Includes bibliographical references.

Preliminary material / Editors Thinking about Provincialism in Thinking -- INTRODUCTION / Katarzyna Paprzycka and Krzysztof Brzechczyn -- ON THE HIDDEN UNITY OF SOCIAL AND NATURAL SCIENCES (1998) / Leszek Nowak -- THE STRUCTURE OF PROVINCIAL THOUGHT. HALF ESSAY, HALF THESIS (1998) / Leszek Nowak -- MODELS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (1976) / Leszek Nowak -- NATIONS AND PHILOSOPHIES. REFLECTIONS ON TWARDOWSKI'S VIEWS / Jan Woleński -- FROM COSMOPOLITISM TO NATIONAL-POPULAR CULTURE. GRAMSCIAN ATTEMPT AT OVERCOMING PROVINCIALISM / Giacomo Borbone -- HUMAN ON THE PERIPHERY OF COMMUNITY. WITOLD GOMBROWICZ ON PROVINCIALISM / Mieszko Ciesielski -- HISPANIC-AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY IN THE FRINGES OF THE EMPIRE / Adolfo García de la Sienra and Leandro Rodríguez Medina -- DOES HISTORIOGRAPHY NEED TO BE PROVINCIAL?. INTERNATIONAL CIRCULATION OF IDEAS AS EXEMPLIFIED BY THE COOPERATION OF POLISH AND FRENCH HISTORIANS IN THE PERIOD OF THE PEOPLE'S OF REPUBLIC OF POLAND / Patryk Pleskot -- METHODOLOGICAL UNIVERSALISM IN SCIENCE AND ITS LIMITS. IMPERIALISM VERSUS COMPLEXITY / Wenceslao J. Gonzalez -- ORIENTALISM AS A SIGN OF PROVINCIALISM / Eliza Karczyńska -- THE CONTEXT OF THE \'THIRD MISSION\' IN THE \'PERIPHERAL UNIVERSITIES\'. A CASE STUDY OF THE \'CROSS-BORDER UNIVERSITY\' / Cezary Kościelniak -- ON COURAGE OF ACTIONS AND COWARDICE OF THINKING. LESZEK NOWAK ON THE PROVINCIALISM OF THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF SOLIDARNOŚĆ / Krzysztof Brzechczyn -- PARADIGMS, MARKETS, AND POLITICS. FROM PROVINCE TO METROPOLIS AND RETOUR / Max Urchs and Uwe Scheffler -- SOME REMARKS ON THE SPACE-TIME OF CULTURE / Barbara Przybylska-Czajkowska and Waldemar Czajkowski -- THE INTELLECTUAL SUPERPOWER. AN ATTEMPT AT A CORRECTION OF NOWAK'S MODEL OF PROVINCIALISM / Katarzyna Paprzycka.

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The volume addresses a problem rarely discussed by philosophers – the question of provincialism in science (in the broadest sense of the term). There are only a few great centers of science, which attract funding and provide almost ideal opportunities for research and development. They also attract some of the best researchers. Some – but not all. For a variety of reasons, some of the best researchers, or ones who have that potential, may do science outside these centers, in the provinces. The volume is devoted to the problems they face. What is an intellectual province? Who are the provincial thinkers? What is the mark of provincialism? Do provincial (or central) thinkers have any special duties? Are there ways of overcoming one’s own provincialism? The authors address these questions across different disciplines, cultures, locations and time periods.