Jan Łukasiewicz Papers
Date range: c.1939-1957
Medium: Archive
Jan Łukasiewicz (1878-1956) was an influential Polish philosopher and logician. He was a leading figure in the Lwów–Warsaw school of philosophy, and made important contributions to propositional logic and the history of logic.
Until the Second World War, Łukasiewicz was a major figure in Polish intellectual and public life. He was professor of philosophy at the University of Warsaw, and served as Rector of that university on two occasions. He lost his position following the German occupation and division of Poland in 1939. Łukasiewicz then worked for the Polish Underground University during the occupation, but was forced into exile firstly in Belgium and latterly in the Republic of Ireland. He was then appointed Professor of Mathematical Logic at the Royal Irish Academy, where lectured until 1953.
Łukasiewicz’s papers date primarily from his period of post-war exile. There is an extensive body of correspondence (much of it in Polish) mainly relating to his academic work and publications, but also including some more personal correspondence. Correspondents who figure significantly in the collection include philosophers and logicians such as Bolesław Sobociński, Józef Maria Bocheński, Heinrich Scholz, Czesław Lejewski, Ivo Thomas, John Faris, Jerzy Słupecki, Tadeusz Czeżowski, Henryk Hiz, Z. A. Jordan and Oskar Becker.
The collection includes drafts of various books and articles including his important Aristotle's Syllogistic (1951), as well as Łukasiewicz’s research notebooks.
The collection is important for the history of logic, particularly the work of Polish schools, but Łukasiewicz's papers also provide interesting sidelights on issues relating to academic exile in post-1945 Europe.
Further information:
Uncatalogued.
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