Two Generations of the Lvov-Warsaw School: Tadeusz Czeżowski (1889-1981) and Zbigniew Jordan (1911-1977)

Abstract

The article focuses on the hitherto unpublished correspondence between Tadeusz Czeżowski and the emigrant philosopher Zbigniew Jordan, preserved in manuscripts in the archives of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Their correspondence lasted for nearly 40 years and constitutes an evidence of the fact that even the forced post-war emigration did not break the ties between philosophers associated with the Lvov-Warsaw School. Although Czeżowski and Jordan belonged to two different generations of this school, their shared scholarly interests and akin political views made their relation – though only conducted by means of correspondence – unique in a sense,  as even the interference of communist censorship could not affect its character.  Owing to it, Jordan showed an excellent orientation in the achievements of Czeżowski himself as well as of other representatives of the Lvov-Warsaw school. It was mainly thanks to this correspondence that he was able to act as an ‘ambassador’ of Polish philosophy in the world and at the same time the first historian of the Lvov-Warsaw school. The role of both thinkers in the history of Polish philosophy is worth quoting, especially in the context of the 40th anniversary of Czeżowski's death which falls in 2021, and the 110th anniversary of Jordan's birth.