Ciemne światło wojny

In his reading of World War I writing and poetry Sławek shows that war, which represents an obscured form of thought, pushes man into underground shelters and reverses the classical metaphor. As an obscured form of thought, war does not lead humankind out of the cave, as argued by Bacon, Descartes and many of the Enlightenment philosophers who were influenced by them. Quite to the contrary, war keeps humankind captive, and it makes every effort to present their captivity not as a space of darkness but as the luminous space of truth – a truth that is universally binding. The obscured thinking of war mobilizes everyone around a single truth that cannot stand opposition. What was unprecedented about World War I is the fact that the state of peace, which the achievements of science had been supposed to serve, became a form of war and in this new form sought admiration for its effectiveness.