Abstrakt
If we turn attention to the issue of political dialogues as a crucial part of early-modern political discourse, which became popular in Poland already in the 15th century and which is able to demonstrate the republican essence of Polish early modern political thought, this lecture is going to prove that we can apply the discursive approach of theory as practice as it enforces two-way logic of dependency (suggesting that observers such as Orzechowski and Opaliński reflected particular parliamentary debates of that time that were however shaped by their theoretical notions as well). This approach thus tries to answer the crucial question "what do Polish political writers of the 16 - 17th century represent?" in a pluralist way with an emphasis on the role of different genres and various contexts.
In that case it is desirable to perceive their specific dialogues not only as a reflection of current political questions, but also as practical manuals for political debates as well as propaganda or demonstration of author's own power and political interests. Last but not least one should not underestimate also the effort of those thinkers to embed the specific questions of Polish community within the broader context of universal values - after all that is why we can talk about theory as practice.
The existence of this relationship between theory and practice can be traced especially in the case of diaologues of Orzechowski and Opaliński that include hidden as well as explicit references criticizing very particular parliamentary debates at the sessions of Sejm.