Think
the unthought

Democratic resilience depends on empathy and solidarity, but also on a sense of belonging, neighbourly care and patriotism, as well as an understanding of the challenges facing the modern world. To foster these values, we need the capacity for philosophical reflection, independent and creative thinking, constructive dialogue and collaboration. These qualities are cultivated through liberal education. 

The generation responsible for the fate of Central Europe has liberal democracy to thank for three decades of unprecedent social and economic stability. But the future fortune of this political construct is no longer a given. We’ve been accustomed to the tale that sensible laws and independent institutions would alone guarantee our political freedoms. Education was treated as subservient to the economy, at best providing citizens with future jobs. We now see that this view was irresponsibly optimistic and intellectually wanting. In order to effectively stand up to the challenges posed by illiberal forces, the climate crises or artificial intelligence we need to change the way we understand the role of education: it is, first and foremost, to teach us how to be citizens. To quote Leo Strauss, “education is the only answer to the always pressing question, to the political question par excellence, of how to reconcile order which is not oppression with freedom which is not license.”

We draw inspiration from the educational legacy of Roman Czernecki—a dedicated teacher and educational activist, organizer of clandestine schooling during World War II, dean of the School of Pedagogy in Gdańsk, and lecturer in the history of philosophy at the Warsaw University of Technology.

The values that guided Professor Czernecki inspired his son, Andrzej—a nuclear physicist, entrepreneur, and member of the Polish Parliament—to establish the EFC Foundation in 2009. Our work is possible thanks to an endowment he set up, the first philanthropic initiative of this scale in Poland.

Today, the Foundation is led by his sons, Igor and Andrzej, with the support of Jan Krzewiński.

The past obligates us, but the future demands flexibility. That’s why we remain comitted to the vales embodied by the Foundation’s patron, Roman Czernecki, and its founder, Andrzej Czernecki, while continously reflecting on and refining our strategy to keep pace with a changing world.