Roman Ingarden
Encyclopedia
Roman Witold Ingarden was a Polish
philosopher who worked in phenomenology, ontology
and aesthetics
.
Before World War II
, Ingarden published his works mainly in the German language
. During the war, he switched to Polish
, and as a result his major works in ontology
went largely unnoticed by the wider world philosophical community.
, Austria-Hungary
, on February 5, 1893. He first studied mathematics and philosophy in Lwów under Kazimierz Twardowski
, then moved to Göttingen
to study philosophy under Edmund Husserl
. He was considered by Husserl to be one of his best students and accompanied Husserl to Freiburg
, where in 1918 Ingarden submitted his doctoral dissertation with Husserl as director.
Ingarden then returned to Poland, where he spent his academic career after obtaining his doctorate. For a long period he had to support himself by secondary-school teaching. In 1925 he submitted his Habilitationschrift, Essentiale Fragen, to Kazimierz Twardowski
at Lwów University (now Lviv
in Ukraine
). This thesis was noticed by the English-speaking philosophical community. In 1933 the University promoted him to professor. He became well known for his work on The Literary Work of Art.
World War II closed Lwów University and halted his academic career in 1941-1944. Ingarden secretly taught orphaned children mathematics and philosophy. After his house was bombed, he continued work on his book, The Controversy over the Existence of the World.
Ingarden became a professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
in 1945 shortly after the war, but was banned in 1946 because of the Communist government. He then moved to the Jagiellonian University
in Kraków, where he was offered a position. In 1949, however, he was banned from teaching due to his alleged idealism
, supposedly being an "enemy of materialism". In 1957 he was reappointed at the Jagiellonian University after the ban was lifted, and so he went on to teach, write and publish. Ingarden died on June 14, 1970 as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage.
phenomenologist, and thus did not accept Husserl's transcendental idealism. His training was phenomenological, nonetheless his work as a whole was directed rather towards ontology. That is why Ingarden is one of the most renowned phenomenological ontologists, as he strove to describe the ontological structure and state of being of various objects based on the essential features of any experience that could provide such knowledge.
The best known works of Ingarden, and the only ones known to most English-speaking readers, concern aesthetics and literature. The exclusive focus on Ingarden's work in aesthetics is to some extent unfortunate and misleading about his overall philosophical standpoint.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
philosopher who worked in phenomenology, ontology
Ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
and aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
.
Before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Ingarden published his works mainly in the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. During the war, he switched to Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, and as a result his major works in ontology
Ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
went largely unnoticed by the wider world philosophical community.
Biography
Ingarden was born in KrakówKraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, on February 5, 1893. He first studied mathematics and philosophy in Lwów under Kazimierz Twardowski
Kazimierz Twardowski
Kazimierz Jerzy Skrzypna-Twardowski was a Polish philosopher and logician.-Life:Twardowski's family belonged to the Ogończyk coat-of-arms.Twardowski studied philosophy in Vienna with Franz Brentano and Robert Zimmermann...
, then moved to Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
to study philosophy under Edmund Husserl
Edmund Husserl
Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl was a philosopher and mathematician and the founder of the 20th century philosophical school of phenomenology. He broke with the positivist orientation of the science and philosophy of his day, yet he elaborated critiques of historicism and of psychologism in logic...
. He was considered by Husserl to be one of his best students and accompanied Husserl to Freiburg
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
, where in 1918 Ingarden submitted his doctoral dissertation with Husserl as director.
Ingarden then returned to Poland, where he spent his academic career after obtaining his doctorate. For a long period he had to support himself by secondary-school teaching. In 1925 he submitted his Habilitationschrift, Essentiale Fragen, to Kazimierz Twardowski
Kazimierz Twardowski
Kazimierz Jerzy Skrzypna-Twardowski was a Polish philosopher and logician.-Life:Twardowski's family belonged to the Ogończyk coat-of-arms.Twardowski studied philosophy in Vienna with Franz Brentano and Robert Zimmermann...
at Lwów University (now Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
). This thesis was noticed by the English-speaking philosophical community. In 1933 the University promoted him to professor. He became well known for his work on The Literary Work of Art.
World War II closed Lwów University and halted his academic career in 1941-1944. Ingarden secretly taught orphaned children mathematics and philosophy. After his house was bombed, he continued work on his book, The Controversy over the Existence of the World.
Ingarden became a professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Torun
Toruń is an ancient city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population is more than 205,934 as of June 2009. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus....
in 1945 shortly after the war, but was banned in 1946 because of the Communist government. He then moved to the Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
in Kraków, where he was offered a position. In 1949, however, he was banned from teaching due to his alleged idealism
Idealism
In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...
, supposedly being an "enemy of materialism". In 1957 he was reappointed at the Jagiellonian University after the ban was lifted, and so he went on to teach, write and publish. Ingarden died on June 14, 1970 as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Works
Ingarden was a realistPhilosophical realism
Contemporary philosophical realism is the belief that our reality, or some aspect of it, is ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc....
phenomenologist, and thus did not accept Husserl's transcendental idealism. His training was phenomenological, nonetheless his work as a whole was directed rather towards ontology. That is why Ingarden is one of the most renowned phenomenological ontologists, as he strove to describe the ontological structure and state of being of various objects based on the essential features of any experience that could provide such knowledge.
The best known works of Ingarden, and the only ones known to most English-speaking readers, concern aesthetics and literature. The exclusive focus on Ingarden's work in aesthetics is to some extent unfortunate and misleading about his overall philosophical standpoint.
Main works in German
- Intuition und Intellekt bei Henri Bergson, Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1921
- Essentiale Fragen. Ein Beitrag zum Problem des Wesens, Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1925
- Das literarische Kunstwerk. Eine Untersuchung aus dem Grenzgebiet der Ontologie, Logik und Literaturwissenschaft, Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1931
- Untersuchungen zur Ontologie der Kunst: Musikwerk. Bild. Architektur. Film, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1962
- Der Streit um die Existenz der Welt, Bd. I, II/I, II/2. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1964
- Vom Erkennen des literarischen Kunstwerks, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1968
- Erlebnis, Kunstwerk und Wert. Vorträge zur Ästhetik 1937-1967, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1969
- Über die Verantwortung. Ihre ontischen Fundamente, Stuttgart: Reclam, 1970
- Über die kausale Struktur der realen Welt. Der Streit um die Existenz der Welt, Band III, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1974
Main works in Polish
- O poznawaniu dzieła literackiego (The Cognition of the Literary Work of Art), Ossolineum, Lwów: 1937
- O budowie obrazu. Szkic z teorii sztuki (On the Structure of Paintings: A Sketch of the Theory of Art), Rozprawy Wydziału Filozoficznego PAU Vol. LXVII, No.2, Kraków, 1946
- O dziele architektury (On Architectural Works), Nauka i Sztuka, Vol. II, 1946, No. 1, pp. 3-26 and No. 2, pp. 26-51
- Spór o istnienie Świata (Controversy over the Existence of the World), PAU, Vol. I, Kraków: 1947, Vol. II, Kraków, 1948
- Szkice z filozofii literatury (Sketches on the Philosophy of Literature), Vol. 1, Spółdzielnia wydawnicza "Polonista," Łódz, 1947
- Elementy dzieła muzycznego (The Elements of Musical Works), Sprawozdania Towarzystwa Naukowego w Toruniu, Vol. IX, 1955, Nos. 1-4, pp. 82-84
- Studia z estetyki (Studies in Aesthetics), PWN, Vol. I Warszawa, 1957, Vol. II, Warszawa, 1958
- O dziele literackim (On Literary Works). PWN, Warszawa, 1960
- Przeżycie - dzieło - wartość (Experience - Work of Art - Value). WL, Kraków, 1966
- Studia z estetyki Tom III (Studies in Aesthetics, Vol. III), PWN, Warszawa, 1970
- U podstaw teorii poznania (At the Foundations of the Theory of Knowledge), PWN, Warszawa, 1971
- Książeczka o człowieku (Little Book About Man), Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków, 1972.
- Utwór muzyczny i sprawa jego tożsamości (The Work of Music and the Problem of Its Identity), Wydawnictwo, Warszawa, 1966.
Main works translated into English
- The Cognition of the Literary Work of Art, Translated by Ruth Ann Crowley and Kenneth R. Olson. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1973
- The Literary Work of Art, Translated by George G. Grabowicz. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1973
- Letter to Husserl about the VI [Logical] Investigation and ‘Idealism’ In TymienieckaAnna-Teresa TymienieckaAnna-Teresa Tymieniecka is a Polish-born American philosopher, one of the most important and continuously active contemporary phenomenologists, founder and president of The World Phenomenology Institute, and editor of the book series Analecta Husserliana, presently published by...
, 1976 - Man and Value, Translated by Arthur Szylewicz. München: Philosophia Verlag, 1983
- On the Motives which led Edmund Husserl to Transcendental Idealism, Translated by Arnor Hannibalsson. The Hague: 1976
- The Ontology of the Work of Art, Translated by Raymond Meyer with John T. Goldthwait. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1989
- Selected Papers in Aesthetics, Ed. by Peter J. McCormick, München: Philosophia Verlag,1985
- Time and Modes of Being, translated (from parts of Der Streit) by Helen R. Michejda. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1964.
See also
- History of philosophy in Poland
- List of Poles
Suggested readings
- J. Mitscherling Roman Ingarden's Ontology and Aesthetics, Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1997
- Robert MagliolaRobert MagliolaRoberto Rino Magliola is an Italian-American academic specializing in European hermeneutics and deconstruction, in comparative philosophy, and in inter-religious dialogue...
, "Part II, Chapter 2: Roman Ingarden," in Robert Magliola, Phenomenology and Literature: An Introduction (Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, 1977; 1978), pp. 107-141 [see review by W. Wolfgang Holdheim in Diacritics, Vol. 9, No. 2 (summer 1979), via JSTOR, here http://www.jstor.org/pss/464782].
External links
- The Roman Ingarden Philosophical Research Centre
- Roman Ingarden, by Amie Thomasson, at the Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyStanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyThe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a freely-accessible online encyclopedia of philosophy maintained by Stanford University. Each entry is written and maintained by an expert in the field, including professors from over 65 academic institutions worldwide...
- Polish Philosophy Page: Roman Ingarden
- Theory and History of Ontology: Roman Ingarden: Ontology as a Science on the Possible Ways of Existence
- Annotated bibliography of and about Ingarden
- "Roman Ingarden’s Objectivity vs. Subjectivity as a problem of Translatability", by Gabriel PareyonGabriel PareyonGabriel Pareyon is a polymathic Mexican composer and musicologist, who has published literature on topics of philosophy and linguistics....
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