The Supernatural and the Liberation of Man. On the Relationship Between Religion and Emancipation in Stanisław Brzozowski’s Writings

Abstract

The article characterizes two different variants of the relationship between religion and emancipation that appear in Stanisław Brzozowski’s writings. A comparison of the two articles (Religia i społeczeństwo [Religion and Society] and Alfred Loisy i zagadnienia modernizmu katolickiego [Alfred Loisy and the Issues of Catholic Modernism]), written over a period of only three years, leads to the conclusion that the radical change in the philosopher’s views on the relationship between the supernatural and human activity is the key to interpreting the difference in his opinions on religion. At the end of the article, however, I draw attention to the fact that both positions – negating religion from an emancipatory position and affirming it – can be found in Brzozowski’s earlier writings, which leads one to believe that the aforementioned difference between the two views can be captured not only diachronically, but also synchronically. The latter approach could serve to consider the hypothesis according to which Brzozowski’s position on the relationship between religion and emancipation was dependent on his views on the relationship between emancipation and the rational, cognitive element.