This collection consists of texts by four authors—Narcyz Łubnicki, Ludwik Fleck, Leon Koj, and Zdzisław Cackowski—who formed the first two generations of philosophy at the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University. They deal with the problems of human cognitive processes and activities, the structure of everyday and scientific knowledge, including its justification and normativity, extensional and intensional logic, semiotics and pragmatics, as well as the issue of human experience considered from the perspective of ethics and philosophical anthropology. The reader will learn about the history of the initiation and development of the science-oriented, anti-dogmatic, postulative method, and pragmatic directions of philosophical research conducted over half a century.

Contents

1 Introduction: Narcyz Łubnicki, Ludwik Fleck, Leon Koj, and Zdzisław Cackowski

Four Founders of Philosophical Research at the Maria Curie–Skłodowska University  Marek Hetmański, Jan Pomorski, Jacek Paśniczek, Zbysław Muszyński, and Józef Dębowski

Part 1 Philosophy of Science and Methodology

2 Key Aspects of the Positivist Worldview
Narcyz Łubnicki

3 How Did the Bordet-Wassermann Test Emerge? And How Does Any Scientific Discovery Come About?
Ludwik Fleck

4 Dissolving Metaphysical Problems by Applying the Postulate Method
Narcyz Łubnicki

Part 2 Theory of Knowledge and Epistemology

5 On Ultimate Justification
Narcyz Łubnicki

6 On the Justification of Beliefs
Leon Koj

7 The Theory of Knowledge: Its Subject Matter and Scope. Knowledge as Fact, Necessity, Possibility
Zdzisław Cackowski

8 Continuity and Discontinuity in Human Cognition
Zdzisław Cackowski

9 Epistemological Obstacle
Zdzisław Cackowski

Part 3 Semantics, Semiotics and Philosophical Logic

10 Introduction to Intensional Semantics
Leon Koj

11 Disputes Surrounding Extensional Semantics
Leon Koj

12 An Event-Based Conception of Signs
Leon Koj

13 The Uniqueness of Human Action: Mediation, Problem-Orientation, Symbolism
Zdzisław Cackowski

14 The Material Nature of Signs and the Function of Meaning
Zdzisław Cackowski

Part 4 Axiology and Philosophical Anthropology

15 Epistemological Issues in Ethics
Narcyz Łubnicki

16 Action, Counteraction, Valuation
Zdzisław Cackowski

17 The Definition of Obligation
Leon Koj

18 Pain, Suffering and Human Consciousness
Zdzisław Cackowski

Index of Terms and Names