The Positivist Objectives
One of the leading Polish philosophers of Positivism; novelist and short-story writer, Bolesław Prus (The Outpost, The Doll, The New Woman), advised his compatriots that Poland's place in the world would be determined by the sum of her contributions made to the world's scientific, technological, economic and cultural progress.
Specific societal questions addressed by the Polish Positivists included the establishment of equal rights for all members of society, including peasants and women; the assimilation of Poland's Jewish minority; the illiteracy rates among ordinary citizens resulting from the closure of Polish schools by the occupying powers, and the defense of Polish population in the German-ruled part of Poland against Kulturkampf and their violent displacement by German government.
The Positivists viewed work, not the popular uprisings, as the true way to maintain a Polish national identity and demonstrate a constructive patriotism. Writer Aleksander Świętochowski (the editor of Prawda), maintained that virtually all "great problems hidden in the womb of mankind can be solved by education alone, and this education must be compulsory."
Read more about this topic: Positivism In Poland
Famous quotes containing the word objectives:
“Along the journey we commonly forget its goal. Almost every vocation is chosen and entered upon as a means to a purpose but is ultimately continued as a final purpose in itself. Forgetting our objectives is the most frequent stupidity in which we indulge ourselves.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)