This work, which is the result of a series of studies dating back to my first Polish stay at the “Adam Mickiewicz” University in Poznań in 2008 and which is the most updated version of the edition published for the first time in Italian in 2016, would never have been completed without the vital human and material support of Professor Francesco Coniglione of the University of Catania.
Polish philosophy of the twentieth century provided original and fundamental contributions to the development of the most important questions of logic, epistemology, and philosophy that for a long time have kept occupied the most acute minds of Western culture. However, due to a series of barriers that are very difficult to break down, few people know that many of the most important philosophical and logical-epistemological themes provided to us by the authors mentioned above have been widely and simultaneously dealt with by the leading exponents of twentieth-century Polish philosophy, who have anticipated and developed some of the most important logical-epistemological reflections of the twentieth century; moreover, some of them have become promoters and creators of the so-called idealizational conception of science.
The idealizational conception of science was developed and elaborated with greater awareness and systematicity by the Polish philosopher Leszek Nowak (object of study of this work) and by the other methodologists of the Poznań School. So, in this work I will consider Nowak’s idealizational approach to science, the distinction between abstraction and idealization and the relationship of Nowak’s approach with contemporary epistemology.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter I: Origins and characters of the Poznań School of Methodology
1.1. The cultural background
1.2. Science, Marxism and Metaphysics in Leszek Nowak
1.3. Kmita and Nowak
1.4. Beyond Marx. The birth of non-Marxian Historical Materialism
1.5. Unitarian Metaphysics
Chapter II: Science and Marxian Method
2.1. Marxism as a Science
2.2. The Methodological Reconstruction of Das Kapital
2.3. The Explanation Model in Das Kapital. A Hypothesis
2.4. The Control-Requirement
2.5. The Principle of Dialectical Correspondence
2.5.1. Idealization and Scientific Progress
2.5.2. Dialectical Correspondence of Idealizational Laws. Two Examples
Chapter III: Leszek Nowak and the Idealizational Conception of Science
3.1. Abstraction or Idealization? From Aristotle to Galileo
3.2. From Archimedes to Galileo: Examples of Idealization in Natural Sciences
3.3. Idealization and Contemporary Epistemology
3.4. K. R. Popper. An Unconscious Marxist?
3.5. Instrumental Nature of Max Weber’s Ideal-Type
3.6. Idealization and Scientific Models
Conclusions
Research Objectives and Themes
This work explores the "idealizational conception of science" developed by the Polish philosopher Leszek Nowak and the Poznań School, aiming to reconstruct Nowak’s modelling epistemological conception and to situate his original interpretation of Marxism and metaphysics within the broader context of contemporary epistemology and scientific methodology.
- The distinction between abstraction and idealization in scientific practice.
- Methodological reconstruction of Karl Marx’s work, particularly Das Kapital, as a scientific endeavour.
- The critique of neopositivist and Popperian perspectives on scientific law and theory.
- The development of "non-Marxian historical materialism" and "unitarian negativistic metaphysics".
- The role of scientific models and the principle of dialectical correspondence.
Book Excerpt
Science as a Caricature of Reality
Let us see what a cartoonist does: he leaves out some details of the person presented, thus stressing what he considers important. That is, he employs the method of exaggeration: he does not present everything but distorts a person or a situation by neglecting some features he thinks minor ones. Science, as we have seen, in fact does the same. When a physicist constructs the concept of a material point, he does not present physical objects but distorts them - he assumes that they have zero dimensions and focuses on other properties of these bodies (eg., mass) which he considers more essential for physical magnitudes he investigates. In short: science consists in the same method we find in caricature. There is, obviously, some difference: caricature does not apply concretization; it does not cover the distance between the prolonged nose of a man, through a middle sized one, to the portrait with an ordinary nose in the centre of the man's face. Nevertheless, it is a deviation from the same standard: in order to say the truth about a fact it should not be presented as common-sense used to say, but distorted. And doing this, both science and caricature achieve, or at least are able to achieve, the truth. The problem arises as to what kind of truth is arrived at by them.
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: Summarizes the original contributions of twentieth-century Polish philosophy and introduces Leszek Nowak’s idealizational conception of science as the primary object of study.
Chapter I: Origins and characters of the Poznań School of Methodology: Outlines the cultural background of the Poznań School, emphasizing its debt to the Lvov-Warsaw School and the development of Nowak’s non-Marxian historical materialism and unitarian metaphysics.
Chapter II: Science and Marxian Method: Analyzes the reconstruction of Marx’s work as a scientific method, focusing on the procedure of abstraction and gradual concretization as comparable to Galilean science.
Chapter III: Leszek Nowak and the Idealizational Conception of Science: Compares Nowak’s idealizational approach with contemporary epistemological trends, specifically critiquing neopositivism, Popperian falsificationism, and Weberian ideal-types.
Keywords
Abstraction, Approximation, Concretization, Idealization, Scientific Method, Poznań School, Leszek Nowak, Historical Materialism, Dialectical Correspondence, Unitarian Metaphysics, Epistemology, Karl Marx, Galileo, Scientific Models, Popperian Falsificationism.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this work?
The work focuses on the "idealizational conception of science" formulated by the Polish philosopher Leszek Nowak and the Poznań School of Methodology, which interprets scientific inquiry as a process of abstraction followed by gradual concretization.
What are the primary thematic fields covered?
The main themes include the methodology of science, the epistemological reconstruction of Marxist economics (specifically Das Kapital), the nature of scientific laws, the philosophy of social sciences, and the critique of contemporary epistemological paradigms like logical positivism and Popperianism.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to analyze Leszek Nowak’s modelling epistemological conception and demonstrate how his approach provides a more rigorous interpretation of Marx’s methodology and scientific practice than traditional accounts.
Which scientific methods are central to the study?
The study centers on the method of "abstraction" (idealization) and "gradual concretization," which the author argues is the authentic scientific method used by both Galileo in the natural sciences and Marx in the economic sciences.
What is addressed in the main body of the work?
The main body examines the origins of the Poznań School, reconstructs the methodology inherent in Marx's mature works, discusses the explanation model in Das Kapital, and provides a comparative analysis between Nowak's model and the views of Hempel, Popper, and Max Weber.
Which keywords best describe this research?
Key concepts include Idealization, Concretization, Abstraction, Scientific Method, Poznań School, Leszek Nowak, Non-Marxian Historical Materialism, and Dialectical Correspondence.
How does the author define the "idealizational law"?
An idealizational law is a proposition that determines how a specific magnitude depends on another under idealized conditions where certain disturbing factors are assumed to be absent or null (equaled to zero).
How does the Poznań School’s view of Marxism differ from others?
Unlike Western Marxists who focused on early "youthful" works, the Poznań School emphasizes Marx’s mature "scientific" works, applying logical analysis to reconstruct his economic theory rather than treating it as a fixed, dogmatic ideology.
- Quote paper
- PhD Giacomo Borbone (Author), 2021, The Relevance of Models. Idealization and Concretization in Leszek Nowak, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/999117
