Starania Wincentego Lutosławskiego o krakowską katedrę filozofii

When applying for a chair of philosophy at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow in 1891, Wincenty Lutosławski had already published a number of important articles as well as a doctoral dissertation, which he defended at Dorpat University. While working at the University of Kazan, Lutosławski had been engaged in several research sojourns abroad, including one in London. He had also made contact with another Polish specialist on Plato’s philosophy, Stanisław Pawlicki, who gave a positive referral on the publication of Lutoslawski’s work On Plato’s logic, part I by Akademia Umiejtno[ci (Academy of Science) in Cracow (1891); the subsequent conflict between the two scholars stemmed from differences in world-view and differences in scholarly views relating to methodology and interpretation. The application by Lutosławski, despite being supported by the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, Maurycy Staszewski, the only philosopher sitting on the faculty council, was rejected, and the majority of faculty council opted for Pawlicki, a renowned professor of the Faculty of Theology. Lutosławski continued to pursue his scholarly career abroad, publishing in several European languages, until the publication in 1897 of his famous work on Plato (The Origin and Growth of Plato s Logic). Meanwhile Pawlicki, burdened both by his teaching responsibilities and the results of the research by Lutosławski, was not able to complete (before his death in 1916) his History of ancient philosophy, the intention of doing which he had declared in the first volume, published in 1890. While Lutosławski was prevented from working in Cracow, he became - thanks to his works - a historian of ancient philosophy whose world renown has persisted until the present day. Pawlicki obtained the Chair, but his works on the history of philosophy are rarely cited today.