Academic Life

Table Of Contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• From the Author
• Chapter 1 World-class and provincialism in science
• World-class science
• Provincial science
• Questions and suggestions
• Chapter 2 The limits of academic freedoms
• Limits of the freedom of speech
• The limits of financial freedom
• The so-called ‘sacred cows’
• Chapter 3 Creating academic greats
• Institutional creation
• Creation through awards and honours
• ‘The third power’
• What about myself?
• Chapter 4 Academic masters and teachers
• The masters and teachers of the past
• The domestic realities
• Chapter 5 Schools in science
• Question marks
• Glorious examples
• Schools in market conditions
• Polish realities
• Chapter 6 Celebrities, celebrants and halberdiers
• The celebrities
• The celebrants
• The halberdiers
• Chapter 7 Academic climes
• The cold climates
• The hot climates
• The moderate climates
• Chapter 8 Politicisation of universities
• Historical cases
• ‘Velvet revolutions’
• Chapter 9 Enthusiasm in science
• A handful of examples
• A few general remarks
• My enthusiasm
• Chapter 10 Speculativism in science
• Pythagorean speculativism
• Newtonian speculativism
• Speculativism among contemporary physicists
• Chapter 11 Quasi-scientific assumptions and beliefs
• The traditions of antiquity
• Racist assumptions and beliefs
• Some general remarks
• Chapter 12 Agnosticism of scholars
• What is agnosticism?
• Who is an agnostic?
• Two more general remarks
• Chapter 13 Imitating philosophers
• Imitating Socrates
• Imitating Descartes
• Imitating Marx
• Chapter 14 Voltaireanism in academic life
• Historical Voltaireanism
• Contemporary Voltaireanism
• Chapter 15 Teamwork or solo?
• Profession or vocation?
• Teamwork
• Individuals and their functioning
• Chapter 16 Leaders and stragglers in science
• The leaders
• The stragglers
• Some general suggestions
• Chapter 17 Academic innovations
• Cultural changes
• Unwholesome innovations
• Healthy conservatism
• Chapter 18 Academic weigh-ins of the professor and the student
• The weigh-in of the professor
• The weigh-in of the student
• Chapter 19 Academic decency
• The guides
• Departures from decency
• A handful of suggestions
• Chapter 20 The temptation of the scholar
• On temptation allegorically
• Tempting a young scholar
• Tempting a mature scholar
• Chapter 21 The profane in academic life
• A little history
• The major players
• The minor players
• Chapter 22 Academic opinion-giving
• Promotion procedures
• Publishing procedures
• Self-proclaimed ‘opinion-givers’
• Chapter 23 Academic expertosis
• The traditions of expertosis
• Contemporary expertosis
• Remedial measures
• Chapter 24 Academic habits
• Habits which make life easier
• Habits which make life difficult
• The quirks of scholars
• Chapter 25 Academic seriousness
• Seriousness of the professor
• The so-called deadly seriousness
• The seriousness of the rector
• Chapter 26 Academic jokes
• The so-called crude jokes
• The so-called subtle jokes
• Chapter 27 Academic courage
• The ‘mindless’ courage
• The ‘mindful’ courage
• Chapter 28 The zones of shouting and silence
• The zones of shouting
• The zones of silence
• The tacit and the ‘cluckers’
• Chapter 29 Student resourcefulness
• Resourcefulness in life
• Educational resourcefulness
• Chapter 30 Academic ageing
• The ageing of institutions
• The ageing of theories
• The ageing of scholars
• Chapter 31 The recipe for academic success
• Difficult paths
• Shortcuts
• Personal experiences
• Chapter 32 Academic bureaucracy
• Bureaucratic typology
• Central bureaucracy
• A few suggestions
• Chapter 33 The power of autobiography and biography
• The power of autobiography
• The power of biographies
• Chapter 34 Academic publicism
• Engaged publicism
• Documentary publicism
• Bibliography
• Index of names

Zbigniew Drozdowicz

Academic Life

My Point of View

Translated by Szymon Nowak

Berlin · Bruxelles · Chennai · Lausanne · New York · Oxford

Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available online at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2025024189

Cover image courtesy of Bartosz Wozniak.

The cover depicts a work of art, an installation of Piotr Tetlak.

The publication has been financially supported by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Poznan. Poland.

ISSN 2196-0151

ISBN 978-3-631-93768-6 (Print)

ISBN 978-3-631-93769-3 (ePDF)

ISBN 978-3-631-94132-4 (ePUB)

DOI 10.3726/b23088

© 2026 Peter Lang Group AG, Lausanne (Switzerland)

Published by Peter Lang GmbH, Berlin (Germany)

info@peterlang.com

All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

From the Author

Chapter 1 World-class and provincialism in science

Chapter 2 The limits of academic freedoms

Chapter 3 Creating academic greats

Chapter 4 Academic masters and teachers

Chapter 5 Schools in science

Chapter 6 Celebrities, celebrants and halberdiers

Chapter 7 Academic climes

Chapter 8 Politicisation of universities

Chapter 9 Enthusiasm in science

Chapter 10 Speculativism in science

Chapter 11 Quasi-scientific assumptions and beliefs

Chapter 12 Agnosticism of scholars

Chapter 13 Imitating philosophers

Chapter 14 Voltaireanism in academic life

Chapter 15 Teamwork or solo?

Chapter 16 Leaders and stragglers in science

Chapter 17 Academic innovations

Chapter 18 Academic weigh-ins of the professor and the student

Chapter 19 Academic decency

Chapter 20 The temptation of the scholar

Chapter 21 The profane in academic life

Chapter 22 Academic opinion-giving

Chapter 23 Academic expertosis

Chapter 24 Academic habits

Chapter 25 Academic seriousness

Chapter 26 Academic jokes

Chapter 27 Academic courage

Chapter 28 The zones of shouting and silence

Chapter 29 Student resourcefulness

Chapter 30 Academic ageing

Chapter 31 The recipe for academic success

Chapter 32 Academic bureaucracy

Chapter 33 The power of autobiography and biography

Chapter 34 Academic publicism

Bibliography

Index of names

From the Author

In this volume, I share some of the observations and reflections that arose while I navigated the academic environment in the course of a long journey from being a student at the Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU) in Poznań to a full professor in the field of Humanities, in the discipline of Philosophy. That makes well over 50 years all told: I started studying history in 1968, while my full-time employment at this university concluded as the academic year 2023/24 came to an end. Much happened during that time, not only in my academic life; my private life and the political life of the country where I was born and where I worked saw many changes as well. If I had to recapitulate the events relating to my academic life in as few words as possible, I would say that I gained an independence of thought that allows me to look at its past and present with a certain distance. This does not mean, however, that I look at it indifferently. My statements in this book as well as in many earlier publications of mine attest to the contrary. Naturally, what arouses my most profound interest and sentiments are the issues surrounding the realities of academic life in Poland. Even so, they are not the only ones, because never has that life functioned in isolation from the developments abroad, predominantly in the East until the turn of 1989 and in the West afterwards. I addressed those earlier relations and affiliations more extensively in periodicals such as Forum Akademickie and Nauka. Kwartalnik PAN and discussed the later both in those magazines and in several monographs. This volume includes a selection of my previous texts published there, though there are few which do not contain significant revisions and additions. A fair number, on the other hand, have never been published before. Am I thoroughly objective in my observations? This I cannot say. Nonetheless, I have at least tried to temper my subjective point of view enough to avoid the accusation of not knowing what I am talking about. Obviously, it is not for me to judge whether my efforts in that respect have been successful. I might just add that even where I opt for a humorous tone, I take the issues at hand very seriously. Ultimately, however, this book has not been intended as a scientific treatise, but rather as a collection of essays which leave room for a certain liberty of expression.