The Concept, Role, and Importance of Physical Education in the Pedagogical and Medical Works of Foreign Authors of the Enlightenment Period, as Translated into Polish

Abstract

The Enlightenment is a period that could be described as a time of phenomena and process that appeared in Europe in the second half of the seventeenth century. What the eighteenth century brought about in Poland was an intensification of social prestige in such areas as science and education. These changes were mainly affected by the then-ruling King Stanislaw August, whose initiatives resulted in keeping active contacts with the artistic and scientific environments from other countries. Hundreds of translations of the most outstanding works by foreign authors began appearing in Poland and became highly popular. Based on an analysis of 17 works by Western European authors translated between 1740 and 1830, these Enlightenment texts penetrated Polish pedagogical theories and impacted the development of modern physical education. The texts reveal the role and importance of physical education as presented by European philosophers in Polish-language publications at the time, and chronicle those European countries from which the most significant information on intellectual trends in the field of modern physical education flowed into Poland.