Pozytywistyczne dylematy. Szkice o problemach literatury, filozofii i nauki

Abstract

The book contains six essays on complex relations between literature, philosophy and science in Polish positivist culture. The author concentrates on certain writers and publicists who were engaged in Polish positivism movement: Bolesław Prus, Piotr Chmielowski, Eliza Orzeszkowa and Aleksander Świętochowski. In their works they thoroughly discussed the most important metaphysical and epistemological problems of the second half of the nineteenth century, e.g. reality, scientific knowledge, nature, determinism, evolution, causality, necessity, an investiga-tion of truth. The Polish positivism, whose development occured between 1864 and 1890, was influenced by many foreign philosopers and scientists. For instance, Bolesław Prus’ novel Emancypantki (Suffragettes), published in 1894, included some metaphysical concepts by James Clerk Maxwell and by William Thomson (lord Kelvin). The most eminent positivist critic, Piotr Chmielowski, tried to popularize John Tyndall’s The Belfast Address, delivered in 1874. In the Polish positivism relations between humanities and science were multifarious and had many philosophical implications typical of European modern culture. The book provides a new per-spective on the complexity of those relations.