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Polish Philosophy of the 19th and 20th Centuries Heritage Studies Jacek Jadacki Polish Philosophy of the 19th and 20th Centuries Heritage Studies Warsaw 2015 The book is prepared within the framework of the project 11H 11 004280 Filozofia polska XIX i XX wieku (moduł badawczy 1.1. Narodowego Programu Rozwoju Humanistyki MNiSW) realized in the years 2012‑2015. All the illustrations come from the private collection of Jacek Jadacki. On the front cover: Odo Dobrowolski’s autolithograph (1915) presenting the former building of Galician Parliament; in the years 1919‑1939, the main seat of John Casimir University. The autolitograph was given to the author by Maria Ajdukiewicz née Twardowska: a daughter of Kazimierz Twardowski and the wife of Kazimierz Twardowski. Index of names: Jacek Jadacki Cover design: Jarosław Zuzga, Studio Graficzne Semper® Typesetting: Karolina Wróbel, Studio Graficzne Semper® © Copyright by Jacek Jadacki and Wydawnictwo Naukowe Semper®, Warszawa 2015 © All right reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publishers, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Semper®. ISBN 978‑83‑7507‑196‑2 Redakcja i Studio Graficzne: ul. Mariensztat 8 00‑302 Warszawa tel./fax: 22 538 92 03 e‑mail: [email protected] Dział handlowy i księgarnia firmowa: ul. Bednarska 20A 00‑321 Warszawa tel./fax: 22‑828‑49‑73 e‑mail: [email protected] www.semper.pl Printed in Poland Table of contents Foreword . 7 Introduction . Seven centuries of the Polish thought . 9 Part 1 . IDEAS, CENTRES, EPOCHS . 19 1 . Romanticism in the Polish culture of the 19th century . 21 2 . Polish logic in the years 1870‑1918 . 27 3 . Position of the Lvov‑Warsaw School in the Polish culture . 59 4 . The philosophical environment of Vilna in the years 1920‑1945 . 74 5 . Polish philosophy in the years 1969‑1989 . 97 Part 2 . CORYPHEE . 113 1. Hugo Kołłątaj . 115 2. Jan Śniadecki . 136 3. Anioł Dowgird . 168 4 . Krystyn Lach‑Szyrma . 196 5. Jan Sleszyński . 219 6. Wincenty Lutosławski . 234 7. Zygmunt Zawirski . 265 8. Tadeusz Kotarbiński . 277 9. Stanisław Leśniewski . 288 10. Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz . 335 11. Józef Maria Bocheński . 350 12. Marian Przełęcki . 363 13. Zdzisław Augustynek . 384 14. Leszek Kołakowski . 394 15. Jakub Karpiński . 404 16. Jerzy Perzanowski . 422 Bibliography . 439 Index of illustrations . 499 Index of names . 503 Foreword 1 . I have been involved with the history of Polish philosophy for over 40 years . Some results of my research in this area – in the English language – were presented in the volume entitled Polish Analytical Philosophy. Studies on Its Heritage [Jadacki 2009]. This volume features, firstly, review texts on the sources of contempo‑ rary Polish logic, the development of the Polish philosophy of science, the history of modern philosophy of science in Warsaw, the conceptual system of the Lvov‑Warsaw School and its impact on the Polish philosophy in the 20th century; it also addresses the fate of Polish philosophers during World War II . The texts have been supplemented with an appendix containing a bibliography of the Polish logic, dating from the second part of the 14th century to the first part of the th20 century . The volume includes, secondly, the texts discussing the links of the Polish philosophy with the philosophy of German speaking countries (based on the examples of Alexius Meinong and Heinrich Scholz) . Thirdly, it presents monographs devoted to eminent Polish philosophers of the 20th century: Kazimierz Twardowski, Leon Chwistek, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Tadeusz Czeżowski, Roman Ingarden and Jan Salamucha. 2. This book is a continuation of that volume, limited, as a matter of fact, to the 19th and 20th centuries . It also contains review texts and monographs devoted to individual philosophers . As regards the monographs, my emphasis is on the views of philosophers, not on the sources of their inspiration (the focus is on the reconstruction of their philosophical standpoints, not on the so‑called affiliation of ideas, which is addressed primarily by the historians of the Polish philosophy) . In tandem with Polish Analytical Philosophy, this Polish Philosophy of the 19th and 20th Centuries offers English language readers a wealth of information about Polish philosophers of the last two centuries . I am deeply convinced that all discussed philosophers are the most prom‑ inent figures of the Polish thought of that period. 3 . No part of this volume has been published in English before – with the exception of a study devoted to Jerzy Perzanowski, published as [Ja‑ dacki 2008]. Some of the texts were originally written in Polish (and depart to a great‑ er or lesser extent from the versions contained in this volume), and one text was originally written in French. Below is their complete list: [Jadacki 7 1987], [Jadacki 1993a], [Jadacki 1993b], [Jadacki 1994], [Jadacki 1996], [Jadacki 1998a], [Jadacki 1998b], [Jadacki 1998c], [Jadacki 1999a], [Ja‑ dacki 1999a], [Jadacki 2013], [Jadacki 2014], [Jadacki 2015], and [Jadacki & Przełęcki 1993]. 4 . As I have already mentioned, ALL the Polish philosophers discussed in separate monographs in both the volumes are outstanding . It cannot be said, however, that all prominent Polish 19th and 20th century philosophers have been covered . The picture of Polish philosophy of that period captured in these books is yet to be completed. The line‑up of academic thinkers active in the first part of the 19th cen‑ tury at the Jagiellonian University, Vilna University, and Warsaw University comes without Michał Wiszniewski, for example. As regards non‑academic thinkers, i.a., Józef Maria Hoene‑Wroński is absent. The Polish philosophy of the mid‑19th century is not represented at all: such thinkers as, for exam‑ ple, Karol Libelt or Józef Kremer have not been included . As regards the representatives of the second part of the 19th century, such a notable figure as Adam Mahrburg has not been featured . Another absent figure from the turn of 19th and 20th century is, for ex‑ ample, Mścisław Wartenberg. The most conspicuous absence as regards the first part of the 20th century is Jan Łukasiewicz and many more prominent philosophers – even though this publication is assumed to feature only those who are no longer with us . I hope that this underrepresentation will be made up for in volume III to follow, addressing the most recent developments in Polish philosophy . Jacek Jadacki. Warsaw, 11 September 2015 . 8 Introduction. Seven centuries of the Polish thought 1. Phases of the history of Polish philosophy I would like to precede the texts on 19th and 20th century Polish philoso‑ phy, with – on the one hand – a general overview of its history and division into periods, and with a more in‑depth look into the thoughts of our phi‑ losophers representative of particular epochs on the other hand . Henryk Struve, a prominent historian of Polish philosophy from the turn of the last century, pointed out that one of the characteristic features of our philosophy is the special place occupied by the research on logic and ethics . The former, unfortunately, is not fit to be presented in a popular synthesis due to being too «abstract», complex, and requiring the use of a difficult technical language . Therefore, all the examples of the Polish thought con‑ tained herein pertain to ethics: a domain which is more «practical» than logic, at least in some respects simpler, and capable of being expressed in everyday language without a compromise to the content (essence). The history of Polish philosophy to date is broken down into the phases I shall refer to as: PERLOCUTION, INITIATION, CONSOLIDATION, EXPANSION, TUR‑ BULENCE, EXPECTATION, ACCELERATION, COMPRIMATION AND LIBERALIZATION. Let us look into these phases by turns. 2. The phase of perlocution The first phase of the history of Pol‑ ish philosophy – the PHASE OF PERLOCU‑ TION – covers the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries: the periods when Gothic style begins to emerge in the Polish art . (The concept of “turn of the centuries” will denote a period of time commencing more or less mid‑13th century and ending more or less mid‑14th century .) This phase has only one representative . It is Witelo (Ciołek) of Legnica (ca. 1230 ‑ ca. 1314), a Silesian: half‑German and half‑Pole (on the distaff side). Witelo of Legnica 9 In ca. 1268 he writes a Latin ethical‑metaphysical treaty entitled O głów- nym źródle pokuty ludzkiej i o istocie złych duchów [Witelo 1268]. This is where he saw the said source: The sight of God brings great delight to a human soul imprisoned in the body; it is known to everyone who heads for the Holiest Being by pursuing scientific re‑ search or contemplation. Human souls decay in the filth of sin and steer ever further away from eternal vision of God . Human soul becomes tainted by wallowing in evil doings. […] The greatest punishment […] for sinful souls […] is [exactly] casting them away from their Creator […]. The reason why people stray from the path that they are obliged to follow is the triumph of senses over reason . A truly humane activity is the activity of the mind aimed at attaining eternal life in this life on Earth; it is neither eating nor drinking, because those latter are also characteristic of plants and animals . And this deviation from the right path, equal to the denial of the goodness vested in every individual, is what we call a sin. Hence, a sinner (as the one deprived of his humanity as a con‑ sequence of his sins) is not a human being! […] Thus, a [human] soul, […] [through the operation of conscience] not only fights against sinful impulses, but overcomes them successfully […]. And this is the very origin of […] penance [Witelo 1268: 66‑69]. 3. The phase of initiation The second phase of the Polish thought – the PHASE OF INITIATION – covers the turn of 14th and 15th centuries, and therefore the period when Gothic style is very much at home in the Polish art .