Folia Philosophica 2028/1

Guest editors: Alicja Pietras and Luis F. Mendoza Martínez

Nicolai Hartmann (1882-1950) pursued one of the most ambitious philosophical projects in the first half of the 20th century: a new philosophia prima, which was named critical ontology (kritische Ontologie). That project implied renewed historical and systematic reflections on cognition, ethics, history, society, reality, ideality, modality, nature, life, psyche, spirit, and aesthetics. Despite their loss, Hartmann also tackled matters of logic, and logical ideas can be easily found in the remaining works. It was a whole-encompassing project, a task to be done, for which Hartmann had offered the basic guidelines, the so-called Grundzüge.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, most intellectuals turned their attention to understanding what had recently happened. Apparently, there was no room for “abstract” ontology. However, Hartmann’s works show that his project is far from detached from real events. His intention was, from the beginning, to grow an ontology from our earthly, living, psychic, and historical conditions, which demanded a deeper understanding of the world as it is. This demand is not perishable but perennial. In this vein, we welcome papers that address Hartmann’s idea of critical ontology, its relevance, its potential, and its limitations. We also welcome papers that reflect on traditional and contemporary philosophical questions through the insights of the Hartmannian project of a critical ontology.

At a time when education faces mounting cultural, ecological, and epistemic pressures, Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy offers an opportunity to rethink its very foundations. Rather than proposing a ready-made reform, it invites a different mode of thought: one that understands learning as a rhythm of events, knowledge as a form of becoming, and pedagogy as a practice of attentiveness to life. The editors of this issue of Folia Philosophica invite contributions that explore how Whitehead’s categories may transform contemporary pedagogical reflection—opening it toward experience, value, relationality, and the interconnectedness of the human and the more-than-human world, especially in light of the outstanding work of the Polish humanist Lech Witkowski.

The point of departure for this volume is Professor Witkowski’s most recent and impressive book, Whitehead. Superjects and Concrescences for the Humanities and Education, which demonstrates to what profound extent the philosophy of organism can reinvigorate current debates in education, culture, and the humanities. Witkowski shows that Whitehead’s œuvre—often cited but rarely read in its full complexity—has the potential to reshape both theoretical frameworks and the very ethics of pedagogical thinking. Under the guest editorship of Bogdan Ogrodnik, this issue encourages contributors to deepen this conversation: to engage creatively or critically in a renewed “working through” of Whitehead in the context of the challenges faced by contemporary education.

In an era marked by ecological instability, technological acceleration, and cultural fragmentation, Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy offers a unique and urgently needed framework for rethinking education, cultural practice, and the social sciences. Whitehead’s insistence that “there is only one subject matter for education, and that is Life in all its manifestations” invites us to reconsider the pedagogical imagination from the ground up—ecologically, relationally, and cosmologically. This issue of Folia Philosophica seeks contributions that explore how processual thinking can transform our understanding of learning, teaching, creativity, and cultural inquiry.

Whitehead’s philosophy of organism opens possibilities for reshaping educational environments, reimagining cultural participation, and developing forms of knowledge attuned to becoming rather than static order. We especially welcome papers inspired by recent scholarly work that “interweaves” Whitehead’s processual concepts into contemporary humanities and social sciences, renewing debates on how learning relates to creativity, perception, embodiment, experience, and the complex dynamics of growth. Contributors are invited to reflect on how process thought enables a metamorphosis of pedagogy at a moment in history when education is increasingly shaped by technological reductionism and systemic pressures detached from life itself.