bycie

Bycie is the Polish term for being or existence, used both in everyday language and in philosophy. Etymologically, it comes from the verb być (to be) with the noun-forming suffix -ie. In philosophical usage, bycie designates the state or condition of existing and is one of the central ontological categories.

In philosophy, bycie is the subject of ontological inquiry: what it means for something to be, how being is possible, and how beings relate to the category of being itself. It is often treated as a fundamental concept that underlies other categories such as objects, processes, and events. Discussions of bycie aim to articulate the structure of reality and to distinguish general being from particular beings.

Historically, concepts of being appear in ancient philosophy with Aristotle’s analysis of ousia (substance) and the question of what it means for something to be. In the medieval period, being was central to scholastic theology and metaphysics. In modern philosophy, the notion of being became prominent in phenomenology and existentialism. Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time (Polish: Bycie i czas) is especially influential, reorienting the question of the meaning of being toward human existence and its temporality.

In Polish intellectual life, bycie is used across philosophy, theology, and critical theory. The translation and discussion of Heidegger’s work helped shape Polish phenomenology and ontological debate, while contemporary scholarship continues to explore the nature of existence, reality, and their human significance.