Filozofia klasyczna jako podstawa nowatorskich programów wychowania w wybranych pismach Eleonory Ziemięckiej

The subject of this article concerns the philosophical explorations of Eleonora Ziemięcka (1815‒1869), née Gagatkiewicz Ziemięcka, who, influenced by classical philosophy, proposed programmes of education that were extremely innovative for her era, especially with regard to the education of women. In her youth, the Polish thinker was influenced by Enlightenment theories, adopting the category of progress, which was fundamental to that era. She then became fascinated by German idealism, only to later reject its main assumptions and conclusions in favour of Catholic philosophy, which remained closely linked to Thomism. Ziemięcka emphasised the need to try to understand Christian teaching as best as possible. This understanding was then to become the basis for the creation of new educational programmes, especially concerning the education of women. Living and creating in the climate of Romanticism, Ziemięcka criticised the Romantic ‘exaltation of feelings’, justifying the need for equal attention to the education of different areas of the human spirit. By this she meant the intellect, the will and the emotions. Only a balance between them allowed, in her opinion, to achieve the primary goal of education, which is a harmonious, mature personality. Ziemięcka, regarded as a conservative writer already in the 19th century, by no means rejected the notion of well-understood progress. Properly understood, it not only does not contradict ideas sometimes treated as conservative, but only finds adequate justification in them.