Henryk Rzewuski – on the way to Polish national philosophy

The purpose of this article is to present original philosophical concept by Henryk Rzewuski. This nineteenth century Polish thinker was (and still is) extremely controversial person, accused of national “apostasy” for the Tsarist Russia and the spread of beliefs about the irrevocable end of the Polish state. In this text reveals the complexity and ambivalence Rzewuskiego attitude towards the Polish cause. This philosopher believed that indeed the Polish state will not be standing free himself from the Russian political sovereignty. At the same time, however, was an ardent supporter of building the Polish national philosophy, which would illustrate Polishness and develop in the sphere of the ideal and spiritual. Polish history has to be – within its concept – the material from which the philosopher sees that these thoughts and ideas around which crytallized Polish spirit, and that reflect the basic idea of moral. The spirit of the nation and its moral idea meet, according to this philosopher, the functions analogous to that of the soul to the body – is a condition of life and the unity of its geopolitical “body.”