Reconstruction of Concepts in the Lvov–Warsaw School: Theory and Practice

Abstract

Concepts have always been one of the most important objects of philosophical investigations. A special contribution to the theory of conceptual analysis was made by the representatives of the Lvov–Warsaw School, representing the Polish branch of analytic philosophy. Philosophical research in this school was governed by the postulate of clarity of thought and speech. Analysis and improvement of concepts and the existing philosophical language as the carriers of these concepts naturally expressed the methodological program proposed by the founder of the School, Kazimierz Twardowski. In the article, the procedure of reconstructing concepts is presented as it was commonly applied in Twardowski’s School. Although the differences between individual school members were sometimes significant (reflected e.g. in the psychologism–antipsychologism opposition), one may indicate some common elements of conceptual research. These are, first of all, the categorial element and the constructive element, because of which the procedure in question is called “reconstruction”. Two examples of the reconstruction of concepts are examined closer: Łukasiewicz’s work on the concept of cause and Tarski’s results concerning the concept of truth.