Aleksander Świętochowski

Aleksander Świętochowski (18 January 1849 – 25 April 1938) was a Polish writer, educator, and philosopher of the Positivist period that followed the January 1863 Uprising.

He was widely regarded as the prophet of Polish Positivism, spreading in the Warsaw press the gospel of scientific inquiry, education, economic development, and equality of rights for all, without regard to sex, class, ethnic origin or beliefs. His was a nuanced vision, however, that took account of the shortcomings of human nature; like H.G. Wells, he advocated that power in society be wielded by the most enlightened among its members.

Life Świętochowski was a journalist, literary critic, historian and philosopher—a founder and the leading ideologue of Polish Positivism. In 1871 he published in Przegląd Tygodniowy (The Weekly Review) a famous programmatic article of the Polish Positivists, "My i wy" ("We and You").

Świętochowski worked with many periodicals, including (1870–78) Przegląd Tygodniowy (The Weekly Review),

In 1881–1902 Świętochowski edited and published Prawda (The Truth), which he had founded.

In 1905 Świętochowski founded, and subsequently led, Stronnictwo Postępowo-Demokratyczne (the Progressive-Democratic Party), which after 1918 was somewhat aligned with the National Democratic Party.

Świętochowski founded and was president of Towarzystwo Kultury Polskiej (the Polish Culture Society, 1906–13) and editor and publisher of its organ, Kultura Polska (Polish Culture).

Świętochowski died at Gołotczyzna on 25 April 1938 and was buried in the cemetery at Sońsk, near Ciechanów.

His son Ryszard Świętochowski (Warsaw, 17 October 1882 – 1941, Auschwitz) was an engineer, journalist and politician who supported Władysław Sikorski, and published many papers in the field of physics; he was murdered at Auschwitz concentration camp.

Views As the leading ideologist and exponent of the latter-19th-century Polish philosophical and cultural movement known as "Polish Positivism," Świętochowski was an uncompromising critic of outdated traditions and obscurantism, and a spokesman for the fostering of knowledge and education.

Books Wolter (Voltaire), 1878. O prawach człowieka i obywatela (On the Rights of Man and the Citizen), 1907. Utopie w rozwoju historycznym (Utopias in Historic Development), 1910. Historia chłopów polskich w zarysie (Brief History of Poland's Peasants), 2 vols., 1925–28.