Abstract

Although 20th Century Polish philosophy is known in this country mainly through its logicians, there is also an active group of phenomenologists, whose most eminent member is Ingarden. These two volumes have been the lifework of the author in the sense that they present his systematic statement of themes he has pursued since his days in Freiburg as a student of Husserl. This book was published in Polish in 1946-1947. Niemeyer offers here not a translation but Ingarden's own German version. It divides into two parts: existential ontology, which is contained in vol. I, and formal ontology, contained in vol. II and a soon to be published third volume. This work is not adequately characterized as phenomenology for the simple reason that phenomenologists are not thought to discuss science, while a great deal of Ingarden's discussion runs through areas presently known as philosophy of science, and moreover, the author makes extensive use of current logical and mathematical concepts and methods. Yet it is phenomenological in that Ingarden rejects the epistemological and semantical approaches to the external world as inadequate, holding that the problem can be articulated only on the level of ontology. His work is comparable in manner of treatment and purpose to Process and Reality and C. I. Lewis' Knowledge and Valuation. We recommend, for a brief look at what can and cannot be expected of this work, the section of vol. I entitled "Wissenschaft und Philosophie."—H. C.