1. O KSIĄŻKACH // SZERSZEŃ // HERBICH // Nowoczesny duch bez nowoczesnego państwa

In the first episode of the new podcast series "About Books," Natalia Szerszeń spoke with Dr. Tomasz Herbich about his latest book, "A Modern Spirit Without a Modern State," published by Teologia Polityczna (Warsaw 2025). We usually think of modernity as the work of efficient state administration. Yet, the Polish experience of the 19th century seems to challenge this obvious connection. Can a modern nation emerge without its own state? When and why did Polish thinkers begin to seek modernity outside the state? Does the lack of political sovereignty necessarily mean exclusion from the history of modernity? How did Polish philosophers understand the "modern spirit," and why did they assign culture and imagination a role usually reserved for political institutions? What did Maurycy Mochnacki contribute to Polish national reflection, how did Adam Mickiewicz attempt to describe the future of a nation deprived of its own statehood, and how did Polish philosophers respond to Hegel's challenge? ____________________________________________________ "On Books" Podcasts We want to look at the world from the perspective of ultimate matters. To this end, we publish books that ask fundamental questions—and attempt to answer them. The publications published by Political Theology are not published to sit on shelves, but rather to stimulate thought. We want these fundamental questions not to be lost, but to continually provoke the ever-necessary effort to find answers. The conversations in the "On Books" podcast series are intended to invite shared reflection on the issues raised in individual Political Theology books. _______________________________________________________ Political Theology podcasts, available in excellent sound quality and high-quality video, can only be published with the support of private cultural patrons. We invite you to join them! https://teologiapolityczna.pl/podcast... Thanks to the generosity of our 89 donors, we raised 63% of the funds necessary for the project. Support Political Theology podcasts https://teologiapolityczna.pl/podcast...