Epoka zmierza ku końcowi – poza romantyzmem .......... 361

THE ERA IS COMING TO AN END – BEYOND ROMANTICISM

According to Martin Heidegger, the second part of the era was less original in terms of the value of philosophical ideas, maybe because of too close an approach and the manufactured/artificial proximity of philosophy to the paradigm typical of scientific conduct (exact sciences), which was entering the stage. This phase of development was a change, more or less dynamic, more or less noticeable, of idealistic formation (romantic formation). The renunciation of romantic visions, historiosophy, theory of culture and civilization (forms of cultural expression) was taking the form of a growing confrontation between philosophical, theological and aesthetic ideas and what was understood by the developing and increasingly strongly promoted concept of science, making it the only measure of correctness, reliable knowledge, which does not have to convince us of the validity of certain arguments, but simply presents them, referring to the unquestionable testimony of empirical experience and the “proof” based upon it. The second half of the nineteenth century had a different nature to the time of romantic freedom. These ideas were growing in strength and taking a dominant position, capturing successive areas of the spiritual creation tendencies, which we can collectively call positivistic and also psychologistic. This article, intended as an introduction to the second part of our reflection on the nineteenth century, has the character of a certain approach, a summary of cultural, scientific and philosophical expressions that were taking place at that time.