Elements of culture and sport in the perspective of axiology. In the circle of Stanisław Kowalczyk’s thought

Abstract

In the text aspects of understanding culture and sport in the approach taken by Stanisław Kowalczyk, a representative of the Lublin school of Christian personalism, are presented. These spheres are viewed from the perspective of axiology. In the sphere of the existence of values the solution suggested by Kowalczyk tends to accept the reality of the two planes: the ontological one and the personalistic one (“the two-leveled reality” of axiological categories). He favors the psycho-social (or, in other words, the subjective-objective, or “relative-dualist”) perspective of approaching values. The author is definitely in favor of the personalistic-holistic approach to structural elements of the axiological experience. He presents the personalistic conception of culture, referring to its ontological-axiological foundations. He explicitly stresses that culture also has a social character. For Kowalczyk sport is a part of physical culture, and this, in turn, is a branch of culture understood in a general way. He is in favor of the personalistic conception of sport. Activity in the field of sport is motivated, in his approach, by definite values and applied norms; it also fulfills many anthropological functions. According to Kowalczyk, elements of philosophy of the body are an integral part of philosophy of sport. The Lublin personalist’s reflections may be successfully applied in sociological analyses and explorations.