Narcyz Łubnicki as the Founder of the Theory of Knowledge, Logic, Methodology, and History of Philosophy at the UMCS

Abstract

The text presents Narcyz Łubnicki (1904–1988) as the founder of the philosophical community at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. It discusses his pre-war philosophical stance and his achievements during his studies at the Free Polish University (WWP) and the Sorbonne. It also characterises his post-war organisational activities at UMCS, the creation of departments and institutes, and the Polish Philosophical Society. The research topics of Narcyz Łubnicki in the fields of theory of knowldge, logic, methodology of science, history of European philosophy, descriptive ethics and philosophical anthropology are analysed. His main works in the form of monographs and articles, as well as a selection of texts popularising philosophy and science, are discussed. The main features of Łubnicki's philosophical stance are characterised: rationalism and methodological empiricism, anti-dogmatism and anti-absolutism, in particular postulatism as a principle of argumentation and justification of philosophical claims and theses.