Problem jednostki ludzkiej w systemie społecznym Józefa Supińskiego

Abstract

In his theory, Józef Supiński — the father of Polish sociology — has many times expressed his interests in the problems connected with the issue of human being. According to his concept, an individual is subject to the general and universal laws of nature. Such an approach — with an apparent mechanistic concept of an individual and his social life — can be found in anthropological considerations of both ancient and contemporary materialists. Józef Supiński goes further: a human being is not only determined biologically but socially as well. The basic norms of social life are work and learning (aspiration for knowledge). Both work and the aspiration for knowledge are characteristic of a human being; i.e. are the attributes of human species. The anthropological conception of man presented by J. Supiński corresponded with the view on the nature of the reality of positivism, the new epoch emerging in those days in Poland.