Did Kazimierz Twardowski deal with Immanuel Kant’s philosophy? A Kazimierz Twardowski’s summary of the Kantian

Abstract

The aim of this research project is to present Polish reception of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. We particularly consider the controversy, discussions and disputes over Polish translations of the works by Kant made by Polish researchers in the years 1795-1918. We wish to prove that the translation efforts then made  and the resulting polemic were equally valuable and parallel to the research and discussions in Germany. They resembled the disputes between Vaihinger and Witt, or Erdmann and Arnoldt. Polish researchers dealing with Kant’s philosophy (Bornstein, Struve, Piątkowski, Chmielowski, Wartenberg, Bad) followed the paths of Vaihinger, Adickes, Erdmann and other German thinkers, popularizing and developing arrangements made by them. They followed the slogan “back to Kant” thus making the translation a priority. The first Polish translation of works by Kant was Perpetual peace project: A Philosophical Sketch in the translation by Bychowiec and Bielski (1795/1796). After these publications, already in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, other Polish translations of the works by Kant were created consecutively. The most important was A Critique of Pure Reason, the first complete translation  by Chmielowski, issued in 1904. The last of the old Polish translations of the works by Kant was issued in 1918, the year in which Poland regained independence. It was Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Present Itself as a Science, and  the translation was made by Bornstein. After that, no other Polish translation of the works by Kant appeared before the World War II outbreak. This does not mean that Kant’s philosophy in interwar Poland was forgotten. It affected the way we  developed philosophy, especially between two Kantian events:  the 100th anniversary of Kant’s death in 1904 and the 200th anniversary of Kant’s birth in 1924. The assimilation of Kant’s philosophy in Poland was related to proper reading of Kant’s criticism, the reception Kant’s philosophy in Lviv philosophical school, as well as the establishment of the Polish Philosophical Society in Lviv. This research project consists of four works. The first one is devoted to the controversy around the first two Polish translations of Kant’s Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Present Itself as a Science. The discussion took place in “Warsaw Philosophical Review” and “Lviv Philosophical Movement”. The second work concerns the controversy around the first Polish translation of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. The most important voices include Struve’s correspondence with Chmielowski, Struve’s review and voice in this matter published in “Warsaw Courier”, “Appendix to the Lviv Courier” and “Warsaw Philosophical Review”, and Mahrburg’s review in the “Warsaw Book”. In the third one, we describe the pre-war Polish disputes concerning Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason. It concerns the translation by Kierski (1911), and Bornstein (1911). The discussions in “Lviv Philosophical Movement”, “Warsaw Book” and “Warsaw Philosophical Review” involved Bad, Żółtowski and Zieleńczyk. The fourth work contains a description of minor, but equally important disputes around other Polish translations of Kant’s works. We also consider  Polish translations of Dreams of a Spirit-Seer, illustrated by Metaphysics and Metaphysics of Morals Justification