Krzysztof Śleziński

The following paper presents Woroniecki's concept of education that harkens back to the achievements of Christian and classical thought. It is based on ontological and epistemological realism in declaring the necessity of integral and universalist human education and training. This pedagogy is based on the assumptions of philosophical anthropology, and Aristotelian and Thomaston ethics; approaches which present who a man is and what moral goodness is as an aim of human struggle. This aim is simultaneously the aim of pedagogy, and thus all undertakings and ways of supporting the learner are to be subordinated to this aim. We can attribute to Woroniecki's pedagogical views, apart from category realism, the more general category of universality. Pedagogy, perceived as educational ethics integral to all human education and training, can be understood as being addressed to everyone. The realism of this pedagogy is based on the conviction that everyone should develop in one's individual and social life in accordance with one's potential, which should be realized by working on oneself.

The article draws attention to the relevance of Stanisław Karpowicz's (1864-1921) pedagogical views. In his opinion, the natural sciences play an important role in education, and because of this, their methods should be introduced to education. New textbooks, and books popularizing knowledge, should be prepared according to the principles of the natural sciences. For this purpose, lessons with students should be well-planned so as not to overwhelm them with casual information and detailed research. Rather, the idea is to concentrate on the well-thought out introduction to the basic principles of natural history. According to Karpowicz, knowledge obtained at school should have a higher moral sense. Unfortunately, school education is often overloaded with free-floating details and facts, which do not lead to greater comprehension, but rather hamper the usefulness and practicality of such knowledge. Karpowicz disagrees with the idea of forming the learner as "a walking encyclopaedia". Rather, it is more important that the sense of truth and the love for independent research be developed and aroused among learners.

In the article the author presents a path whereby specific didactics, also called subject didactics, are acquired in order to gain scientific autonomy. The author also draws attention to the strict dependence of specific didactics on general didactics and the specificity of the subjects they teaching. The importance of the development of didactics in the creation of appropriate structures for the academic community is also emphasized.

The subject matter of truth cannot be separated from considerations on thinking and cognition. The remarks above point out the primordial nature of the concept of truth. Without this concept, human intellectual activity would be futile. All human thought would make no sense, and knowledge would be impossible. One can discern two layers of study of the subject matter of truth: understanding it and thinking about it. The sense of the concept of truth, expressing itself in what actually is, what really exists, remains unchanged. Only analyses and interpretations of what is real are diverse and changing. Thinking about the truth, although laden with historicity, diverse, and even nihilistic, does no harm to its basic sense.