Wincenty Lutosławski (1863–1954) was a Polish philosopher, author, and member of the Polish National League.
Life and career
Early life
Wincenty was the eldest son of Franciszek Dionizy Lutosławski, a landowner from Drozdowo and Maria Lutosławska, nee Szczygielska. He was half-brother to Józef Lutosławski, who was the father of composer Witold Lutosławski. In his youth he was home schooled. In 1880, after suffering a breakdown, he became an atheist and materialist. A year later he graduated from secondary school in Mitawa and commenced his studies at the Riga Polytechnic, where he lasted only for three semesters. He was unable to complete his studies due to poor health as well as the internal conflict within Arkonia fraternity. In 1884 he enrolled at Dorpat University to study chemistry and philosophy – he was taught among others by the philosopher - Gustav Teichmüller.
In April 1885 he experienced a breakthrough – one he himself described as the „discovery of the Self”. While reading Symposium by Plato, he had a mystical revelation – he discovered the existence and immortality of his own soul. In turn he “converted” to Platonism, which from then on stayed with him all his life. The event influenced his beliefs on the pre-extistence of soul and paligenesis, which he proclaimed as a part of his philosophical reflection and started his long journey to Christianity. The same year Lutosławski travelled to Paris where he studied at École pratique des hautes études under the supervision of the philologist Gaston Paris.
In 1887 Lutosławski moved to Dorpat where he wrote his Masters’ thesis in philosophy but was unsuccessful in finding a job posting there. In 1888, thanks to the influence of the Polish linguist Jan Baudoin de Courtenay, he became a private associate professor in Kazań, where he taught psychology, metaphysics and history of philosophy. In the following years, Lutosławski travelled extensively in North America and Europe. He continued his studies on Plato (that he started in 1887) in places like the British Museum. The effect of these studies was his work, The Origin and Growth of Plato's Logic with an Account of Plato's Style and of the Chronology of his Writings (London 1897). Thanks to the stylometric method, which involved the identification of stylistic differences, he was able to establish a certain chronology of the works written by the most famous student of Socrates.
While writing about Plato, Lutosławski tried to secure employment in what used to be Poland. Being unsuccessful at Jagiellonian University, in 1898 Lutosławski settled in a Galician town of Mera in Spain, where he hosted (among others) Tadeusz Miciński and Stanisław Przybyszewski. The same year he received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Helsinki, based on his thesis Ueber die Grundvoraussertzungen und Consequenzen de Individualistichen Weltanschauung. Following this event, Lutosławski came to Krakow, where he was only offered the post of private associate professor.
When he lived in Krakow, Lutosławski was known for his extravagant behaviour – for example, wearing the attire of Polish Highlanders (górale). During his lectures that lasted for many hours, Lutosławski often proclaimed radical social slogans and attacked philosophical positivism as well as pessimism, nihilism, partitioning authorities and so called Stańczycy (loyalists). That worried the University authorities, who ordered him to be placed under surveillance. As a result Dr. Karol Żuławski declared the philosopher to be suffering from severe psychiatric problems, and that combined with his political / philosophical beliefs led to his suspension from academic activity.
In 1899, on the invitation by Zygmunt Balicki, Lutosławski became a member of National League, a secret national-democratic organisation. He was active in it until 1910 and participated in the organisational work – as the commissioner of the Central Committee he set up the branch of the League in Poznan. He maintained a good relationship with the politicians of that option (particularly with Balicki), who often visited him both in his Krakow apartment as well as in Drozdowo.