Prof. Leszek Nowak (1943–2009) – Founder of the Seminar
Leszek Nowak devoted his life to philosophical inquiry, pursuing it with intellectual rigor and independence. He consciously distanced himself from the image of the philosopher as a moral guide or sage – someone who not only explains the world, but also prescribes values and ready-made ways of realizing them.
He was educated within the tradition of the Lvov–Warsaw School. His academic supervisor during his law studies and doctoral dissertation in law was Zygmunt Ziembiński, a student of Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz. The supervisor of his master’s thesis in philosophy, defended at the University of Warsaw, was Janina Kotarbińska.
In the early period of his academic career, Prof. Nowak focused on methodology, in particular on the development of the idealizational theory of science (1969–1977). This work resulted in two seminal books: “Założenia marksistowskiej filozofii nauki” (1974) and “Wstęp do idealizacyjnej teorii nauki” (1977). The formulation of the idealizational conception of science established Leszek Nowak as one of the most influential philosophers in postwar Poland. Already in the 1970s, he founded two publication series: “Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities” (since 1975) and “Poznańskie Studia z Filozofii Nauki” (1976–2015). Both series entered international circulation and became important platforms for philosophical exchange.
Sensitive to the social inequalities produced by socialist systems, Leszek Nowak extended his research to a critical reconstruction of non-Marxian historical materialism. At its center was the concept of threefold class domination as a defining structural feature of socialist societies. For pursuing this line of inquiry and for his involvement in activities critical of socialist ideology, he was interned from December 1981 to December 1982, and later dismissed from his position at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań in 1985.
After being reinstated at the Institute of Philosophy of Adam Mickiewicz University, Prof. Nowak undertook systematic work on an original metaphysical project developed largely in intellectual solitude. This project, known as negativistic unitarian metaphysics, became the focus of his final years. Its main results were published in three volumes entitled “Byt i Myśl”. Several years after his death, a previously unpublished fourth volume – “Podmiot i system kulturowy” (Poznań: UAM, 2019) – was released.
For further reading on the life and work of Prof. Leszek Nowak, we recommend the following publications:
Brzeziński J., Klawiter A., Łastowski K. (2009). Wspomnienie o Leszku Nowaku. Nauka, 4, 27–34; [https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/703630.pdf].
Brzeziński J., Klawiter A., Kuipers T. A. F., Łastowski K., Paprzycka K., Przybysz P. (red.). (2002). Odwaga filozofowania. Leszkowi Nowakowi w darze. Poznań, Wydawnictwo Fundacji Humaniora.
We also encourage you to watch the documentary film from the series „Wybitne postacie Uniwersytetu” (Outstanding Figures of the University), devoted to Professor Leszek Nowak:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdPdyFWPnpo
