Logical Analysis against Superstitions: Józef M. Bocheński on the Social Role of Philosophy

• Authors: Brożek Anna
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

According to Józef M. Bocheński, philosophers should analyze and not moralize. Bocheński also wrote that the philosophers’ aim is to battle with superstitions. The present paper concerns the question of how philosophical analysis may serve this aim. In the first part of the paper, the kinds and tools of philosophical analysis are presented. In particular, the objects of philosophical analysis (concepts and statements) as well as logical “instruments” of analysis are discussed. In the second part, the concept of superstition (or prejudice) is analyzed. Taking Bocheński’s definition as the point of departure, some essential distinctions involved in this concept are explained, for instance the distinction between truthfulness of a statement and somebody’s acceptance of a statement, and the distinction between a false statement and an obviously false statement. Next, the mechanism of fighting against superstitions by means of analysis is shown using examples taken from Bocheński’s book Sto zabobonów [One Hundred Superstitions] (1987). Superstitions connected with authority, patriotism, and tolerance are analyzed.

Keywords

EN

authority; logical analysis; patriotism; superstitions; tolerance

• Publisher: University of Warsaw, Institute of Philosophy
• Journal: Edukacja Filozoficzna
• Year: 2020
• Issue: 70
• Pages: 39-57

Contributors

author

Brożek Anna

References

• Będkowski M., Brożek A., Chybińska A., Ivanyk S., Traczykowski D., Analysis – Paraphrase – Axiomatisation: Philosophical Methods in the Lvov-Warsaw School, in: Formal and Informal Methods in Philosophy, eds. M. Będkowski, A. Brożek, A. Chybińska, S. Ivanyk, D. Traczykowski, Leiden 2020, pp. 56–74.
• Bocheński J.M., An Analysis of Authority, in: Authority, ed. F.J. Adelmann, The Hague 1974, pp. 56–85.
• Bocheński J.M., Między logiką a wiarą. Rozmowa z Janem Parysem [Between Logic and Faith: An Interview with Jan Parys], Montricher 1988.
• Bocheński J.M., Sto zabobonów. Krótki filozoficzny słownik zabobonów [One Hundred Superstitions: A Brief Philosophical Dictionary of Superstitions], Warszawa 1988.
• Bocheński J.M., Was ist Autorität? Einführung in die Logik der Autorität, Freiburg im Breisgau 1974 [French ed.: Qu’est-ce que l’autorité? Introducion à la logique de l’autorité, Fribourg 1979; Polish ed.: Co to jest autorytet?, in: Logika i filozofia. Wybór pism [Logic and Philosophy: Selection of Works], Warszawa 1993, pp. 187–324].
• Brożek A., Bocheński on Authority, “Studies in East European Thought” 2013, Vol. 65, No. 1–2, pp. 115–133, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-013-9175-9.
• Brożek A., Będkowski M., Chybińska A., Ivanyk S., Traczykowski D., Anti-Irrationalism: Philosophical Methods in the Lvov-Warsaw School, forthcoming. The Encyclopedia of Superstitions, ed. R. Webster, Woodbury, MN 2008.
• Lechniak M., J.M. Bocheński’s Method of Philosophical Analysis and Contemporary Applied Ontology, “Studies in East European Thought” 2013, Vol. 65, No. 1–2, pp. 17–26.
• Łukasiewicz J., O znaczeniu i potrzebach logiki matematycznej (1929) [On the Importance and Needs of Mathematical Logic], in: J. Łukasiewicz, Logika i metafizyka [Logic and Metaphysics], ed. J.J. Jadacki, Warszawa 1998, pp. 424–436.
• Mały słownik języka polskiego [Little Dictionary of the Polish Language], ed. E. Sobol, Warszawa 2020. The New Penguin English Dictionary, ed. R. Allen, London 2001.