Cywilizacja. Szkice z dziejów pojęcia w XVIII i XIX wieku

Civilization: Sketches from the History of the Concept in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

The author presents the history of the concept of "civilization" from around 1750 to around 1880. He analyzes texts written by the creators of various nationalities and specialties: philosophers, historians, linguists, anthropologists, politicians, travelers, writers and poets. The adopted method of work, leading from philological analysis to philosophical interpretation, is inspired by research on the concept of "civilization" conducted by historians of the Annales school; it also refers to the methods of work of researchers from the Warsaw school of the history of ideas.

Keywords: civilization, culture, philosophy of culture, history of ideas, history of historiography, philosophy of history, sense of history, utopia, conservative utopia, philosophy of enlightenment, "noble savage", savagery, barbarism, progress, cultural catastrophe, socio-cultural evolution, cultural anthropology, primary society.