Letter from Anna Teresa Tymieniecka written 07.02.1957

Author Anna Teresa Tymieniecka

Category incoming correspondence, Polish researchers

Archive Archive of Science PAN in Cracow

Date of creation 7.02.1957

Reference code in archive K_III-26_D_30

Resource type letter

Subject matter academic issues, publication issues, translations

Field philosophy

Tags #Andrzej Grzegorczyk, #Anna Teresa Tymieniecka, #Collection de Philosphie de l’esprit, #Controversy over the existence of the world, #dissertation, #elementary logic, #employment, #Filmer Stuart Cuckow Northrop, #Henryk Hiż, #history of Greek philosophy, #New York Times, #Oregon, #Pensylvania State University, #Rene Wellek, #Roman Ingarden, #seminar on aesthetics, #students opinions, #theory of the fine arts, #translation, #university atmosphere, #university reinstation, #Visiting Assistant Professor, #Yale

THE PENSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY PARK, PENSYLVANIA

COLLEGE OF THE LIBERAL ARTS
v PHILOSOPHY c c c c c c February 7, 1957

Dear Professor,
v What joy! Yesterday I read in the New York Times that you were reinstated at the university and I just cannot express how happy it makes me.
v Anyway, things are slowly moving forward here. I was employed this semester as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Penn. State Univ. I teach the history of Greek philosophy and elementary logic. An old friend of Andrzej Grzegorczyk – Henryk Hiż – is also an Assistant Professor here at the faculty of mathematics. The Faculty of Philosophy here is very good in and of itself. However, because livelihood here depends on the opinions of the students, the professors are afraid to upset them, so they lecture as if they were in a kindergarten. And the students are very interested and smart, so it is such a waste! I do not know if I will stay here next year, all the more so because I am incapable of exchanging philosophical honesty for “coin” and my colleagues do not like that I lecture in a completely different way from them.
v After all, you can simplify a lot of in such a way that you are still talking about philosophy in the form of philosophical problems and not some foolish child banter. As a result, I probably won’t be here long. In any case, this is significant progress and opens me up to some great opportunities.
v It is simply impossible to describe how much the professors dull the student’s intelligence here. When you cannot lecture yourself, it is easiest to say that the students are bad. The students here are better than in Oregon, they can even speak and they might even be capable of reading the textbook, which was such a difficult problem in Oregon.
v The dissertation is being printed in the “Collection de Philosphie de l’esprit” and was supposed to be released in March (but will probably come out in May). I have found a publisher for a short book on the history of contemporary philosophy and am now finishing it.
v Yale was delightful. I didn’t learn anything at all. But the atmosphere there is very much that of a university, it is revitalizing. Prof. Northrop from there is a really great mind (though he writes terribly). Professor R. Wellek published a book on the theory of literature where he refers to Lit. Kunstwerk (in my opinion not often enough!! Because he almost “copied” from you).
v Because of that (as he has students at Yale) I discussed your theory of the fine arts at a seminar on aesthetics I conducted at Yale. The students were excellent, and they were very interested in your theory. But they can’t read in any foreign language. When will the translation of the Controversy come out? Respectful and best regards to the both of you and bows from my husband – Teresa