„Wojna ducha” na Wschodzie. Propaganda i nauka w służbie ruchów narodowych

Abstract

The article discusses the issue of the political involvement of people of science and culture in Central and Eastern Europe during World War I and in the immediate aftermath. In comparison with the phenomenon of the “war of the spirits” known in the historiography, so far observed mainly in France, Germany and Great Britain, the regional variation of this phenomenon was characterized by a greater informational value and a stronger relationship between journalistic writing and professional science. In particular, the representatives of such disciplines as physical (racial) anthropology and geography in the service of their national movements and governments engaged the whole arsenal of scientific means of persuasion: they used the language of a particular science, created coherent and logical, formally correct theories, argued, while maintaining the appropriate forms, with ideological opponents. These features of the discourse, among other things, contributed to the viability of their scientific theories from World War I, which – unlike analogous creations of Western European luminaries of art and science – still retain the right to exist in a professional academic and journalistic communities in Central and Eastern Europe.