Positivistic Liberalism – Two Ways of Thinking (Prus – Świętochowski)

Abstract

In the epoch of Polish positivism liberalism is a very complicated and antynomical phenomenon. Studies of positivistic liberalism have not described yet all the aspects of the issue and, on the other hand, have formed a few stereotypes. The article characterizes the liberal attitude taken by two leading representatives of positivism in Poland: Aleksander Świętochowski and Bolesław Prus. Their different journalist strategies were inspired by the same work written by John Stuart Mill, On Liberty. Under the influence of Mill's thought Prus created a model of ethical liberalism. Świętochowski was an aristocratic liberal. The description of two models of liberalism formed by the two Polish positivists is a continuation of the interpretations of Mill's social philosophy by Alan S. Kahan (aristocratic liberalism) and Morice Cowling.