The Museum is open 11:00 – 19:00
Cinema is closed now
The Museum is open 11:00 – 19:00
Cinema is closed now
Lecture
Tools of War: A Philosophical Perspective on 21st-Century Wars. A Lecture by Magdalena M. Baran
12.12.2026 15:00–17:00
An event as part of the series Things to Think About
LOCATION
Auditorium
LANGUAGE
Polish
ADMISSION
Free thanks to a partnership with Audi Polska
Graphics: Agata Muszalska
Memorial Event for Cezary Wodziński on the 10th Anniversary of His Death
Thoughts on Things is a series of philosophical lectures and debates on the most important issues shaping the present and our immediate future. During the third session, Magdalena M. Baran will examine how the proximity of war changes our thinking about the world, society, and ourselves. What happens to values such as justice, solidarity, responsibility, and patriotism when they are put to the test by violence, fear, and conflict? Does war reveal the true strength of our convictions, or does it rather expose their limitations? The lecture will be followed by a discussion featuring Magdalena M. Baran, Małgorzata Kowalska, and Anton Marczyński, moderated by Mateusz Falkowski, curator of the Rzeczy myślenia series.
Just a few years ago, war seemed distant. It was understood through the lens of history or viewed as an event taking place in a faraway country. Today it is right at our doorstep; it has become part of our everyday lives, reshaping the geopolitical landscape and calling into question our daily existence, the quality of our relationships, the stability of our social resilience, and our individual and collective notions of who we are in the face of war. War poses equally serious challenges to our thinking—and especially to philosophy and ethics. Krzysztof Michalski wrote: “All our concepts, all our values, can only be understood in the context of war; only when we discover how they function in the confrontation between my world and that other world (‘at war’) that lies just around the corner. Only when we confront our concepts and our values with something radically different from them will we learn how much they are worth.” This confrontation takes place every day, both when we question the theory and practice of just war, and when war “tests” our values, such as justice, responsibility, solidarity, patriotism, moderation, and, finally, honor and courage. War pits its own tools against them: anger, hatred, the thirst for revenge, greed, and cruelty. What, then, remains of our world in the context of war?
Magdalena M. Baran
Organizer of the philosophical essay contest
The Barbara Skarga Foundation for Thought
Collaboration
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw
Series curator and moderator of the meetings
Mateusz Falkowski
Project funded by state budget funds allocated by the Minister of Science and Higher Education as part of the Social Responsibility of Science III Program.
Magdalena M. Baran
Małgorzata Kowalska
Anton Marczyński
Things to Think About: 21st-Century Philosophy in Poland
Mateusz Falkowski
The Barbara Skarga Foundation for Thinking
