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TheLimitsofPoliticalScience
ForalongtimeafterWorldWarIIendedpoliticalscienceasadisciplinewasof-
ficiallyignoredinPoland,althoughtheconditionstopracticepoliticalscience,aswell
astheentirehumanities,weresignificantlymorefavorableherethanintheremaining
countriesoftheso-calledEasternBloc.Amulti-volumeencyclopediaalsoignored
thistopic,andonlyitssupplement,publishedafterthetempestuousyearof1968,
includedtheentrynaukipolityczne[politicalscience],alongsideitstwosubstitutes:
naukaopolityce[politicalstudies],andpolitologia[politology].However,thefollow-
ingsentenceappearsthere:“Practicedinsocialistandcapitalistcountriesitassumes
adiferentshape.Insocialistcountries,forexample,itisbasedonthefoundationsof
Marxist-Leninism...”1
Letusskipfurtherquotationsfromtheomcialinterpretationofaquarterofacentury
ago,asthisisremotehistoryandacompletelydiferenthistoricalperiod,fortunatelyun-
familiartothegenerationtowhichtheauthorofthispaperbelongs,thegenerationwhich
happenedtoenteradulthood,symbolizedbytheseniorhighschoolfinalexam(inPolish:
matura),afterthebreakthroughofOctober1956.Itisobviousthatthebreakthroughdid
notoccurovernight,whichcanbeclearlyevidencedbythespecialistliteraturefrom
adozenorsoyearsaftertheabove-mentioneddate.Afour-volumeencyclopediabythe
samepublisherdoesincludepolitologia,althoughprovidedwithareferencetoamore
acceptablenotionofnaukipolityczne[politicalscience].Thelatterisdiscussedinarela-
tivelyextensivemanner,whilethediferencesbetweenthisdisciplinepracticedinthe
twoglobalblocsarehighlighted.Wecanreadthere,amongotherthings:“Politicalsci-
enceusuallycomprisestheknowledgeofstateandlaw,politicaleconomics,thehistory
ofpoliticsandpoliticalthought,social,economicandculturalpolitics,thetheoryof
politics,thesociologyofpoliticalrelations,knowledgeofinternationalrelations.”2
Whenwetakeintoconsiderationthepoliticalcontextsurroundingtheemergence
oftheabove-quotedencyclopedia,wehavetoadmitthatitwasquitediferentfromthe
climateinwhichtheWielkaEncyklopediaPowszechnaPWNemerged,yetonecannot
expectthateventhelatterwascompletelyfreeofpoliticalinfluences.Theprogress
wasquiteclearinthisfield,whichcanbeobservedbyattentivelyfollowingmethodo-
logicalpublicationsandtheoreticaldiscussionsintheperiod1957-1980;weshould
notforget,however,thereefsencounteredonthispath,especiallythoserelatedto
1968.Theyareeasilytrivializedorassessedinaprincipledway,particularlybythose
whoweresparedbyfate(chronology!)anddidnottakepartinthem.
Letusonlyobservethatthetermpolitologiagraduallygaineditsrights,although
frequentterminologicalreferenceismadetoitsequivalent-naukipolityczne.Thetwo
1WielkaEncyklopediaPowszechnaPWN,vol.13,Warszawa1970,p.300andnext.
2EncyklopediaPowszechnaPWN,wyd.II,vol.3,Warszawa1985,p.232.
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