The achievements of the Polish school of logic

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521591041.033

30 - The achievements of the Polish school of logic

from 8 - Logic and philosophy: the analytic programme

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008

Jan Woleński

Edited by

Thomas Baldwin

Show author details

Jan Woleński: Affiliation:
Jagiellonian University
Thomas Baldwin: Affiliation:
University of York

Book contents

Get access

Summary

INTRODUCTION

In the most narrow sense, the Polish school of logic may be understood, as the Warsaw school of mathematical logic with Jan Łukasiewicz, Stanisław Leśniewski, and Alfred Tarski as the leading figures. However, valuable contributions to mathematical logic were also made outside Warsaw, in particular by Leon Chwistek. Thus, the Polish school of logic sensu largo also comprises logicians not belonging to the Warsaw school of logic. The third interpretation is still broader. If logic is not restricted only to mathematical logic, several Polish philosophers who were strongly influenced by formal logical results, for example Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz and Tadeusz Kotarbiński, can be included in the Polish school of logic sensu largissimo. Polish work on logic can therefore encompass a variety of topics, from the ‘hard’ foundations of mathematics (e.g. inaccessible cardinals, the structure of the real line, or equivalents of the axiom of choice) through formal logic, semantics, and philosophy of science to ideas in ontology and epistemology motivated by logic or analysed by its tools. Since the development of logic in Poland is a remarkable historical phenomenon, I shall first discuss its social history, especially the rise of the Warsaw school. Then I shall describe the philosophical views in question, the most important and characteristic formal results of Polish logicians, their research in the history of logic, and applications of logic to philosophy. My discussion will be selective: in particular I will omit most results in the ‘hard’ foundations of mathematics.

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Philosophy 1870–1945 , pp. 401 - 416

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521591041.033 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ajdukiewicz, K. (1974). Pragmatic Logic, Warsaw and Dordrecht: The Polish Scientific Publishers–Reidel.CrossRef Google Scholar

Ajdukiewicz, K. (1978). The Scientific World-Perspective and Other Essays, 1931–1963, ed. Giedymin, J., Dordrecht: Reidel.Google Scholar

Bar-Hillel, Z. and Fraenkel, A. (1958). Foundations of Set Theory, Amsterdam: North-Holland.Google Scholar

Chwistek, L. (1948). The Limits of Science: Outline of Logic and of the Methodology of the Exact Sciences, London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar

Coniglione, F., Poli, R., and Woleński, J. (eds.) (1993). Polish Scientific Philosophy: The Lvov-Warsaw School, Amsterdam: Rodoapi.Google Scholar

Czeżowski, T. (1999). Selected Papers, ed. Gumański, L., Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar

Jaśkowski, S. (1934). On the Rules of Supposition in Formal Logic, Warsaw: Nakładem Seminarium Filozoficznego Wydzialn Matematyczno-Przyrodnicznego Universy tetr Warszawskeigo. Repr. 1967 in McCall, S. (ed.), Polish Logic 1920–37, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar

Jordan, Z. (1945). The Development of Mathematical Logic and of Logical Positivism in Poland between Two Wars, Oxford: Oxford University Press; repr. in McCall, 1967.Google Scholar

Kijania-Placek, K. and Woleński, J. (eds.) (1988). The Lvov-Warsaw School and Contemporary Philosophy, Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar

Kotarbiński, T. (1966). Gnosiology. The Scientific Approach to the Theory of Knowledge, Wroclaw: Ossolineum and Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar

Leśniewski, S. (1988). Lecture Notes in Logic, ed. Srzednicki, J. T. J. and Stachniak, Z., Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar

Leśniewski, S. (1992). Collected Works, vols. I–II, ed. Surma, S. J., Srzednicki, J. T. J., Barnett, D. I., and Rickey, V. T., Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar

Łukasiewicz, J. and Tarski, A. (1930). ‘Untersuchungen über den Aussagen Kalkül’, Comptes Rendus des Séances de la Société des Sciences et des Lettres de Varsovie (Classe 3) 23 Trans. ‘Investigations into the Sentential Calculus’ in Lstrok;ukasiewicz, 1970 and Tarski, 1956.Google Scholar

Łukasiewicz, J. (1957). Aristotle’s Syllogistic from the Standpoint of Modern Formal Logic, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar

Łukasiewicz, J. (1970). Selected Works, ed. Borkowski, L., Warsaw: Polish Scientific Publishers and Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar

Luschei, E. (1962). The Logical Systems of Leśniewski, Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar

McCall, S. (ed.) (1967). Polish Logic 1920–1939, Papers by Ajdukiewicz, , Chwistek, , Jaśkowski, , Jordan, , Leśniewski, , Łukasiewicz, , SŁupecki, , Sobociński, , and Wajsberg, , Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar

Mostowski, A. (1948). Logika matematyczna (Mathematical Logic), Warsaw: Monografie Matematyczne.Google Scholar

Mostowski, A. (1967). ‘Tarski, Alfred’ in Edwards, P. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. VIII, New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar

Mostowski, A. (1979). ‘Foundational Studies’, Selected Works, vols. I–II, Warsaw: Polish Scientific Publishers and Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar

Sierpiński, W. (1965). Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers, Warsaw: Polish Scientific Publishers.Google Scholar

Sinisi, V. and Woleński, J. (eds.) (1994). The Heritage of Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz, Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar

Skolimowski, H. (1967). Polish Analytical Philosophy, London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Srzednicki, J. T. J. and Stachniak, Z. (eds.) (1998). Leśniewski’s System: Protothetic, Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRef Google Scholar

Srzednicki, J. T. J., Rickey, V. F., and Czelakowski, J. (eds.) (1984). Leśniewski’s Systems: Ontology and Mereology, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff and WrocŁaw: Ossolineum.CrossRef Google Scholar

Tarski, A. (1956). Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics Papers from 1923–1939, Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2nd edn 1984, Corcoran, J., Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.Google Scholar

Tarski, A. (1986). Collected Papers, vols. I–IV, ed. Givant, R. S. and McKenzie, R. M., Basle: Birkhaüser Verlag.Google Scholar

Twardowski, K. (1977). On the Content and Object of Presentation. A Psychological Investigation, The Hague: Nijhoff.CrossRef Google Scholar

Twardowski, K. (1999). Selected Philosophical Papers, ed. Brandl, J. and Woleński, J., Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar

Wajsberg, M. (1977). Logical Works, ed. Surma, S. J., Wrocław: Ossolineum.Google Scholar

Woleński, J. (1989). Logic and Philosophy in the Lvov-Warsaw School, Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRef Google Scholar

Woleński, J. (ed.) (1990). Kotarbiński: Logic, Semantics and Ontology, Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRef Google Scholar

Zawirski, Z. (1994). Selected Writings on Time, Logic and the Methodology of Science, ed. Szumilewicz-Lachman, I., Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar