Time and Space in Witkiewicz’s Metaphysics and Ontological Priority of Individuals in the Light of Contemporary Analytical Metaphysics

Abstract

This paper reconstructs two distinct interpretations of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz’s philosophy of time and space and his concept of space-time, absolutist and relational. According to the first one mentioned, both space and time exist independently of individuals, whereas the other assumes the ontological priority of the individuals. The interpretations are associated with variants of priority monism and priority pluralism drawn from the contemporary analytic metaphysics. I argue that the absolutist interpretation ends up in a contradiction, irrespective of which of the two positions is accepted. The conclusion is drawn that it is the relational interpretation of Witkiewicz’s philosophy of time and space that should be preferred.