Abstract

In Polish philosophical aesthetics Karol Tarnowski’s considerations about art reflect transformations that occurred in phenomenology – particularly French – in the second half of the 20th century. Religious thinking combined with the scholastic tradition and the classical doctrine of transcendentals turn out to be similar in many aspects, but still not identical with Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology of donation and Michel Henry’s nonintentional phenomenology of invisible life. The aesthetic views of Karol Tarnowski, an outstanding philosopher of religion and pianist himself, can be found in scattered texts whose main subject matter is not always art. This is why the article aims at a synthetic presentation of this particular reflection in the context of current debates around phenomenology.