In this interview, Professor Edoardo Tortarolo discusses his intellectual trajectory and reflections on historiographical practice. Influenced by historians Franco Venturi and Reinhart Koselleck, Tortarolo shares his fascination with the philosophical approach to history. He explores the shifting paradigms in historiography, from nation‑state‑centred perspectives to embracing global history and the evolving relationship between history and other sciences. Looking ahead, Tor-tarolo envisions a changing landscape for historical studies, influenced by gamification, evol-ving mass media, and the merging of factual and fictional historical accounts. Despite the emergence of diverse narratives, he stresses the significance of traditional, veracious historical accounts. Expressing optimism, he believes the past holds a future with new possibilities.

Marek Tamm and Zoltán Boldizsár Simon, in dialogue with Taynna M. Marino, discuss some of the main dilemmas and challenges of contemporary historical theory, from the scientific status and so-called crises within the discipline to discussions about new forms of temporality and historicity that can respond to the technoscientific, ecological and socio-political changes we are facing today. In this conversation, the authors emphasize the historians’ role in making history relevant for the future and the efforts to redefine historical knowledge to encompass diverse forms of life (more-than-human, better-than-human, nonhuman) and tackle disconnected pro-spects of the future. Finally, they call attention to the importance of a fruitful dialogue between historians and theorists of history and of collaborating with scholars from other sciences to develop new ways of making sense of the new historical condition.

In this interview, Professor Estêvão de Rezende Martins, an emeritus professor at the University of Brasilia, discusses his intellectual journey and research interests in the theory, philosophy, and methodology of history and historiography. The conversation delves into the development of historical thinking and consciousness, exploring how human existence is inherently historical and how individuals relate to their experiences through cognitive operations and historical culture. Moreover, the interview explores the evolution of the theory of history in Brazil, emphasising the shift from the speculative reflections of the philosophy of history to the meth-odological rigour of the theory of history or epistemology of history. The role of academic historiography in the face of contemporary challenges, such as the recognition of non‑human or post‑human planetary agencies, is also addressed. Martins discusses the diversification of his-toriography and its autonomy in exploring previously neglected topics, along with the need for historical education to empower individuals to think independently and critically in our border-less, globalised world. Ultimately, the interview sheds light on the ongoing theoretical experi-mentation in the field of history and the potential impact on historiographical practice in the future.

In this interview, Kalle Pihlainen discusses the challenges which academic historical writing meets from other ways of using history. The proliferation of these contexts seems to offer numerous new opportunities, but they need to be responded to with advance theoretical reflec-tion. It is important to not fall under the illusion of direct access to reality (historical reality included). Hence, mastery of the constructivist perspective is still needed for doing reliable historical research and theoretical reflection on history. Representation still proves to be one of the most important questions. Pihlainen stands firmly for the narrativist philosophy of history, although one of his main concerns are materiality and embodiment.

In this interview, conducted during the XXIII International Congress of Historical Sciences in Poznan, Verónica Tozzi Thompson (professor of Philosophy of History at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina) discusses historiography in Argentina and recent trends in historical theory, in particular the epistemology of the witness. She addresses important issues concerning key concepts for the philosophy and sociology of history: truth and trust. In addition, Tozzi Thompson discusses the differences and connections between analytic and narrativist philoso-phy of history and recommends some further readings.

The following paper presents recollections of a seminar by Professor Józef Andrzej Gierowski 1965–1967 by Kazimierz Przyboś.

The prolific life of this eminent scholar has confidently aroused interest in his person and aimed at multiplying efforts to benefit from his wisdom and rich experience. Likewise, I also bury in my memory this kind of inner feelings, of which I have accumulated no small number while building a world of historical interest. The name of Professor Józef A. Gierowski had already sunk into my memory several decades ago. I reached for his publications when I had not yet crystallised a clear direction of interest. Nevertheless, I persistently reached for his texts to “taste” the problems of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The article discusses the development of studies on the epoch of the Polish‑Saxon Union (1697– 1763) in the 20th century (until 1990). Particular attention has been paid to the works of Władysław Konopczyński and his students (including Józef Feldman, Emanuel Rostworowski, Jerzy Michalski, Józef Andrzej Gierowski), as well as Mieczysław Skibiński and Jacek Stas-zewski. An attempt was made to identify the conditions influencing academic interest in the Saxon era, the gradual changes in research topics and their effects, and the varying intensity of this research. It was emphasised that they were largely concerned with political history.

The interview with Michele Salzman, a renowned scholar of Late Antiquity at the University of California, Riverside, focuses on issues of reinterpreting the methods of the historian of anti-quity in the face of new research developments. Here Salzman outlines the importance and possibilities of interdisciplinary studies and the global dimension of Late Antiquity, outlining the possible research horizons of the coming decades. Referring to the case of the decline of the Roman Empire, the conversation deals with the ways in which the interpretation of the past can be understood as a reflection of the current desires or fears of societies in times of crisis. Special attention in the conversation was given to the issues of resilience and the role of women in the period of Late Antiquity.

In this interview, conducted at the XXIII International Congress of Historical Sciences in Poznan, Antoon De Baets (emeritus professor of History, Ethics and Human Rights at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands) addresses key issues for historians and other produ-cers of history. His remarks about the scientific status of historiography and the range of different threats to history seem particularly important. He talks not only about the most direct crimes against historians and history, but also about issues like hindsight bias and fake news. The professional duties of historians and the issue of ethical codes for historians are also discussed.

Correspondence was an essential form of communication in the world of the humanities in the 1960s and 1970s. The letters exchanged between Józef Andrzej Gierowski and Jacek Staszewski exemplify the scholars’ discussion of Saxon times. This collection is at the same time a reflection of the main currents of research on political history and cultural history of the 18th century. Simultaneously, it is a testimony to the struggle of historians with the black legend of the reign of August II and August III.
The article presents the nature of these conversations and the topics discussed by the scholars: an exchange of views on resources in European archives, the reigns of August II and August III, a discussion of the Enlightenment, reviews of subsequent monographs and doctoral theses prepared at seminars in Kraków and Toruń. The correspondence between the two scholars is evidence not only of a shared passion, an interest in the Saxon era, neglected for many decades and marked by a black legend, but also of an intellectual exchange between the two humanists, which in time developed into a friendship.

The interview provides a record of a conversation held during the XXIII International Congress of Historical Sciences in Poznan, with late antiquity scholar and epigraphic specialist Ignazio Tantillo (professor at the Università di Napoli “L’Orientale”). The conversation revolves around the matter of understanding the peculiarities of Late Antiquity in terms of an autonomous period in history, the temporal and spatial framework of which remains the subject of deliberations to this day. In the article, Ignazio Tantillo discusses the role of new challenges and hopes for scholars of Late Antiquity in the coming decades. The conversation also includes a reflection upon the nature of the historian's involvement in the public sphere, the (paradigm of public history), especially in the context of the “cancel culture” phenomenon.

The present text is the first attempt in historiography to evaluate the scientific output of Józef Andrzej Gierowski from the perspective of research into the parliamentarism of the Polish-‑Lithuanian Commonwealth. Out of the 482 publications written by him between 1946 and 2006, 20 were selected which were directly or significantly devoted to parliamentarism. The influence of Gierowski's on the study of parliamentarism was not limited to publications, but included the shaping of successive generations of historians of political history and political systems (including parliamentarism), through the promotion of master's and doctoral theses and numerous reviews in promotion proceedings and publishing procedures. A key role in promoting the results of his own research, as well as his profound reflections on the function-ing of parliamentarism, its role in the former Republic, and its significance on against the backdropground of the processes of change of the political systems of Europe at that time, is occupied by the extremely widely read syntheses of Polish history by Gierowski. He should therefore be regarded as one of the key figures in the field of research into Polish‑Lithuanian parliamentarism.

The Enlightenment occupied an important place in the oeuvre of Professor Józef Andrzej Gierowski. This piece presents his evolving views on the Enlightenment in three syntheses of the history of early modern Poland and the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth: two university textbooks first published in 1967 and 1978 respectively, and a book addressed to a wider, non‑academic readership first published in 2001, much of which was presented to Anglophone readers in 1996. J. A. Gierowski’s views are presented against the background of the sardonic references to “the enlightened age” and “enlightened Europe” in the synthesis published by his supervisor, Władysław Konopczyński in 1936, as well as the Marxist‑Leninist scheme of the Enlightenment forced on historiography and the humanities in postwar Poland, especially by Celina Bobińska. J. A. Gierowski’s view of “the ideology of the Enlightenment” gradually shifted from the primacy of rationalist and materialist thinking to the aim of the pursuit of happi-ness within human society. While still emphasising economic and social factors, including the role of the bourgeoisie in the Dutch Republic, England and France, he increasingly distanced himself from the model of the Enlightenment as the ideology of the rising bourgeoisie, forced on him in the early stages of his academic career. After long reflection on the question of the reception and originality of the Enlightenment in the Commonwealth, he came to appreciate the contributions of Royal Prussian burghers, the Catholic clergy and the Polish‑Lithuanian nobility. He also jettisoned the postwar dogma that the beginning of the capitalist order in Poland should be dated to 1764.

The main purpose of the article is to present the achievements of J.A. Gierowski in his research into the Saxon times, i.e., the period of the reigns of August II and August III Wettin in the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth (1697‑1763). For a long time, this period was assessed negatively in historiography. There was a widespread view that both for the Polish‑Lithuanian state and for Saxony, those years meant decline and catastrophe. Gierowski, who began his scientific work after World War II, carefully analysing Polish and German archival sources, created his own paradigm of research on Saxon times. After rejecting extreme assessments, Gierowski focused on the following elements of this paradigm: 1. the problem of internal reforms 2. a general assessment of the importance of the Polish‑Saxon union and its conse-quences 3. the problem of the place in Europe, i.e., diplomatic activity, and 4. the economic and social situation combined by the “one‑person rulers” of states. This model of research proce-dure has been accepted by historians.

The article discusses the dispute over the chronology of the Enlightenment in Poland and the views of Józef Gierowski and Jacek Staszewski regarding the assessment of the Saxon times and the origins of the Polish Enlightenment. The problem of the reception of Western cultures (French, English, Italian and German) in the times of the Enlightenment in Poland was also treated more broadly.
After presenting various understandings of culture in Polish historiography, the positions of Polish researchers on the assessment of the Enlightenment in Europe (Emanuel Rostworowski) and then the culture of the Saxon times and the Enlightenment in Poland (Józef Andrzej Gierowski, Janusz Maciejewski, Jacek Staszewski) were discussed. The achievements of Polish historiography in the field of research on the reception in Poland of the works of the most eminent authors of the French Enlightenment (these were primarily Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Montesquieu), English (including Locke), Italian (Genovesi, Beccaria) and German (including Wolff, Gottsched) were shown in greater detail. The reception of this work would not have been possible without the appearance in Poland of an intellectual elite, often speaking French, who were able to evaluate and appreciate the innovative views of Western writers and philosophers.

Józef Andrzej Gierowski’s academic profile is presented in the light of his interest in the problems of universal history in relation to events, but above all to phenomena which allow for a better knowledge and understanding of the mentality of the people of the time, their activities and their consequences. Gierowski’s studies on the history of Europe were closely linked to the history of the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth (especially the period of the Saxon Wettin dynasty on the Polish throne), highlighting its international position and associations, and the resulting foreign policy of its rulers. Among the questions raised, there was no shortage of issues relating to the culture and ideology of the Baroque and the Enlightenment and, of primary interest to the researcher, the problem‑laden, not fully deciphered transition period between the two currents.
The second ‘part’ of the article emphasises Józef Andrzej Gierowski’s understanding of Europe as a certain whole, encompassing not only political history, social or economic affairs, but also cultural patterns and phenomena to which he was particularly sensitive.

Among Gierowski's research, an important place was occupied by works on the past of Silesia. He started Silesian studies that fit into socio‑economic history. He also published syntheses and source editions devoted to the history of Silesia. His research was continued by Józef Lesz-czyński and Krystyn Matwijowski. Leszczyński continued and developed his reflection on the social and legal history of Silesia. Among them, he examined the problems of peasant revolts, the situation of the poorest in Silesia during the Thirty Years' War and after its end. He studied Polish‑Silesian relations in the 17th and 18th centuries. Matwijowski conducted research on the history of Pietism and the history of everyday life in Silesia and works devoted to the past of Lower Silesian towns. Gierowski's research is inspired by Jerzy Maroń, the author of a book devoted to the Thirty Years' War in Silesia, Leszek Ziątkowski, authors part of the history of Wrocław and books about the past of Jews in Silesia. Jacek Dębicki deals with the history of culture in Silesia. Daniel Wojtucki develops studies on socio‑cultural phenomena in Silesia and Lusatia.

The issues of the history of culture and science of the eighteenth‑century Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth are rare in the works of Józef Andrzej Gierowski. This article analyses his views on these issues. He devoted most attention to the subject of the beginnings of the Enlightenment in Poland, joining a long scholarly discussion about it. He agreed that the precursors of the Enlightenment in Poland were already active in the 1740s, during the era of the Wettins’ rule. He pointed to educational reform, writing activity (Benedykt Chmielowski’s, the political and journalistic work of a number of writers) and publishing (especially of the Załuski brothers), and the development of periodicals as the three pillars on which reforms were carried out in the future – during the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski. In addition, and just as importantly, he drew attention to methodological weaknesses concerning the study of intermediate periods, i.e. between the Baroque and the Enlightenment. He also pointed out the need for a comprehen-sive picture of the cultural history of the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18 ^th century – proponents of both Sarmatian culture and Enlightenment thought.

The article presents the roots of contemporary Jewish-Polish relations in Poland. The Author analyses various phenomena and processes, leading to initiation of the Polish-Jewish dialogue in the years 1979- -1997, as well as evaluates the mutual relations between the two social groups in the turn of 1980s to 1990s.

The Author presents several methodological aspects referring to photographs as historical sources. In this article it is viewed as an iconographic source. The problem of photographs as iconographic sources is discussed in the context of historical semantics and theory of historical presence.

The integration of chaos theory and history has been an issue ofmany scientific discussions, but failed to produce any results. Author reexamines the discussions, mathematical features of the theory and claims that proposed ways of integration couldn't have been used practically. Author asks if such integration is possible and i fit can have any intrinsic value for advancement of historical knowledge. Proposed solution is to use chaos theory as a tool, which enables historians to analyze causal relations in the past.

Taking debates on the historiography of Quebec as the base of his considerations, the Author presents various reflections and postulates concerning comparative historiography. In particular His attention is drawn to the various types and aspects of historical identity. The awareness of those is necessary for the correct comparative analysis.