IN SEARCH FOR THE ORDERS OF CULTURE: MYTHS, PARADIGMS, WORLD VISIONSf

The review discusses Lidia Wisniewska's book Miedzy Bogiem a Natura. Komparatystyka jako wizja kultury (Between God and Nature. Comparative Studies as a Vision of Culture). It touches upon the problems referring to the current debate over the future of the humanities, and especially to the questions about the research tools which allow for adequate depictions of cultural matters both in diachronic and in synchronic perspective. The author offers investigation of human creations of the West as symptoms of two separate though interacting mythical and paradigmatic patterns which she calls myth of God and myth of Nature. Analysing selected literary texts from various epochs, the author shows the dynamics of tensions between the distinguished myths and paradigms. Conclusions drawn from the analyses lead the researcher to the concept of comparative studies understood as a philosophy of cultural processes.