Adam Burski or Bursius (ca. 1560–1611) was a Polish philosopher of the
Renaissance period.
[ Władysław Tatarkiewicz, ''Historia filozofii'' (History of Philosophy), vol. 2: ''Filozofia nowożytna do roku 1830'' (Modern Philosophy to 1830), 8th ed., p. 37.]
History
Burski was a leading Polish representative of
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century Common Era, BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asser ...
. He wrote a ''Dialectica Ciceronis'' (1604) that boldly proclaimed Stoic
sensualism
In epistemology, Sensualism is a doctrine whereby sensations and perception are the basic and most important form of true cognition. It may oppose abstract ideas.
This ideogenetic question was long ago put forward in Greek philosophy ( Stoicism, ...
and
empiricism
In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empir ...
and—before
Francis Bacon—urged the use of
inductive method
Inductive reasoning is a method of reasoning in which a general principle is derived from a body of observations. It consists of making broad generalizations based on specific observations. Inductive reasoning is distinct from ''deductive'' re ...
. He set himself the same goals as
Lipsius, the restorer of Stoicism famous in the West. Lipsius himself valued highly the work of his Polish fellow-philosopher.
Burski's person was associated with a new institution of higher learning that came into being in the late 16th century: the
Zamojski Academy, founded in
Zamość by
Jan Zamoyski (who had also founded that city). At Zamoyski's invitation, Burski, who had been
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of the Lwów Lyceum and a professor at
Kraków University
The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
, in 1596 at Zamość became a professor of
moral philosophy
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
, remaining in that post to the end of his life.
See also
*
History of philosophy in Poland
*
List of Poles
Notes
References
*
Władysław Tatarkiewicz, ''Historia filozofii'' (History of Philosophy), vol. 2: ''Filozofia nowożytna do roku 1830'' (Modern Philosophy to 1830), 8th ed., Warsaw,
Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1978.
External links
Works by Adam Burskiin digital library
Polona
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burski, Adam
Neo-Stoics
1560s births
1611 deaths
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth people