Leszek Nowak (7 January 1943 – 20 October 2009) was a Polish philosopher and legal theoretician.

Biography

Education

In 1965, he graduated in law from Adam Mickiewicz University's Faculty of Law and Administration, having written Master of Jurisprudence (M.Jur.) thesis under the supervision of Zygmunt Ziembiński, who introduced Nowak to the field of

legal theory Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

and convinced him to major in the subject. In 1966 he completed his

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...

(M.Phil.) degree 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 o ...

under the supervision of . In 1967 he obtained a

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL ...

(LL.D.) degree, writing a dissertation on the legal interpretation, the rule of law and semiotic functions of language. He obtained his habilitation (

post-doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' l ...

) in 1970, was subsequently published as a book on the methodological foundations of Karl Marx's ''Das'' ''Kapital''.

Ideas

Nowak got his

professorship Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

in 1976, at the age of 33. At that time he was the youngest professor in Poland and the author of the methodological conception – the ''idealizational theory of science''. His theory was inspired by ideas he found in Marx’s writings. He made them explicit and precise by using the language of contemporary logical philosophy. In 1977 he started to work on a new, generalized

social theory Social theories are analytical frameworks, or paradigms, that are used to study and interpret social phenomena.Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons. A tool used by social scientists, social theories rel ...

, which he called the '. In this theory

real socialism Real socialism, better known as actually existing socialism or developed socialism (), was an ideological catchphrase popularized during the Brezhnev era in the Eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union.

occurs as the most oppressive system in the history of the hitherto known societies. Nowak was aware of the risk of working on such a theory in the country of real socialism but he did not decide to accept intellectual compromise and in 1979 disseminated the typescript of his book. During the time of ''

Solidarność Solidarity ( pl, „Solidarność”, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" (, abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”'' ), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Subseq ...

'' movement he spent all energy to educate union members and to reveal the oppressive nature of

socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...

. He was interned on 13th of December 1981 and spent a year in jail. In 1985 he was expelled from the university and in 1989 his professorship was reinstated.

References

External links

Obituary at PhilPapers
1943 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Polish philosophers Philosophers of law Philosophers of social science Metaphysicians {{Poland-bio-stub