Western Civilization – history and theory
Christianity in the Making of the West
Modernization and the Changing Limits of Human Possibility
articles books reviews synopses translations
I am the author, editor, or translator of the texts published here, with the exception of a few works by other authors. The website also makes available six of my books. Two have separate pages; the other four are included in the Books & Articles section.
The J. Siewierski page contains a book and texts by my late friend, an eminent sociologist with whom I worked closely from 2017 to 2023.
________________________________
recent, recommended (texts are available in Polish, some in English)
(07.2026) article – Margaret C. Jacob, The crisis of the European mind: Hazard revisited
(07.2026) book – Angus Maddison, The World Economy. Vol. 1 – A Millennial Perspective; Vol. 2 – Historical Statistics
(07.2026) book – Angus Maddison, Growth and Interaction in the World Economy. The Roots of Modernity
(07.2026) extended summary of the article – Heinz Schilling, Confessionalization in the Reich, 1555 and 1620
(07.2026) book – Heinz Schilling, Unity and Diversity in Early Modern Europe: Religion – Society – State
(07.2026) lecture – Joel Mokyr, Nobel lecture 2025. The Past and Future of Innovation
(06.2026) Three reviews of the book – Eric L. Jones, Growth Recurring: Economic Change in World History
(06.2026) guide – How to Save ChatGPT Conversations on Your Own Computer
(06.2026) article – The book Western Civilization and Time in terms of Imre Lakatos’s methodology of science
(05.2026) article – The Historical European Phenomenon in Numbers. Economy, Technology, Expansion, Science
(03.2026) book – Death Anxiety as a Culture-Forming Force – A Map of the Phenomenon
(10.2025) text written by AI – Death Anxiety as a Driver of Cultural Change. Twentieth-Century Discussions
(04.2025) article, new version – The Amount of Information Produced in European History as a Measure of Modernization
Books & Articles
My texts arranged by theme and chronology. Sections: ● Books ● Western civilization and the European phenomenon ● Philosophy and theology ● Other topics, incl. AI. Within each section, the texts are listed from newest to oldest. They include, among others: Death Anxiety as a Culture-Forming Force; The West’s Journey Beyond Death: Eschatology, Ammortality, and Potential Exhangeable Identities; The Prospects for AI Self-Awareness; The Amount of Information Produced in European History as a Measure of Modernization – text and mathematical model; Science and Religion: the Historiography of the Problem; The Love of God: Information for Atheists. Also included are works from the 1980s on Soviet studies. Some texts are available in English
Reviews
Reviews, essay reviews, summaries, translations, open access publications. History and theory of science (E.Grant, H.Butterfield, S.Jaki, S.Shapin, A.Whitehead) ● History and theory of civilization (P.Chaunu, R.Duchesne, E.L.Jones, J.Kłoczowski, J.Delumeau, D.Landes, R.Wright, M.Simon, T.Woods, R. Wright) ● AI (LaMDA) ● History of technology (M.Taylor, A.Pacey) ● History of IT (G.Dyson) ● Philosophy of religion (A.Plantinga) ● History of modern physics (B.Greene). The works discussed are, as a rule, major contributions to the relevant literature. Titles in the original languages.
Christianitas The Historical European Phenomenon
In 2012-2021, I carried out a project on the role of Christianity in the emergence of the historical European phenomenon. This term refers to the sustained acceleration of Europe’s development beginning in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Over several hundred years, Europe became faster and more powerful than the greatest world powers of the time. On the Christianitas page, I present the concept of the book and links to several dozen texts that form parts of it. Three areas have been selected for the study: science, technology and Western market economy.
Civilization Western Civilization and Time
My book, published on this website in 2012. It was downloaded 45,734 times in 2012-2014. Main thesis: Western civilization challenges death. It does so without fanfare, but consistently, step by step. The direction was set by the transformation of time into one of the most important values. This process has been underway for several hundred years. Time as a value is visible in the cult of speed, the cult of youth, and the demand to live ever longer. The pursuit of the priorities Faster and Longer consumes an increasing share of GDP. How did this come about? What will happen next? This is what the book is about.
While reading Canetti, I came across a thought of his that works well as a motto for my book: “So that there may be more time, everything speeds up. Yet despite this, there is less and less time.”
Sovietology (Un)real Socialism
A classic work of Sovietology. The book was written by me and my friend Jerzy Drygalski. Published in Poland, first by the underground publishing house Piechur in 1988 and by PWN in 1992, also in France, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It is one of the few comprehensive theories of the origins and functioning of the communist system. It deals with the system’s ideological roots in Marxism, their transformation into a political instrument by the Second International, the creation of the political structures of the Soviet state, and an analysis of the system’s operation using the Polish People’s Republic as an example. Its main thesis is that the survival of the communist system depended on the constant blocking of the free articulation of interests. This blocking mechanism is shown through the example of local authorities, the press, and the communist party. It has been downloaded 11 993 times in 2013 (plus 34 281 times individual chapters
On Photography & Amateur Filming
Between 2009 and 2015, I posted several texts on photography and amateur film. There was a time when photography and film were my passions; I also had several exhibitions, including one in Kyiv. In 2014-2015, I posted two texts on how to make an amateur family film that would not bore people outside the immediate family and would not take too much time to prepare. In 2015, I published two extensive reviews of home loudspeaker systems. The page also includes presentations of photographic techniques related to panoramic images, camera tests, advice for those preparing photography exhibitions, and a once very popular guide on how to photograph products sold online.
From 2017 to 2023, I collaborated with Jacenty Siewierski, the author of an outstanding work on the Christian roots of our civilization. He had his own subpage, Siewierski, on my portal, where this book is also available. With great sorrow, I share the news that my friend Jacenty passed away on September 24, 2023.
contact: 