Lvov-Warsaw School Research Articles

Stefana Ołeksiuka analiza sądu spostrzeżeniowego

The publication presents the historical and theoretical background of work of the Ukrainian philosopher Stefan Oleksiuk under the title “On object of so-called perceptual judgment” (1932). In particular, the points of contact and the importance of Oleksiuk’s ideas for philosophical traditions of the Lvov-Warsaw School and Husserlian phenomenology were shown.

Dąmbska’s presentation of Ajdukiewicz’s conception of language

Izydora Dąmbska was one of the most outstanding representatives of the Lvov-Warsaw School and a disciple of both the School’s founder Kazimierz Twardowski and Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz. Interest in the School was the result of Twardowski’s program of scientific philosophy, which was adopted by the vast majority of his students. This program assumed that the basic condition for practicing philosophy in a scientific manner is the precise use of language by a philosopher. One of the scholars who devoted most attention to language was Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz. Dąmbska accepted that the philosophical program of the School was opposed to the trend shared by many contemporary schools at the time which belonged to the so called current of linguistic philosophy. According to this trend, language is the only object of philosophical investigation. The analysis of Ajdukiewicz’s concept of language is one of her most interesting achievements in the domain of philosophy of language. This concept, called by Dąmbska ‘the immanent concept of language’, is the basis of Ajdukiewicz’s well-known radical conventionalism.

O etyce Izydory Dąbskiej

The article presents ethical work of an outstanding representative of the philosophical Lvov-Warsaw School – Izydora Dąmbska. The conviction that philosophy is a science and is axiologically grounded was inherited from her teacher Kazimierz Twardowski. According to this point of view, being a philosopher means realization of both intellectual and moral values. The text gives an insight into the ways Dąmbska understands the term ethics and her notion of the most fundamental terms of axiological ethics: assessment, values, norms. The four distinguished by her issues of scientific ethics: the issue of ethical criteria, sources of morality, moral foundation and range of ethics are also examined. Dąmbska’s achievements in the history of ethics, her reflections on ethics’ independence from religion and on teaching ethics at school are also presented.

The Possibility of a Moral Life without Religion in the Light of the Ethical Writings of Tadeusz Kotarbiński

In ethics much attention has already been paid to a dispute concerning the issue of autonomic ethics. Yet it is still worthy to look again at least at some of Tadeusz Kotarbinski's arguments. Their way of reasoning is being used today for defending the position of the autonomic ethics. The autonomic ethics proclaims a complete independence of the field of human morality from the realm of religion. If it is so then a polemic with Kotarbinski's views (which is led from the perspective of Christian ethics) will still be able to become a useful instrument in contemporary discussion with supporters of ethics independent from religion. For this reason the problem undertaken in this paper is still up-to-date. This problem can be summed up in the questions as follow: How to present Kotarbinski's arguments by which he justifies his thesis about the possibility of a law-abiding life on the high moral level without reference to the realm of religion? How can one argue with those arguments? Relying upon the analyzed texts by Kotarbinski and Styczen mainly one can say that the differences between materialistic approach represented by the Student of Lvov-Warsaw School and views of personalistic ethics were shown. They show-up especially in the field of methodology of ethics and axiology. It is noticeable that the differences in views that cause the polemic cited and discussed in this article are based more on a variety of starting points. They are based also on goals of speculations that were undertaken by various ethicists and in groups of issues that should be the domain of ethics.

Obiektywny charakter dobra w szkole lwowsko-warszawskiej: K. Twardowski, W. Tatarkiewicz, T. Czeżowski

The thesis that goodness and truth have objective and absolute nature is a solid feature of philosophers included to Lvov-Warsaw School. There are presented and analyzed critical arguments against thesis that goodness has relative and subjective nature formulated by Kazimierz Twardowski, Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz and Tadeusz Czezowski. Apart from it there are described positive arguments for thesis the goodness is objective and absolute. In the end standpoinst of three philosophers

Axiological Intuitionism in the Lvov-Warsaw School

The article discusses the metaethical views of the philosophers associated with the Lvov-Warsaw School, namely Tadeusz Czeżowski, Tadeusz Kotarbiński, Marian Przełęcki, and Władysław Tatarkiewicz. The common feature of their views is the presence of axiological intuition, understood as direct cognition of values. The similarities as well as the differences between the views of the mentioned authors are listed. These analyses are preceded by conceptual distinctions between types of intuition and kinds of intuitionism.

Logic in Poland in the Twentieth Century: An Introduction

A. Fraenkel and Y. Bar-Hillel in their classic Foundations of Set Theory (published in 1958) wrote ‘There is probably no country which has contributed, relatively to the size of its population, so much to mathematical logic and set theory and Poland. Leaving the explanation of this curious fact to sociology…’.1 However, the development of logic (and any other scientific field as well) in a given country, is not a linear function of the size of its population. In fact, there are several factors that conditioned the enormous development of mathematical logic and the foundations of mathematics in Poland, particularly in the years 1918–1939. The following circumstances can be taken into account as elements for a sociological explanation of this fact (curious or not, but that is another matter): the philosophical context (the rise of the Lvov-Warsaw School), the mathematical context (Polish Mathematical School and the Janiszewski program, the co-operation of philosophers and mathematicians in teaching and doing logic, the amount of logical teaching in secondary schools and universities, and several organizational enterprises (the place of logic at universities, journals, scientific societies).

Twardowski on Presentations and Truth

This paper is concerned with Twardowski’s role as a teacher and a founder of the Lvov-Warsaw School of logic and philosophy as well as with his main contributions to philosophy: the distinction between the content and object of presentations and his defense of objective truth, which initiated a debate on the eternity of truth in the School. It would perhaps be no exaggeration to say that the emergence of the Lvov-Warsaw School was the result of the premeditated efforts of one philosopher, namely Kazimierz Twardowski. Therefore, I will first present Twardowski’s role as a teacher and founder of the School and then move on to his theoretical achievements.

Wychowanie, oświata powszechna i kształcenie uniwersyteckie jako źródła polskiej niepodległości: pedagogiczno-patriotyczne idee i działania Kazimierza Twardowskiego

Considering Polish thought and pedagogical activity in the years 1863-1914/1918 in terms of a relationship between education and aspirations to independence, as one of the important research issues should be recognized thought and pedagogical activity of Kazimierz Twardowski (b. 1866. in Vienna, d. 1938 in Lviv). He created a philosophical-logical Lvov-Warsaw School, which along with research - also scientific work in the field of pedagogy - was practiced reliable education and was considered its implications. About educational values of Kazimierz Twardowski's achievements was convinced, among others, Tadeusz Kotarbinski. In 1965 he characterized legacy of his master: "The effort of Twardowski's thought was (…) coupled with concern about its bright and clear termination, the task of thinker was connected with the task of teacher. By own example the professor taught how to think, how to with others co-think, co-inquire, (…) he just taught how to work". Twardowski was involved in the organization of Polish general education: he chaired a committee of the General Academic Lectures, the Girls' Middle School Society, the Society of Teachers of Higher Education. Among the general lectures that led Twardowski, it is worth paying attention to his lecture "Upbringing and humanities", that inaugurated Holiday University Courses in Cieszyn, organized by the Polish Association of Pedagogy in the Duchy of Cieszyn (15-30 August 1904). It was also preserved interesting correspondence of Twardowski with associations operating in Cieszyn. In the pedagogical activity of Twardowski there are clearly present civic and patriotic trains. He attached great importance to the fulfillment of obligations towards the origin country, what he also expressed in public speeches, aimed at the formation of citizenship and patriotism.

Z badań nad filozofią Kanta w kręgu Szkoły Lwowsko-Warszawskiej: Hersz Bad o teorii Kanta-Laplace’a

Hersz Bad (1869-1942) was Kazimierz Twardowski’s student and belonged to the first generation of the Lvov-Warsaw School members. He specialized in the history of philosophy and led a number of remarkable analyses concerning Kant’s philosophy. At the example of his work one may see, how the methodological postulates of the Lvov-Warsaw School were fulfilled at the field of historical philosophical investigations. The goal of the paper is to present Bad’s main achievements and to evaluate their meaning from the point of view of the current state of research of Kant’s philosophy. To be reviewed in detail are Bad’s remarks concerning the scientific status of the so called Kant-Laplace Theory as well as the validity of its name.

The Significance of Kazimierz Twardowski in Philosophy and Culture

The paper presents the academic personality of Kazimierz Twardowski (1866-1938). Twardowski was born and educated in Vienna, where he was a student of Franz Brentano. After achieving habilitation, he moved to Lvov, where he organized serious philosophical research and became the founder of the Lvov-Warsaw School of philosophy and logic. The Twardowski’s achievements in three dimensions: as a teacher, as an organizer and as a scientist are briefly described.

The Lvov–Warsaw School as a Source of Inspiration for Argumentation Theory

The thesis of the paper holds that some future developments of argumentation theory may be inspired by the rich logico-methodological legacy of the Lvov–Warsaw School (LWS), the Polish research movement that was most active from 1895 to 1939. As a selection of ideas of the LWS which exploit both formal and pragmatic aspects of the force of argument, we present: Ajdukiewicz’s account of reasoning and inference, Bocheński’s analyses of superstitions or dogmas, and Frydman’s constructive approach to legal interpretation. This paper does not aim at exhaustive elaboration of any of these topics or their usefulness in current discussions within argumentation theory. Rather, we intend to indicate chosen directions of a potentially fruitful research program for the emerging Polish School of Argumentation which would consist in application of methods and conceptions elaborated by the LWS to selected open problems of contemporary research on argumentation.

Introduction: Argument Studies in Poland

Contemporary argument studies in Poland began with the research of the LvovWarsaw School and its successors in Artificial Intelligence and legal theory, as well as with the studies of Polish rhetoricians (Koszowy and Araszkiewicz 2014; Budzynska et al. 2014) (see also van Eemeren et al. 2015; Koszowy 2011; Zalȩska 2012). The last decade has witnessed a major transformation in the Polish landscape, beginning with several landmark publications (see e.g. Dignum et al. 2001; Grabowski 2003; Lichanski 2003; Smolak 2003; Szymanek et al. 2003; Bogolȩbska 2006; Tokarz 2006; Holowka 2007; Dunin-Kȩplicz and Verbrugge 2010; Gizbert-Studnicki 2012) which have attracted an ever-growing number of young researchers and students. As a result, the research movement of the Polish School of Argumentation has begun to emerge (see Sect. 1). In 2008, the nationwide initiative ArgDiaP (http://argdiap.pl/) was established in order to provide infrastructure facilitating the networking process and to foster research on argumentation in Poland, including the research of the Polish School of Argumentation (see Sect. 2). In 2013, the 11th ArgDiaP workshop hosted an interdisciplinary group of Polish scholars, who discussed the present state of the art and future directions of argument studies in Poland. This discussion resulted in a Manifesto co-authored by 55 representatives of the School and published as the opening article (Budzynska et al. 2014) of this special issue.

Benedykt Bornstein’s Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics

The aim of this paper is to present and discuss main philosophical ideas concerning logic and mathematics of a significant but forgotten Polish philosopher Benedykt Bornstein. He received his doctoral degree with Kazimierz Twardowski but is not included into the Lvov–Warsaw School of Philosophy founded by the latter. His philosophical views were unique and quite different from the views of main representatives of Lvov–Warsaw School. We shall discuss Bornstein’s considerations on the philosophy of geometry, on the infinity, on the foundations of set theory and his polemics with Stanislaw Leśniewski as well as his conception of a geometrization of logic, of the categorial logic and of the mathematics of quality.

Linguistic Complexity and Argumentative Unity: A Lvov-Warsaw School Supplement

Abstract It is argued that the source of complexity in language is twofold: repetition, and syntactic embedding. The former enables us to return again and again to the same subject across many sentences, and to maintain the coherence of an argument. The latter is governed by two forms of complexification: the functor-argument structure of all languages and the operator-bound-variable mechanism of familiar formal languages. The former is most transparently represented by categorial grammar, and an extension of this can adequately describe the syntax of variable binders. Both developments have roots within the work of the Lvov-Warsaw School.

Czy Kazimierz Twardowski wpłynął na historiografię ukraińskiej filozofii?

The paper is aimed to prove that the work of the Ukrainian philosopher Hilary Święcicki "The origins of philosophy in Ruthenian literature of XI-XVI century" (Lviv, 1901) was written under the influence of the founder of the Lvov-Warsaw School of philosophy Kazimierz Twardowski. Results of the analysis indicate that this influence was of the methodological nature and it manifested itself in the use by Święcicki aposteriori constructive method, developed by master of Twardowski - Franz Brentano.

Hawryił Kostelnyk i szkoła lwowsko-warszawska

Polish translation of the article under the title “The concept of negation and nothing in human cognition” (1914) written by one of the student of Kazimierz Twardowski, Ukrainian philosopher Gabriel Kostelnyk, is presented. The article is an original attempt at logical-psychological analysis of the concepts of negation and nothing by examining their structure, classification, genesis and cognitive function. It is preceded by a commentary entitled „Gabriel Kostelnyk and Lvov-Warsaw School”, which showed the points of contact and the importance of Kostelnyk’s ideas for philosophical traditions of the Lvov-Warsaw School.

Ukraińcy w Szkole Lwowsko-Warszawskiej

This article concerns one of the most important philosophical formations in the twentieth century, the Lvov-Warsaw School. It analyzes the phenomenon of Twardowski’s School from a perspective that so far has not been taken into account by scholars: the multicultural nature of Lvov as the cradle of the school. The chief aim of the article is to identify numerous leading representatives of Ukrainian philosophical thought in prewar Galicia with the tradition of the Lvov Philosophical School, thus filling an important gap in research on the Lvov-Warsaw School and broadening the perspective of its understanding as a multicultural intellectual formation.

The grammar of philosophical discourse

In this paper, a formal theory is presented that describes syntactic and semantic mechanisms of philosophical discourses. They are treated as peculiar language systems possessing deep derivational structures called architectonic forms of philosophical systems, encoded in philosophical mind. Architectonic forms are constituents of more complex structures called architectonic spaces of philosophy. They are understood as formal and algorithmic representations of various philosophical traditions. The formal derivational machinery of a given space determines its class of all possible architectonic forms. Some of them stand under factual historical philosophical systems and they organize processes of doing philosophy within these systems. Many architectonic forms have never been realized in the history of philosophy. The presented theory may be interpreted as falling under Hegel's paradigm of comprehending cultural texts. This paradigm is enriched and inspired with Propp's formal, morphological view on texts. The peculiarity of this modification of the Hegel-Propp paradigm consists of the use of algebraic and algorithmic tools of modeling processes of cultural development. To speak metaphorically, the theory is an attempt at the mathematical and logical history of philosophy inspired by the Internet metaphor. And that is why it belongs to the tradition of doing metaphilosophy in The Lvov-Warsaw School, which is continued today mainly by Woleński, Pelc, Perzanowski, and Jadacki.

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Logic and Divine Simplicity

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Logic and Divine Simplicity