Roman Ingarden

Roman Ingarden in his later years

Roman Witold Ingarden (1893 - 1970), a Polish philosopher, working in the fields of phenomenology, ontology, and aesthetics. Before the second World War, Ingarden published his works mainly in German. During WWII, he switched to Polish, therefore his major works on ontology went largely unnoticed by the wider philosophical community.

Life

Born on February 5, 1893 in Kraków, as an Austrian subject during Austria'a last occupation of Southern Poland, he initially studied mathematics and philosophy under the guidance of Kazimierz Twardowski in Lwów, and in 1912 moved to Göttingen to study philosophy under Edmund Husserl. Husserl considered Ingarden one of his best students, and Ingarden followed him to Freiburg, where he submitted his doctoral dissertation in 1918 with Husserl as director. The two remained in close touch until Husserl's death in 1938.

After receiving his doctoral degree, Ingarden returned to Poland for most of his academic career. At first he taught mathematics, psychology and philosophy in schools and worked on his Habilitationschrift, Essentiale Frage, which achieved some attention in the English speaking philosophical community. He was given a position at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv and in 1933 promoted to Professor. During this professorship he published his most widely known work, The Literary Work of Art.

Ingarden's career was interrupted by World War II (1941-1944), as Lwów university was closed. During this time, he secretly taught philosophy and mathematics to school children at an orphanage. Simultaneously, and despite the bombing of his house, he continued to work on his newest work, The Controversy over the Existence of the World.

After the war in 1945 Ingarden moved to Jagiellonian University in Kraków, where he was offered a position. In 1949, however, he was banned from teaching due to his alleged idealism (a philosophical position that Ingarden fought against most of his life) and for being an "enemy of materialism". The ban ceased in 1957 and Ingarden was reappointed at Jagiellonian University. There, he continued to teach, write, and publish.

Roman Ingarden died suddenly from cerebral hemorrhage on June 14, 1970.

Works

Ingarden was a realist phenomenologist, but did not accept Husserl's transcendental idealism. His training was phenomenological, nonetheless his work as a whole was directed rather towards ontology. That is why Ingarden is one of the most renowned phenomenological ontologists, as he strove to describe the ontological structure and state of being of various objects based on the essential features of any experience that could provide such knowledge.

The best known works of Ingarden, and the only ones known to most English speaking readers, concern aesthetics and literature. The exclusive focus on Ingarden's work in aesthetics is to some extent unfortunate and misleading about his overall philosophical standpoint.

Main works in German

Intuition und Intellekt bei Henri Bergson, Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1921
Essentiale Fragen. Ein Beitrag zum Problem des Wesens, Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1925
Das literarische Kunstwerk. Eine Untersuchung aus dem Grenzgebiet der Ontologie, Logik und Literaturwissenschaft, Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1931
Untersuchungen zur Ontologie der Kunst: Musikwerk. Bild. Architektur. Film, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1962
Der Streit um die Existenz der Welt, Bd. I, II/I, II/2. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1964
Vom Erkennen des literarischen Kunstwerks, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1968
Erlebnis, Kunstwerk und Wert. Vorträge zur Ästhetik 1937-1967, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1969
Über die Verantwortung. Ihre ontischen Fundamente, Stuttgart: Reclam, 1970
Über die kausale Struktur der realen Welt. Der Streit um die Existenz der Welt, Band III, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1974

Main works in Polish

O poznawaniu dzieła literackiego (The Cognition of the Literary Work of Art), Ossolineum, Lwow: 1937
O budowie obrazu. Szkic z teorii sztuki (On the Structure of Paintings: A Sketch of the Theory of Art), Rozprawy Wydziału Filozoficznego PAU Vol. LXVII, No.2, Kraków, 1946
O dziele architektury (On Architectural Works), Nauka i Sztuka, Vol. II, 1946, No. 1, pp. 3-26 and No. 2, pp. 26-51
Spór o istnienie Świata (Controversy over the Existence of the World), PAU, Vol. I, Kraków: 1947, Vol. II, Kraków, 1948
Szkice z filozofii literatury (Sketches on the Philosophy of Literature), Vol. 1, Spółdzielnia wydawnicza “Polonista,” Łódz, 1947
Elementy dzieła muzycznego (The Elements of Musical Works), Sprawozdania Towarzystwa Naukowego w Toruniu, Vol. IX, 1955, Nos. 1-4, pp. 82-84
Studia z estetyki (Studies in Aesthetics), PWN, Vol. I Warszawa, 1957, Vol. II, Warszawa, 1958
O dziele literackim (On Literary Works). PWN, Warszawa, 1960
Przeżycie - dzieło - wartość (Experience - Work of Art - Value). WL, Kraków, 1966
Studia z estetyki Tom III (Studies in Aesthetics, Vol. III), PWN, Warszawa, 1970
U podstaw teorii poznania (At the Foundations of the Theory of Knowledge), PWN, Warszawa, 1971
Ksiażeczka o człowieku (Little Book About Man), Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków, 1972.

Main works translated into English

The Cognition of the Literary Work of Art, Translated by Ruth Ann Crowley and Kenneth R. Olson. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1973
The Literary Work of Art, Translated by George G. Grabowicz. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1973
Letter to Husserl about the VI [Logical] Investigation and ‘Idealism’ In Tymieniecka, 1976
Man and Value, Translated by Arthur Szylewicz. München: Philosophia Verlag, 1983
On the Motives which led Edmund Husserl to Transcendental Idealism, Translated by Arnor Hannibalsson. The Hague: 1976
The Ontology of the Work of Art, Translated by Raymond Meyer with John T. Goldthwait. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1989
Selected Papers in Aesthetics, Ed. by Peter J. McCormick, München: Philosophia Verlag,1985
Time and Modes of Being, translated (from parts of Der Streit) by Helen R. Michejda. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1964.

External links

de:Roman Ingarden eo:Roman Ingarden pl:Roman Ingarden sk:Roman Ingarden

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