The author of this book formulates a general thesis that in the academic culture, since the emergence of the first universities until this very day, two types of that culture have competed with each other, i.e., a corporate and templar one. In his remarks, the author tries to highlight it through the presentation of: 1. The functioning of academia in different time periods, 2. The beliefs of scholars, 3. The ways scholarly achievements have been evaluated, 4. The legal acts for science and academia. A considerable part of this study is devoted to the analysis of the Polish academic culture, including the attempts of adjusting the existing standards of conducting research and educating students to the ones prevailing in the leading Western countries.

The author of this book speaks out again in regard to the Enlightenment. His inspiration comes not only from new observations occasioned by own studies, but also from the recently read material as well as opinions and appraisals of the era articulated lately at academic conferences. Although they have not led the author to perform a fundamental revision of his views in regard to the nature of Enlightenment and its crucial contributions to the Western culture, they did afford a better understanding of its complexity. They also made him more aware that his interpretation and presentation of that era depends considerably on what its prominent representatives had to say, as well as on the worldview-based assumptions and methods of appraisal adopted by its later observers and interpreters.

Descartes gave the human intellect the central role in rationalism, his system therefore is a variant of intellectual rationalism. Other forms of rationalism had emerged in scholastic philosophy and the ancient philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. While Descartes had reservations with respect to all of them, he still adopted some of their elements: not even such a self-directed and critical philosopher as Descartes could have proceeded on the difficult journey towards truth without any baggage of tradition whatsoever. Those who treated this baggage as a useless burden and have attempted to pursue truth without carrying it, have only discovered things which had long been known.

This book focuses on the standards of philosophical rationality, corresponding to a philosophy that aspires to be more than the wisdom that stems from and addresses everyday human needs. It is a search for standards that would, as it were, show the way to philosophical wisdom for anyone who is willing and able to assess it. One of the problems is that people have had a different understanding of the basic concept of rationality, which is the rationale. (Series: Development in Humanities - Vol. 1)

Dans ce que l'auteur de ce livre dit au sujet de la republique des savants, il tente d'eviter le pathos que l'on rencontre non seulement sur les pages hagiographiques, mais aussi dans des discours de circonstance ou celui de louange (par exemple, ceux qu'on prononce a toutes sortes d'anniversaires et enterrements). Cela justifie le titre choisi: sans reverence. Cependant, dans la vie universitaire, il existe des situations ou un pathos specifique est non seulement indique, mais egalement attendu, et son absence pourrait temoigner d'un manque de savoir-etre universitaire. Le but de ces considerations n'est pas de diminuer la valeur de ce qui, en verite, n'apparait pas aussi grand qu'on ne le pense, mais personne ne souhaite qu'on lui rappelle ses plus grandes faiblesses. Cependant, rappeler celles qui sont plus legeres est necessaire pour eviter la surestime de soi.

The standards of rationality are treated in this book as certain regulators of social life. They are compared to the rudders of the great vessels constituted by social communities. The diversity exhibited by those standards do not only result from the differences of time and space of their implementation, but also from the differences in the sets of ideas put forward by the leading social thinkers accompanied by the different characteristics of their designated audiences. (Series: Development in Humanities - Vol. 7)