``L'homme et la société embêtent la philosophie ...'' Bocheński on the limits of `philosophy'

Abstract

Following his retirement fromUniversity teaching in 1972 Bocheński focusedincreasingly on metaphilosophical issues. Someof these he considered in occasional papers,autobiographical essays, as well as interviews,often giving expression to views that are asrefreshing as they are – sometimes –surprising. Bocheński in his later years becamesomething of an iconoclast, sharply criticalof, indeed hostile to, much of what isparadigmatically taken to be `philosophy'. Inthis paper, I draw out and examine some aspectsof Bocheński's virtually anti-philosophicalattitudes and try my hand at an analysis ofwhat appears to have become the Bocheński'smain underlying motivation in this respect: theless than happy interplay of religious faith,Weltanschauungen, and philosophy caughtbetween two seemingly persistent butconflicting inclinations of the human spirit tosubmit to the authority of some `total' picture.