- Feliks Koneczny
Feliks Karol Koneczny (November 1, 1862,
Kraków – February 10, 1949 Kraków (Cracow)) was a Polishhistorian andsocial philosopher . Founder of the original system of thecomparative science ofcivilization s.Biography
Koneczny graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy at the
Jagiellonian University in Kraków and began work as at the Jagiellonian Library. After Poland regained its independence, he became an assistantprofessor in 1919. In June 1920, after he had qualified received the degree ofdoctor habilitatus , he became a professor of theStefan Batory University inWilno . After having retired in 1929, he came back to Kraków. [Biliński P.. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16208880&dopt=Abstract Feliks Karol Koneczny - academic career path] ( [http://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/ebm/record/16208880/full_citation/%5BFeliks_Karol_Koneczny___academic_career_path%5D alternate link] ), Kwart Hist Nauki Tech. 2005;50(1):95-115. Last accessed on 26 April 2007.]Works
His interests moved from purely historical research to the philosophy of history, religion and philosophy.Biliński P.. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16208880&dopt=Abstract Feliks Karol Koneczny - academic career path] ( [http://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/ebm/record/16208880/full_citation/%5BFeliks_Karol_Koneczny___academic_career_path%5D alternate link] ), Kwart Hist Nauki Tech. 2005;50(1):95-115. Last accessed on 26 April 2007.] His pioneering works dealing with the
history of Russia . Koneczny authored extensive monographs of Byzantine and Jewish civilizations, which he considered to be less developed than the Latin civilization ofcatholic Europe . In 1948, after sixty years of research work Koneczny calculated that his written scholarly output encompassed 26 volumes, each of them being 300 to 400 pages long, not to mention more than 300 articles, brochures and reprints. His theory of civilisatons might inspireAnton Hilckman ,Samuel P. Huntington and others.Types of civilizations according to Koneczny
Feliks Koneczny divided civilizations into about twenty types, of which seven types are still present in modern world. Four of them are ancient: "Brahmin", "Jewish", "Chinese" and "Turanian". Three of them are medieval: "Latin", "Byzantine" and "Arab". The differences between civilizations are based on their attitude to law and ethics.
For example, Koneczny claimed that in Latin civilization, the ethics is the source of law. If some laws are not ethical, then they are changed. Church is autonomous, independent and separated from the state. Individuality, self-rule and decentralization are highly valued. Government is judged based on adherence to ethics. The law is of dual nature, divided into public and private spheres.
In Byzantine civilization, church is dependent from the state. In that type of civilization, in politics all means are justified to achieve the goal. Politicians follow ethics in private life, but in public they are judged by their skill, not by ethics. The legal government has absolute authority and its orders are not doubted. Germany under Bismarck was example of that type of civilisation.
In Turan civilisation, the government is source of law, ethics and stand above the law and ethics. The ruler cannot be doubted. Koneczny considered Russia under Tsars as example of this type of civilization.
Jewish civilization considers the law as the most important. The law is source of ethics. The law cannot be changed. However, the same law can be differently interpreted, which leads to relativism of ethics. According to Koneczny, one of element of Jewish civilization is also belief in superior role of one nation or race.
Koneczny claimed, that civilizations cannot mix, and syntax of several civilization leads in fact to the victory of one of them, those which has lower moral standards, or to state of "un-civilization".
Koneczny did not tie civilization type to any particular race or nation. Hence, Pole could represent Turanian of civilization (as, according to Koneczny, Pilsudski). Germans could represent Jewish type of culture (shockingly, Koneczny considered Hitler to represent Jewish civilization). Ethnic Jew could represent Latin type of civilization.
Koneczny considered racism as something alien to Latin civilization, which he considered the highest type.
According to Koneczny, Europe in his time was battlefield between three types of civilization: Latin, Turan and Jewish. He argued that Byzantine type of civilization already lost the battle and was in deep crisis.
Anti-Semitism
Polish historian
Janusz Tazbir describes Feliks Koneczny as a dedicatedantisemite , who looked for Jewish conspiracies wherever he could.Janusz Tazbir , " [http://www.niniwa2.cba.pl/protokoly_janusz_tazbir_1.htm PROTOKOŁY MĘDRCÓW SYJONU: Autentyk czy falsyfikat] "] Koneczny was one of the chief proponents of a theory that Jewish civilization threatened entire Latin-Christian world.Joanna Beata Michlic , "Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present", U of Nebraska Press, 2006, ISBN 0803232403 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0803232403&id=t6h2pI7o_zQC&pg=RA4-PA179&lpg=RA4-PA179&dq=Feliks+Koneczny&sig=bcrLG8YLlpgBpNnTAY6tx5D0GUk Google Print, p.179] ] In his publication "Hitleryzm zażydzony" ("The Judaized Hitlerism") Koneczny claimed thatNazism was example of Jewish civilization type..
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