Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz (Polish: [vwadswaf tatarkevit]; 3 April 1886, Warsaw 4 April 1980, Warsaw) was a Polish philosopher, historian of philosophy, historian of art, esthetician, and ethicist.[1] Contents 1 2 3 4 5 6 Life As he describes in his 1979 Memoirs, it was a chance encounter with a male relative, whose height made him stand out above the crowd at a Krakw railroad station, upon the outbreak of World War I that led Tatarkiewicz to spend the war years in Warsaw. [2] There he began his career as a lecturer in philosophy, teaching at a girls' school on Mokotowska Street, across the street from where Jzef Pisudski was to reside during his first days after World War I. Tatarkiewicz began his higher education at Warsaw University. When it was closed by the Russian Imperial authorities in 1905, he was forced to continue his education abroad in Marburg, where he studied from 1907 to 1910.[3] During World War I, when the Polish University of Warsaw was opened under the sponsorship of the occupying Germans who wanted to win Polish support for their war effort Tatarkiewicz directed its philosophy department in 191519. In 191921 he was professor at Stefan Batory University in Wilno, in 192123 at the University of Pozna, and in 192361 again at the University of Warsaw. In 1930 he became a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences.[4] During World War II, risking his life, he conducted underground lectures in Germanoccupied Warsaw[5] (one of the auditors was Czesaw Miosz).[6] After the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising (AugustOctober 1944) he again consciously risked his life when retrieving a manuscript from the gutter, where a German soldier had hurled it (this and other materials were later published as a book, in English translation titled Analysis of Happiness).[7] Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz died the day after his 94th birthday. In his Memoirs, published shortly before, he recalled having been ousted from his University chair by a (politically connected) former student. Characteristically, he saw even that indignity as a blessing in disguise, as it gave him freedom from academic duties and the leisure to pursue research and writing.[8] And in sum it is a good existence: that of a retired old professor. He still has something to do, but is under no compulsion. He only voluntarily imposes compulsions on himself. He has time: at any time of day, he can go for a walk in the parkas long as his legs will still carry him. Equally, or even more, important is this: Life Work See also Notes References External links

he no longer has ambition, he has ceased to be a rival to others. He is no inconvenience to others, they have no need to fear him, they have no reason to envy him: in this situationwithout opponents, rivals and enemieslife is considerably more tolerable.[9] Tatarkiewicz reflected philosophically that at all crucial junctures of his life he had failed to foresee events, many of them tragic, but that this had probably been for the better, since he could not have altered them anyway.[10] Work Tatarkiewicz belonged to the interbellum LwwWarsaw school of logic, created by Kazimierz Twardowski, which gave reborn Poland many outstanding scholars and scientists: philosophers, logicians, psychologists, sociologists, and organizers of academia.[11] Tatarkiewicz educated generations of Polish philosophers, estheticians and art historians, as well as a multitude of interested laymen.[12] He posthumously continues to do so through his famous History of Philosophy and numerous other works. In his final years, Tatarkiewicz devoted considerable attention to securing translations of his major works. Of the works listed below, his History of Philosophy and Memoirs remain to be translated into English. History of Philosophy, three volumes (Polish: Historia filozofii, vols. 1-2, 8th ed. 1978; vol. 3, 5th ed. 1978). History of Aesthetics, three volumes (vols. 1-2, 1970; vol. 3, 1974; Polish: Historia estetyki, vols. 1-2, 1962; vol. 3, 1967). Analysis of Happiness (1976; Polish: O Szczciu [On Happiness], 1962). A History of Six [aesthetic] Ideas (1980; Polish: Dzieje szeciu poj, 2nd ed. 1976). On Perfection (English translation by Christopher Kasparek serialized in Dialectics and Humanism: the Polish Philosophical Quarterly, vol. VI, no. 4 [autumn 1979] vol. VIII, no. 2 [spring 1981]; Polish: O doskonaoci, 1976; Kasparek's translation has subsequently also appeared in the book: Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, On perfection, Warsaw University Press, Center of Universalism, 1992, pp. 951; the book is a collection of papers by and about the late Professor Tatarkiewicz). Memoirs (Polish: Wspomnienia, 1979). See also History of the concept of creativity History of philosophy in Poland Perfection List of Poles Notes ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ "Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz," Encyklopedia Polski, p. 686. Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Wspomnienia (Memoirs), p. 144. Marek Jaworski, Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, pp. 2636. "Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz," Encyklopedia powszechna PWN, vol. 4, p. 412. Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Wspomnienia (Memoirs), p. 16568. Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Wspomnienia (Memoirs), p. 171.

^ * Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Analysis of Happiness, p. xi. ^ Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Wspomnienia (Memoirs), p. 119. ^ Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Wspomnienia (Memoirs), pp. 17273. ^ Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Wspomnienia (Memoirs), p. 181. ^ Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Zarys dziejw filozofii w Polsce (A Brief History of Philosophy in Poland), pp. 3132. ^ "Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz," Encyklopedia powszechna PWN, vol. 4, p. 412. References Teresa i [i.e., "and"] Wadysaw Tatarkiewiczowie [i.e., "Tatarkiewicz"], Wspomnienia (Memoirs), Warsaw, Pastwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1979, ISBN 8300102-8. Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Analysis of Happiness, Warsaw, PWN, The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1976, ISBN 90-247-1807-4. Marek Jaworski, Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Warsaw, Interpress, 1975. Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Zarys dziejw filozofii w Polsce (A Brief History of Philosophy in Poland), [in the series:] Historia nauki polskiej w monografiach (History of Polish Learning in Monographs), [volume] XXXII, Krakw, Polska Akademia Umiejtnoci (Polish Academy of Learning), 1948. This monograph draws from pertinent sections in earlier editions of the author's Historia filozofii (History of Philosophy). "Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz," Encyklopedia Polski (Encyclopedia of Poland), Krakw, Kluszczyski, 1996, ISBN 83-86328-60-6, p. 686. "Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz," Encyklopedia powszechna PWN (PWN Universal Encyclopedia), vol. 4, Warsaw, Pastwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1976.