Letter from Tadeusz Czeżowski written 16.10.1958

Author Tadeusz Czeżowski

Category incoming correspondence, Polish researchers

Archive Archive of Science of PAN and PAU in Cracow

Date of creation 16.10.1958

Related places Toruń, Warszawa, Wrocław

Reference code in archive K_III-26_D_45

Resource type letter

Subject matter academic issues, organizational issues, personal issues

Field logika, philosophy

Tags #accident, #Alpbach, #Bogdan Roman Nawroczyński, #break, #Chaim Perelman, #congress, #Czesław Zn, #Czesław Znamierowski, #Daria Lutman, #disease, #Gruca hospital, #Henryk Elzenberg, #holiday, #hospital, #Inowrocław, #institute of logic, #Institute of Logic of the Polish Academy of Sciences, #Janusz Sztumski, #job, #JU, #Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz, #Kazimierz Pasenkiewicz, #Konstancin, #Kraków, #lectures, #Maria Kokoszyńska-Lutmanowa, #Marian Borowski, #Narcyz Łubnicki, #opinions, #PAS, #Philosophical Movement, #Polish Academy of Sciences, #recommendations, #rehabilitation, #reports from the congress, #situation at the university, #summer, #Tadeusz Kotarbiński, #Tadeusz Szczurkiewicz, #Toruń, #travel, #trip abroad, #Venice, #Warszawa, #Wejherowo, #Wrocław, #Zbigniew Jordan

Toruń, 16 October 1958.

Dear Roman!

Thank you very much for your letter of the 12th of this month. I’m glad your vacation and the whole trip came off, along with your stay in Alpbach (was Ajdukiewicz there too?) and in Venice. My summer passed much more modestly ‒ in Toruń, with the sole exception of three days in Wejherowo, where I lectured as part of a teacher’s course. I’m not dissatisfied, though; summer in the city wasn’t bad, as the heat wasn’t too bothersome, and I quietly caught up on various backlogs (mainly reading other people’s papers and reviews, of which there was quite an accumulation, as well as the preparation of the next issue of Philosophical Movement). We’re both well and started the new work year in a good mood.

You ask about the composition of the logic faculty in your department. I’ve discussed Pasenkiewicz’s[O1] candidacy paper with him in detail. It’s conscientious and correct in substantive matters, but written quite unskilfully and therefore difficult to read. The proposed changes that I’ve put forward are intended to make it more readable. He put a great deal of very thorough work into it, and has fully mastered the topic. So I think that despite the imperfections I mentioned above, it’s necessary to help him publish it so he can finally complete the candidacy process, something he fully deserves. He’s a very decent, solid individual. He’s not at the level of being able to educate specialists/logicians, but he’s certainly sufficient for the needs of general preparation in this department. If it was possible to bring Borowski to Cracow, he would be a valuable acquisition. As a logician, he certainly belongs to the ‘extra class’ (to use athletes’ jargon), and as an individual, I have the best impression of him, just as you do yourself. My former assistant Sztumski (from the beginning of the academic year, he transferred to Szczurkiewicz’s faculty, having exchanged with a colleague who came to me in his place) is trying to get to Cracow, where he has a family to which he’s very attached; he’s trying even harder now that his father is seriously ill with some kind of chronic malady. He’s not very studious; he’s involved politically, which takes up a lot of his time. He deals with question of logical borders, namely the now-fashionable theory of argumentation (Perelman), and is preparing a candidacy paper on this subject under the direction of Kotarbiński. He won’t cause you any problems, but neither will he be of any great use.

I talked to Lutmanowa, who spent several days in Wrocław at the end of September, about the congress, and have, moreover, two mutually complementary reports for Philosophical Movement, one from Łubnicki and the other from Jordan (from London). The new issue of Movement goes to press soon; it’ll be almost as extensive as the previous one.

We’ve been lecturing since the beginning of the month in regrettable conditions, because the renovation of the building is unfinished (the radiators are being replaced) and nobody knows when it’ll be completed, my department’s in ruins, books partly packed so that it’s impossible to get to them, debris and dirt in the corridors. Elzenberg is still being treated in the hospital in Konstancin near Warsaw, belonging to the Gruca Clinic, where he’s undergoing so-called rehabilitation; it’s moving right along now, and the fracture has healed well.

Tomorrow I’m going to Warsaw for the day on business of the Department of Logic of the Polish Academy of Sciences. I’ll also be seeing Kotarbiński. You’ve probably received a letter from him, inviting you to take part in the commission, which is to consist of the two of us and Nawroczyński. Czesław Zn[O2] ., who’s undergoing treatment in Inowrocław, visited us last Sunday.

I’ll find out about your photograph in the next few days; if it’s ready, I’ll send it to you.

Cordial greetings to both of you

Your Tad

[O1]Original: Pasekiewicz
[O2]Chyba Znamierowski