The article contains a Polish translation of Joseph Maréchal's text: First outline of a fully formed doctrine (Louvain, April 1920).

The article contains a Polish translation of Mordecai Poshwald's text: Tolerance, Pluralism, and Truth.

The paper tries to systematize the views on metaphysics in the XIXth-century in broadly taken pre-neokantian and Neo-Kantian movement. Taking the Kantian notion of the “thing-in-itself” as a central one I point it as a key to the XIXth-century metaphysics. Hence Jacobi, who was first to point the importance of this problem, needs to be considered as a central figure. The analysis of Neo-Kantianism - and especially its metaphysical current - shows that even its representatives were unable to notice the problem of the thing-in-itself. It can be witnessed in the most famous book of this current, that is in Kant und die Epigonen by O. Liebmann. The outcome of the presented discussion is that Neo-Kantianism did not contribute to a metaphysical interpretation of Kant in the XIXth-century, and the dispute on the understanding of being begins only in 1920s with a publication of the works by Nicolai Hartmann and Martin Heidegger.

The aim of the paper is to discuss primarily the epistemological theory of reflection (Abbildtheorie) as seen by Heinrich Rickert, the main representative of Neo-Kantianism Baden School. The most important arguments put forward by Rickert against taking the cognition as a reflection of the reality are being analysed. Rickert’s standpoint turns out to be moderate. He argues against the transcendental theory of reflection, but does not reject the idea of reflection as a model of cognition and takes the immanent theory of reflection as relatively justified. The paper contains also a discussion of the standpoint of another representative of Baden School, Emil Lask, who has rejected the theory of reflection in favour of the after-image theory (Nachbildtheorie).

In this paper I attempt to move the value of philosophical thinking from the formal framework of transcendentalism to its historical aspect. For this reason I see the watershed of philosophy in its transition from a monological to dialogical thinking. Hence, hermeneutics, which undertakes this task, has contributed to the renaissance of Socratic philosophy and has pinpointed the narrative point of view of the philosophical reflection as the history-justified moment of determination of truth. Hence, I shall argue that the verification of the transcendental consciousness by its confrontation with historical consciousness creates the real hermeneutical clou of the post-Kantian philosophical investigations.

The paper discusses Karol Libelt’s critique of Hegel’s thought from the perspective of his own standpoint in which he tries to sustain the idea of the immorality of soul and personality of the spirit. In the latter part presuppositions of the idea of Slavic philosophy are presented. Most systematically Libelt has presented his ideas in Samowładztwo rozumu i objawy filozofii słowiańskiej, hence the paper is mostly based on this book. Libelt’s conception was rooted in the critiques of theoretical philosophies, which he finds to be concerned primarily with “the autocracy of reason”. And his critique was directed towards the speculative character of this kind of philosophy. By putting forward the postulate of creation of a new philosophy rooted in act, practicality and activity of agent, Libelt appears as a Slavophil. And he proposes slavophilism as an alternative for speculative character of Hegelian philosophy and its panlogism. The essence of Slavic philosophy, according to Libelt, is the act in which the entirety of the spirit, originated in the act of the will of knowledge and thought, is being revealed.

The aim of the paper is to make a comparison between two concepts of the Absolute: the one presented in recentivism and the one typical of Eastern philosophy. In the framework of the former the Absolute is conceived of as the Transcendental Recens (The Eternal Present), while in the latter as the most fundamental element, which also exists “now”, but also in us (tat twam asi) and still wanders. In both recentivism and Eastern philosophy the Absolute is present in the universe just as the author in his work; is - silent, but every expression is derived from Him. In both conceptions the Absolute is freed from the burden of the word, as it is given in the concentration of silence, in a metaphysical miracle of the way towards mystery. A fear of what is covered by the mist of the distant premonition is a fear of the experience of the other side of the Absolute.

The paper deals with the relation between the individual soul and the Soul taken as the hypostasis. This relation is the crucial element of Plotinus’ psychology and anthropology. It enables the explanation of the possibility of crossing the connection of a man with his body and finding the beyond-individual realms of being. In this way Plotinus presents various levels of self-knowledge of the self as different levels of its identity, from the level of body and senses, through the noetic dimension, to unio mystica.

In this paper I focus on the Merleau-Ponty’s conception of Lebenswelt. Derived from Husserl this conception appears to be the core problem of Merleau-Ponty’s late philosophy, especially in his The visible and the invisible. Here I focus on the problem of the correlation of Lebenswelt and existence. While dealing with the idea of Lebenswelt Merleau-Ponty works out the categories of his philosophy, such as the conception of body taken as chiasm or the potentiality of diversity, and the vertical perspective of being in the world. All these issues, as seen in The visible and invisible, are connected with the conception of Lebenswelt. In the paper the originality of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy is pointed out. In his attempts for trying to consolidate the world in its inseparable unity with the existence, he reveals the source character of man’s relation with Lebenswelt that is with the world in which both body and speech take part.

The aim of the paper is to point that the reasonings may be tested with the methods different from those proposed by formal logic. Scholars involved in the late the XXth-century current of “informal logic” refuse to make the logical entailment of the conclusion from the given premises of the only criteria of the correctness of the reasoning. Instead of this, they propose to take into consideration some other characteristics of reasonings, which traditional logic treats as unimportant or elusive.

Ernst Cassirer is nowadays thought to be one of the most distinguished representatives of Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism created mainly by Cohen and Natorp, in which not only the return but also going over Kant’s thought is called for. Neo-Kantianism leaves its mark especially on the first period of Cassirer’s philosophical activity, in which the a priori form along with the categories of mind determine the active character of mind and thus inform Cassirer’s analytical method. His convictions are confirmed by one-sided, rooted in Kant and Cohen, interpretation of the gnoseology, which depicts insufficiency of human mind and thus the necessity of not only logical structures of thinking, but also entirety of human spirit, including its constitutive attributes - motivation, feelings and will - being involved in the process of cognition. Hence, the range of Cassirer’s apriorism, which so far has involved only the activity of human mind, now involves also the emotional sphere of human agent. Inspired by Kant, Cassirer develops the symbolic forms a theory. Hence, it is important to notice the influence of, as Andrzejewski calls it, “the methodology of knowledge of feeling and human interests” taken from Giambattissta Vico, Goethe, Schiller and the Johann G. Herder’s semiotic of soul. And rationalized mathematical sciences appear to be a contribution to the reflection on Kulturwissenschaften, which makes Cassirer one of the anti-naturalists.

The paper deals with the idea of unconsciousness in A. Schopenhauer and Z. Freud. The author argues that despite the fact that Schopenhauer does not explicitly use this term, he proposed some ideas which might be considered as pioneering to Freud’s “discoveries”. The turn towards the hypothesis of the unconsciousness may be seen as the attempt to close the gap (caused by Descartes’ thought) between the mind and the matter (in epistemology) and between the man and the world (in ontology).

The aim of this paper is to discuss Czesław Miłosz’s and Witold Gombrowicz’ views on the role of individual, its relationship with reality and the others. Both authors can be seen as adversaries in the debate (one of the most important in the XXth-century humanities) between the individual agency and the involvement in the community. The debate concerned mostly the consequences of the philosophy of the self (mostly in phenomenology and existentialism). Fascinated with phenomenology and existentialism, Gombrowicz argued that they are an important turn in the Western thought, for it is thanks to them that the human condition might be described in the most adequate way so far. He followed partisans of phenomenology in their conviction according to which it is the individual that constitutes reality as the world is given to the individual for interpretation, so it is the individual that makes sense of its surrounding. Conversely, Czesław Miłosz rather dissociated himself from this kind of beliefs, mainly while being involved in the debate with Gombrowicz. He pointed flows in Gombrowicz’ convictions and its consequences derived from the acceptance of the point of view which, in his opinion, leads to radical subjectivism and breaking of the inter-personal relations.

Review of Dariusz Kubok's book: Truth and Opinions. A Study of the Philosophy of Parmenides of Elea. Katowice: University of Silesia Press, 2004.

Review of Bogdan Dembiński's book: Plato's Late Science. The Relationship Between Ontology and Mathematics. Katowice: University of Silesia Press, 2003.

Review of the book by Alicja Helman and Jacek Ostaszewski: History of Film Thought. Textbook. Gdańsk: Słowo/obraz/terytoria Publishing House, 2007.

Review of Józef Tischner's book: Journeys to the Land of Philosophers. Krakow: Znak Publishing House, 2008