Współczesne interpretacje kategorii „narodu" - wprowadzenie do problematyki

Abstract

Variety and ambiguity of concepts, definitions and terms referring to "nation" is extremely vast. At the same time it is also constantly aggrandized by the research­ ers in the field themselves. While interpreting the concept they "apply" already existing views which leads to even greater chaos in selecting the basic categories necessary for defining the concept. The concept of "nation" cannot be precisely pinpointed based only on experi­ ences or on free decisions. At the same time it is not an absolute or static concept which sense can bedefined once and it will never change. Nation, in some apprehen­ sion, is the same as the history of nations which can be defined as changing with time and space relation of "us" which leads to defined concept of"we". Therefore in order to be able to understand "nation" we need to understand its "historic drama" in which the "nation" has been taking part. Theproblem with the above conclusion is that there is no nation's drama as nations - there are rather dramas of indivi­ dual nations. Therefore in order to define the nature of a nation one should infer from nations' dramas, which is some kind of a historical abstraction, and which will always be treated as a "more or less" concept.