HISTORIA NAJNOWSZA - POMIĘDZY PEWNOŚCIĄ A ZWĄTPIENIEM?

The paper discuss the regulatory principles which might be included into discussion on the controversy over the uses and misuses of contemporary history in Poland. The main proposals are as follow. We need greater methodological awareness that sources we are using whilst describing and interpreting the history are not refl ecting the whole past (which is simply impossible). While observing divergent versions of reconstructed past one should notice that the most divergent matt ers are connected with ethics. Three levels of ethics and moral judgments are listed: professional ethic of historian (is he a judge or observer), ethics/moral judgments of the past we investigate, moral judgment about the past. However tempting, metaphorical use of language should be limited at least at this stage of controversy, for there are not a commonly agreed set of metaphors, thus their use might only complicate the exchange of opinions.