Barbara Skarga (October 25, 1919 – September 18, 2009) was a Polish philosophy historian and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

who worked mainly in

ethics 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 m ...

and

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

Biography

Skarga was born in 1919 at

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

to a

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

family with gentry roots. Her sister was actress

Hanna Skarżanka Hannah or Hanna may refer to: People, biblical figures, and fictional characters * Hannah (name), a female given name of Hebrew origin * Hanna (Arabic name), a family and a male given name of Christian Arab origin * Hanna (Irish surname), a fam ...

and brother was Edward Skarga. Skarga studied philosophy at

Wilno University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow a ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

she was a member of the resistance movement

Armia Krajowa The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...

. In 1944 the Soviet

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

arrested and sentenced her to ten years at the

katorga Katorga ( rus, ка́торга, p=ˈkatərɡə; from medieval and modern Greek: ''katergon, κάτεργον'', "galley") was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union). Prisoner ...

. Afterwards, she was forced to live at a

collective farm Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member ...

. She returned to Poland in 1955 and graduated in 1957 with a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in philosophy at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

. In 1988 she became a full professor of philosophy.
Skarga was an editor-in-chief of ''

Etyka ''Etyka'' (Polish for "ethics") is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering moral philosophy, published by the Institute of Philosophy (University of Warsaw). It was established in 1966, but publication was interrupted between 1990 and 1993.''E ...

''. In 1995 she was awarded Order of the White Eagle.
She died on September 18, 2009, and was buried on September 25 in Warsaw.

Bibliography

* ''Narodziny pozytywizmu polskiego 1831-1864'' (1964) * ''Kłopoty intelektu. Między Comte'em a Bergsonem'' (1975) * ''Czas i trwanie. Studia nad Bergsonem'' (1982) * ''Po wyzwoleniu 1944-1956'' (1985) * ''Przeszłość i interpretacje'' (1987) * ''Granice historyczności'' (1989) * ''Tożsamość i różnica. Eseje metafizyczne'' (1997) * ''Ślad i obecność'' (2002) * ''Kwintet metafizyczny'' (2005) * ''Człowiek to nie jest piękne zwierzę'' (2007) * ''Tercet metafizyczny'' (2009)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skarga, Barbara 1919 births 2009 deaths Ontologists Academic staff of the University of Lviv Academic staff of the University of Warsaw 20th-century Polish philosophers Home Army members Polish Calvinist and Reformed Christians Polish deportees to Soviet Union Polish people detained by the NKVD Polish women philosophers Polish ethicists Epistemologists 20th-century Polish women