The Axiology Project of the Lvov-Warsaw School

Abstract

Reflections on values by Kazimierz Twardowski, Władysław Witwicki, Tadeusz Kotarbiński, Tadeusz Czeżowski, Władysław Tatarkiewicz and Karol Frenkel represent an interesting and inspiring axiology project, being a creative development of the postulate of ethics as a science, and emphasise the importance of facts in the substantiation of norms. It may thus be said that the axiology project of the Lvov-Warsaw School, contrary to David Hume’s paradigm, removes the chasm between facts and values. In this chapter, we claim that an attempt at showing the need for a constant confrontation of facts and values becomes the most important challenge for morality. This project also had a pragmatic objective, as it was one of the ways of restoring the meaning of life to the Polish nation which, after 120 years of slavery, was starting to rebuild its identity. It could therefore be called a kind of therapy with meaning, emphasising the ability to shape man’s existence based on the values of truth and good. In the first part, we will consider the problem of objectivism in the understanding of good (Tatarkiewicz, Czeżowski). Good is considered an absolute value, one that is unqualified and objective. It may be defined as a property of things, or seen as a way in which things exist. Good can be known intuitively, but intuition is understood as an autonomous kind of knowledge, or a certain experience which may be improved. In the second part, we will analyse the category of act (Twardowski, Witwicki, Frenkel, Kotarbiński). Every rule of just act must contain an empirical element and be based on an inductive juxtaposition of individual instances of just acts or individual rules. Despite the absolute nature of good, rules are always relative. When judging an act, one should take into account the person’s character, or the permanent direction of their will, and through introspection we can understand and judge the dynamics of human action. In the third part, we will present the category of happiness (Twardowski, Tatarkiewicz, Kotarbiński, Czeżowski). We will discuss the personal role model of a reliable guardian, or an honest man who comes to the aid of all those who need help. We will also point out the heroism which results from a specific treatment of values in the process of moral improvement.