O sumieniu granic
On the conscience of borders

Summary/Abstract: This article reflects on the paradoxes inherent in our thinking on liminal territories, which ranges from affirmation to contestation. Its metaphorical title paraphrases Elias Canetti’s idea of the “conscience of words” and brings into focus the connection between discussions of borders and limits on the one hand, and the moral sensitivity of the members and cultural descendants of Judeo-Christian culture on the other. The ways in which people conceptualise borders and limits are presented from the perspective of the beginning (in the Gadamerian sense), i.e. the Bible, and the end (including, for example, Bauman’s concept of “liquid modernity” and Agamben’s post-secular idea of reality as a “camp”). The article concludes with a presentation of how the concepts of liminality and borders are presented (often metaphorically) by sociologists and linguists conducting field studies in Poland’s eastern and western borderlands.

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