PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOURSE OF MODERN UKRAINE: OWN EXPERIENCE AND POLISH INFLUENCES

Polish influences on the development of Ukrainian philosophy are indisputable, but they need a structural analysis: what was the motivation for these influences, how they were carried out, who was the leader of these influences, what was the greatest influence in Ukrainian philosophy. The study provided the following answers to these questions: the motivation for Polish influence was, among other things, the desire to support an independent Ukrainian state, culture and philosophy; these influences were exercised both consciously by Polish philosophers themselves and by the interest of Ukrainian philosophers in Polish achievements in philosophy, in particular in philosophical terminology; the main leaders of Polish philosophical influences were Polish and Ukrainian philosophers, as well as authors of translations of philosophical works from Polish into Ukrainian; the spheres of the history of philosophy, logic, philosophy of education, political philosophy and some others were most influenced in Ukrainian philosophy, that can be judged, in particular, by the works of Polish philosophers translated from Polish into Ukrainian. Polish philosophy simplifies the path of Ukrainian philosophy to philosophical classics, which is an advantage, and at the same time using Polish philosophy can limit the desire of Ukrainian philosophers to seek their own solutions and in particular their own philosophical terminology, which can already be a significant drawback. The prospect of interaction between Ukrainian and Polish philosophies should be their mutual influence and full inclusion of Polish and Ukrainian philosophical communities in the world philosophical discourse. Key words: philosophical discourse, philosophical translation, Ukrainophilia, Polish influences, national philosophical dictionary, philosophical community.

Evolutionary Theism of Henryk Levittoux in Polish and International Context

Henryk Levittoux (1822-1879) is currently best known as the model of Jan Matejko who posed for him as Nicolaus Copernicus. Less known, however, is his concept of evolution, which he presented as a part of his philosophical system and which caused a heated debates among Polish intellectuals in the second half of the nineteenth century. Levittoux's theory, which was trying to combine religious dogma with the achievements of contemporary science, breaks out of the popular historical narrative, in which it is assumed that the discussions about the evolutionism were dominated by creationists and pro-Darwinian positivists. The aim of this article will be to present Levittoux's theory of evolution and to show how he combined the ideas of evolution with the concept of Divine creation. Secondary focus of the article will be to place his theory in the broader context of scientific and philosophical changes, that took place in the nineteenth century. Attention will be paid to the way in which the professionalization of science affected natural philosophers, such as Levittoux, who were refusing to accept the rigorous positivist methodology. It will also be shown how Levittoux’s evolutionism became part of the so-called "developmental evolutionism" which promoted a completely different vision of evolution than Darwinism. The non-Darwinian nature of Levittoux's evolutionism was inspired by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s theory. Levittoux adopted his idea that species evolve thanks to the environmental stimulus which affects their ontogenesis. However, this idea will be extrapolated in Levittoux’s writings to the whole Earth. So, he will conclude that the Earth is the equivalent of the womb in which, like the fetus, all Life develops. All changes of species, in his opinion, are additionally controlled by a universal principle which he called the law of attraction-repulsion. This law was also the tool by which God created the world. The Levittoux’s concept is one of the first attempts to create a synthesis of evolutionism and religious thought in the Polish post-Darwinian philosophy of nature. Levittoux, as a continuator of Saint-Hilaire's thought, is also an interesting example of an attempt to instill in Polish philosophy French evolutionist thought.

Dialectical logic or logical dialectics? The Polish discussion on the principle of non-contradiction (1946–1957)

The discussion on the principle of non-contradiction (1946–1957) between Marxist and non-Marxist philosophers was one of the major philosophical discussions in Polish philosophy of this period. In my text, I carefully reconstruct this discussion and outline its relation to Soviet debates on the subject. I show that the change in Schaff’s position happened in the early 1950s under the combined influence of the Lvov–Warsaw School and the changes in the official Soviet position regarding formal logic. I discuss the aftermath following Schaff’s change in attitude towards the analytic tradition for the development of Polish philosophy, as well as the critique of this change by Jarosław Ładosz. In my reconstruction of the latter, I focus on the problem of the historical development of science. I refer to Ilyenkov’s critique of Schaff, opposing synchronic (“positivist”) and diachronic (“dialectical”) concepts of knowledge. As I argue, these opposing concepts of science can be seen as a genuine issue at stake in the Polish discussion as well, especially in the polemic between Schaff and Ładosz.

Plato in Poland 1800–1950

The book attempts to make Polish Plato reception available to non-Polish readers. The years 1800-1950 cover essential phaenomena in modern Polish philosophy, for they encompass periods of reception of Western philosophical trends and the development of the Lvov-Warsaw school, neo-Messianism and neo-Scholasticism. The book discusses how each of these phaenomena contributed to interpreting Plato. The material is divided into three main parts focused on various types of reception.

The term “predstavlennia” in philosophical texts and in its translations

The article is devoted to the terminological problem of adequate Ukrainian translation of the Polish term "przedstawienie", which is a generic term to denote visual and abstract works of human intelligence. In the available Ukrainian texts, visual works are usually denoted by the term "ujavlennia", abstract – by the term "poniattia". However, these two species terms still do not have in the practice of Ukrainian word usage an established generic term that generalizes them. In general, there are two versions of the Ukrainian translation of the term "przedstawienie": "predstavlennia" (representation) and "ujavlennia" (idea). Both options from a formal-grammatical point of view have both advantages and disadvantages. Their comparative consideration, involving the experience of using these terms in Polish (for the translation of their English, German and other equivalents) – is the main content of this article. The causes and consequences of differences in the use of the term "representation" in Ukrainian dictionaries – both encyclopedic and specialized, linguistic and psychological - are compared and analyzed. The author attempts to analyze the philosophical aspects of the use of the term "representation" in its relation to representations as concrete (visual) representations and concepts as abstract (non-visual) representations. Analyzing the influences on Ukrainian terminology from the Polish and Russian languages, the author argues in favor of the actual Ukrainian etymology of the term "representation" as a generic term. The Ukrainian language often involves the interchangeable use of the terms "predstavlennia" (representation) and "ujavlennia" (idea) as generic. Also in recent years, there has been a discussion in Ukrainian science about the possible use of the term "image" as a derivative of the term "image". Mostly Russian language influences as a basis for such use are proved. However, arguments are given regarding the priority of using the term "representation" as a generic language in the Ukrainian language. This is closer to the Polish language. The author presents the main arguments of the philosophical discussion on the term "representation", which took place in Polish philosophy.

On the Absence of Eco-phenomenology in Poland

The paper aims to identify and explain the absence of eco-phenomenological perspective in Polish philosophy. Eco-phenomenology, which emerged as the specialized area of phenomenological movement in the 1980s, explores relations between human beings and nature. The lack of it in Poland, as the paper argues, is not only due to the specific political situation, but primarily because of the great impact of Jozef Tischner’s “philosophy of drama,” which has strongly anthropocentric implications.