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DOI
10.4324/9780415249126-N043-1
DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-N043-1
Version: v1,  Published online: 1998
Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/overview/poland-philosophy-in/v-1

1. The medieval period

Between the tenth and fifteenth centuries, philosophy in Poland developed in a manner akin to its Western European counterpart. It shared the same religious and metaphysical base, the same scholarly resources and the same school structure. Close contact was maintained with Western scholars, and so the influences on the development of philosophy were similar, facilitated by the widespread use of Latin. Nevertheless, Polish philosophy at this time also had its own defined peculiarities, especially in the fields of Practicism (and an accompanying interest in socio-political problems and in ‘devotio moderna’ – Mateusz z Krakowa (d. 1410), Jakub z Paradyża (d. c.1464) and others), an almost-universally accepted Concordism, an exceptional flourishing of Buridanism and a methodological emphasis on the separation of philosophy from theology (see Buridan, J.). Conciliarism was also prevalent. Several other disciplines flourished in Poland at this time, including law (which developed a jus gentium long before Grotius), science (in which Copernicus was educated) and historico-philological thought which gave birth to Polish humanism.

Poland’s conversion to Christianity in 966 marked the beginning of the culture which bred this philosophy and learning. Schools possessing libraries with philosophical works were founded during the tenth to twelfth centuries, in conjunction with cathedrals and religious houses, and scholarly literature was imported from abroad. The first Polish chronicles were written by Gall. Anonim in the eleventh to twelfth centuries, and by the beginning of the fourteenth century, schools in Poland numbered in excess of 100. The liberal arts were widely taught and many Poles were sent abroad to be educated, studying in Paris, Bologna, Montpelier and Padua.

Scholars of international stature emerged during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, including Wincenty Kadłubek (d. 1223), the chronicler, lawyer and philosopher; Marcin Polak (d. 1278–9), author of the famous papal and imperial chronicles; Peregryn z Opola (d. after 1333), whose sermons were disseminated throughout Europe; and Witelo (d. c1290), whose philosophy, while concerned with anthropology, optics, demonology and the metaphysics of light, remained under Platonic and Neoplatonic influences while drawing from Chalcidius, Avicenna (see Ibn Sina), Alhazen (see Ibn Hazm) and Algazel (see al-Ghazali), among others. In the first half of the fourteenth century, many other philosophers and theologians with Polish connections received widespread recognition in ethics, anthropology, physics, metaphysics and logic. All came under the decisive influence of Aristotle and all assigned a subordinate role to philosophy in relation to theology.

The foundation of the University of Cracow by King Casimir the Great in 1364 marked the watershed in the history of medieval philosophy in Poland. Following its reform under the royal Jagiełło family (Jadwiga and Władysław) in 1400, the University became an important European centre of learning, and by the beginning of the fifteenth century, the so-called via moderna (associated with the nominalism of William of Ockham and his followers) developed dynamically there (see Nominalism. By the second half of that century, the search for compromise between the via antiqua and the via moderna gave birth to the so-called via communis (the ‘common path’), following the rules of Concordism. Precursors of that path include Pihotr Wysz (d. 1414), a distinguished philosopher whose commentaries on the works of Aristotle have recently been rediscovered.

Among those who favoured the via communis position were the Cracow lawyers Stanisław z Skarbimierza (d. 1431) and Paweł z Włodkowic (d. after 1434). The latter’s doctrines on just war theory and on political and religious freedom were a novelty in Europe and influenced subsequent Polish toleration during the period of the religious wars in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Other advocates of the via communis include the two most important Polish philosophers of the first half of the fifteenth century, Pawełz Worczyna (d. c.1430) and Benedykt Hesse (d. 1456). Paweł’s work in ethics is characterized by Practicism, while Hesse’s commentaries on the works of Aristotle maintain a spirit of Buridanism modified by the influence of Londorius. The new physics developed by Hesse departs from Aristotle and introduces new concepts into natural science, such as the theory of impulse. In his great commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Hesse addresses problems of ethics, asceticism, law and economics, resolving them in a spirit of pragmatism and practicality.

The second half of the fifteenth century also saw a brief revival of Neoplatonism, Thomism, Scotism, Averroism and Augustinianism. By the end of the century, however, explicit humanistic tendencies began to appear; among its chief advocates was the most famous of Polish scholars, Nicholas Copernicus.

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Citing this article:
Czerkawski, Jan et al. The medieval period. Poland, philosophy in, 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-N043-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/overview/poland-philosophy-in/v-1/sections/the-medieval-period.
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