Zygmunt Zawirski, his life and work
Subtitle: with selected writings on time, logic and the methodology of science
By: Irena Szumilewicz-Lachman ; edited by Robert S. Cohen ; translations by Feliks Lachman ; with the assistance of Bettina Bergo.
Contributors: Zawirski, Zygmunt, 1882-1948.
Series: Boston studies in the philosophy of science ;; 157
Publisher: Kluwer Academic
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Dordrecht; Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 381
Subjects: Zawirski, Zygmunt, 1882-1948.; Science -- Methodology.; Science -- Philosophy.; Science -- Poland -- History.; Scientists -- Poland -- Biography.
Description: Zygmunt Zawirski (1882-1948) - one of the most eminent and original Polish philosophers - belonged to the Lwow-Warsaw School (LWS) which left an indelible trace in logic, semiotics and philosophy of science. LWS was founded in 1895 by K. Twardowski, a disciple of Brentano, in the spirit of clarity, realism and analytic philosophy. LWS was more than 25 years older than the Vienna Circle (VC).

This belies, inter alia, the not infrequently repeated statement that LWS was one of the many centers initiated by the Vienna Circle. The achievements of LWS in logic are well recognized, while those relating to philosophy of science are almost unknown. It is in order to fill this gap that some fragments of Zawirski's papers are presented, dealing mainly with causality, determinism, indeterminism and the philosophical implications of relativity and quantum mechanics. His magnum opus 'L'Evolution de la Notion du Temps' (Eugenio Rignano Prize, 1933) is devoted to time.

It is one of the best books written on this subject, and by no means an obsolescent one. Zawirski took into account all the issues which are at present widely discussed. The real value of these achievements can be understood better today than in his own day.
Notes: "List of Zawirski's main publications": p. 375-377.
Includes bibliographical references and index.