“The influence of [Kazimierz] Twardowski on modern philosophy in Poland is all-pervasive. Twardowski instilled in his students a passion for clarity [. . .] and seriousness. He taught them to regard philosophy as a collaborative effort, a matter of disciplined discussion and argument, and he encouraged them to train themselves thoroughly in at least one extra-philosophical discipline and to work together with scientists from other fields, both inside Poland and internationally. This led above all [. . .] to collaborations with (...) mathematicians, so that the Lvov school of philosophy would gradually evolve into the Warsaw school of logic [. . .]. Twardowski taught his students, too, to respect and to pursue serious research in the history of philosophy, an aspect of the tradition of philosophy on Polish territory which is illustrated in such disparate works as [Jan] Łukasiewicz’s ground-breaking monograph on the law of non-contradiction in Aristotle and [Władysław] Tatarkiewicz’s highly influential multi-volume histories of philosophy and aesthetics. [. . .] The term ‘Polish philosophy’ is a misnomer [. . .] for Polish philosophy is philosophy per se; it is part and parcel of the mainstream of world philosophy – simply because [. . .] it meets international standards of training, rigour, professionalism and specialization.”– Barry Smith, “Why Polish Philosophy does Not Exist”. (shrink)

The kernel of this volume is an English translation of Jan Łukasiewicz’s classic work on the concept of cause (1906). It is the starting point for analytical considerations on causality of two generations of philosophers belonging to the tradition of the Lvov-Warsaw School.

Main headings: Introduction: Philosophy and precision. - Part I. Being and essence. - Part II. Truth and nonsense. - Part III. Understanding and silence. - Conclusion: Science and creation.

The Lvov-Warsaw School was one of the most important currents in the 20th-century analytical movement. Kazimierz Twardowski, a student Franz Brentano and a professor of philosophy in Lvov, was the founder and at the same time an outstanding representative of the School. The papers included into the volume present comprehensively Twardowski’s views and indicate what his lasting contribution to philosophy consists of.

We assume that the imperative reasoning is a reasoning containing at least one step which is an imperative (or rather its content). At the same time, we understand the term "imperative" as a synonym of "imperative sentence". We assume that in its main usage, imperatives express a certain volitional act: namely, a will of realizing a certain state of affairs. In our opinion, such characterization is related to the contents of imperatives; we call these contents "prescriptions", remembering that in untypical (...) usages prescriptions are not expressed by imperatives. Traditional approach to the processes of reasoning takes into account only these mental processes steps of which are declaratives or declarative sentences (or rather their contents – i.e. judgments). If processes of imperative reasoning are to belong to the range of the term "reasoning", the notion of reasoning has to receive a new, enlarging explication. We propose such an explication in the paper. (shrink)

The paper provides an analysis of two traditionally accepted distinctions between nominal and real definitions. The historical background is Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz’s conceptions of definitions as well as remarks by other members of the Lvov-Warsaw School of philosophy. The aim of the paper is to show that the analysed distinction, at least in Ajdukiewicz’s version, cannot be sustained.

Izydora Dąmbska was one of the most creative women-representatives of the Lvov-Warsaw School. The paper presents her extraordinary personality, life, as well as the list of her main works and the greatest scientific achievements. The main area of her interest was the logic of natural language, methodology and the history of Greek semiotics. She gave meticulous analysis of the relation between conventionalism on one hand, and relativism, scepticism and agnosticism on the other. In semiotics, she proposed new approach to the (...) problem of empty names and material implication, of the correct definition of truth, as well as of pragmatic functions of silence and namelessness. In methodology, her reconstruction of the notion of scientific laws is of great importance. (shrink)

Artykuł zawiera zarys rekonstrukcji poglądów etycznych Tadeusza Kotarbińskiego. Analiza pism etycznych Kotarbińskiego — niestety dalekich od ideału precyzji — pozwala sądzić, że na jego system etyczny składają się m.in. następujące tezy. Podstawową negatywną normą moralną jest norma „Nie powinieneś nikomu czynić zła ponad niezbędną potrzebę”, a podstawową pozytywną normą moralną jest norma „Powinieneś komuś czynić dobro”; stąd etykę Kotarbińskiego wolno nazwać „altruizmem lokalnym”. Za naczelną cnotę moralną uznaje Kotarbiński opiekuńczość ; stąd jego system etyczny nazywany bywa „etyką spolegliwego opiekuna”. Działanie (...) opiekuna polegać powinno przede wszystkim na zapobieganiu i usuwaniu nieszczęścia; stąd system etyczny Kotarbińskiego wolno nazwać „minimalistycznym”. Normy etyczne uzasadniane są za pomocą procedury indukcyjnej wspartej intuicją etyczną. Najpierw intuicyjnie rozpoznajemy czyny ewidentnie dobre lub ewidentnie haniebne, a następnie wyabstrahowujemy z nich istotę czcigodności i haniebności. System etyczny Kotarbińskiego pretenduje do niezależności: względem poglądów filozoficznych i religijnych; pozostaje jednak «treściowo» bliski etyce ewangelicznej. (shrink)