary conditions and the civilization changes currently taking place. The research will also include the topic of examining the causes of failure of some civilization projects.

Project financed by the Ministry of Education and Science under the Science for Society program.