%0 Journal Article %T The Dispute about the Concept of Society and the Value of the Individual as a Context and a Challenge for Polish Pedagogical Thought %A Rembierz, Marek %J Polish Pedagogical Thought %V IV (2018) %R 10.4467/24504564PMP.18.003.8642 %N Issue 4 %P 59-90 %K pedagogy, individual, society, relationships, bond, subjectivity, upbringing %@ 2450-4572 %D 2018 %U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/polska-mysl-pedagogiczna/article/spor-o-koncepcje-spoleczenstwa-i-wartosc-jednostki-jako-kontekst-i-wyzwanie-dla-polskiej-mysli-pedagogicznej %X If pedagogy is pursued in the knowledge-creating relationship with philosophical analyses and respects logical culture, taking up the issues indicated in the title it should pay attention to – having pedagogical consequences – ontological decisions concerning the existence of society and ontological relations between the social status of the society and the individual. What is ontically (live) primary: individual or society? What are the ontical relationships between the existence of an individual and the existence of society? What cannot exist without what? Can there be a society if there are no individuals, if they do not enter into relations with each other, thanks to which they form and consolidate different types of bonds between them? Andrzej Niesiołowski (1889–1945) accentuates the on-going primary character of the unit, completing the two theses on reality in “Outline of general pedagogy”: (1) “social phenomena arise from relations between individuals” and (2) “social phenomena only in relation to the individual are real”. The analysis of ontic dependence between the existence of an individual and the ways in which society functions, opens the problem area for pedagogical reflection. It leads to further important pedagogical issues. Amplifications and concretization in the pedagogical reflection – also with regard to historical experiences – are required for the conclusion of the ontical primacy of the existence of the individual and the socio-creative role of the relations and bonds between the individuals. Analyzes are carried out in the article until the moment when it is possible to continue developing the proposition of shaping a unit that participates in the co-creation and cooperates in creating social life, which should not be subject to undesirable alienation.