Introduction: The History and Philosophy of Polish Logic: Some Basic Thoughts

Abstract

Modern Polish logic is the fruit of the Lvov-Warsaw School of philosophy, which existed between 1895 and World War II. From today’s perspective, the emergence of the Lvov-Warsaw School appears to be a result of the intentional and pre-meditated efforts of one philosopher in particular, namely Kazimierz Twardowski. In 1895 Twardowski, then 29 years old but already an accomplished philosopher who was based in Vienna and a former student of Brentano and Zimmerman, was appointed to the post of extraordinary professor at the University of Lvov, one of the two universities in which Polish was the language of instruction. He saw his coming to Lvov as part of a mission to export Brentano’s philosophy and conception of philosophy to Poland and, more generally, to reform Polish philosophy by making it rigorous and oriented towards detailed analyses of philosophical problems. Clarity of thought was by no means a priority of the dominant forces in Polish philosophy at the time. For almost 150 years the Polish state had ceased to exist, its former lands being divided between Russia, Prussia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After a few unsuccessful uprisings aimed at resurrecting the Polish state, the trend of Polish Messianism, a peculiar mixture of Hegelian themes, Catholicism and national myths, had gained popularity, as it attempted to explain, or at least provide, an eschatological sanction for the country’s national suffering.