The Sociological Ideas of Stanisław Ossowski

Abstract

This article presents the following: (1) the biography of Stanisław Ossowski, including the evolution of his interests from logic and aesthetics to sociology, and a presentation of his scientific activities and major works against the background of the contemporary situation in social science; (2) an analysis of the basic motives of his sociology and the social values in which he believed in relationship to his focus upon a humanistic sociology, anti-naturalism, a science of science, and his critical discussions of neo-positivism and official Marxism–Leninism; and (3) Ossowski's influence upon the development of Polish sociology, along with the reception of his works in the world. The author documents a thesis that the significance of Ossowski for Polish sociology consists not only in his interdisciplinary work in relationship to various branches of scientific knowledge, but also in his participation in organizing various sociological institutions and in his personal authority as a scientist who displayed great courage and a resistance to the pressures of an ideological state.