Maria Ossowska (née Maria NiedÃ
ºwiecka, 16 January 1896, Warsaw â 13 August 1974, Warsaw) was a Polish sociologist and social philosopher.
Life
A student of the philosopher Tadeusz KotarbiÃ
Âski, she originally in 1925 received a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Warsaw with a thesis on Bertrand Russell. In her later work, she focused on the philosophy and sociology of ethics. Ossowska is often mentioned as a member of the LwówâÂÂWarsaw school.
From 1941 to 1945, Ossowska taught in the Polish underground university system. In 1945-48 she was a professor at the University of Ã
ÂódÃ
º, after that at the University of Warsaw. She was banned from teaching between 1952 and 1956, while sociology was removed from Polish universities as a "bourgeois" discipline. From 1952 to 1962, she directed the Institute for the History and Theory of Ethics within the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). In 1964 she was one of the signatories of the so-called Letter of 34 to Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz regarding freedom of culture. In 1972 the Communist authorities awarded Ossowska a first-degree Polish National Award (Polska Nagroda PaÃ
Âstwowa I stopnia), the highest Polish state accolade.
Ossowska was married to sociologist StanisÃ
Âaw Ossowski, with whom she closely cooperated in research and teaching.
Maria Ossowska and StanisÃ
Âaw Ossowski are considered among the founders of the field of "science of science" due to their authorship of a seminal 1935 paper titled "The Science of Science."
Works
- 1925 (as Maria NiedÃ
ºwiecka): Ontologia Bertranda Russella [The ontology of Bertrand Russell]. Warszawa.
- 1946: Wzór obywatela w ustroju demokratycznym [The model of the citizen in the democratic system]. Warszawa: ZarzÃÂ
d GÃ
Âówny Towarzystwa Uniwersytetu Robotniczego.
- 1947: Podstawy nauki o moralnoÃ
Âci [Foundations of the science of morality]. 2nd edition 1994, ed. by PaweÃ
 J. SmoczyÃ
Âski. WrocÃ
Âaw: ZakÃ
Âad Narodowy im. OssoliÃ
Âskich.
- 1949: Motywy postÃÂpowania: Z zagadnieÃ
 moralnoÃ
Âci [The motivations of action: On the problems of ethics]. Warszawa: KsiÃÂ
Ã
¼ka i Wiedza. 3rd edition 2002.
- 1956: MoralnoÃ
ÂÃÂ mieszczaÃ
Âska [Bourgeois morality]. 2nd edition 1985. WrocÃ
Âaw: ZakÃ
Âad Narodowy im. OssoliÃ
Âskich. <br>(English translation 1986: Bourgeois morality. London/New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
- 1957: O pewnych przemianach etyki walki [On certain changes in the ethics of struggle]. 2nd edition 1977. Warszawa: NiezaleÃ
¼na Oficyna Wydawnicza (a Samisdat edition)
- 1963: Socjologia moralnoÃ
Âci: zarys zagadnieÃ
 [The sociology of morality: An outline of its problems]. 4th edition 2005. Warszawa: PaÃ
Âstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. <br>English translation 1971: Social determinants of moral ideas. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1971 edition London/New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
- 1966: MyÃ
Âl moralna OÃ
Âwiecenia angielskiego [The moral thought of the English Enlightenment]. Warszawa: PaÃ
Âstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
- 1970: Normy moralne: próba systematyzacji [Moral norms: An attempt at systematization]. 4th edition 2000. Warszawa: PaÃ
Âstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. ) <br> English translation 1980: Moral norms: a tentative systematization. Warszawa: Polish Scientific Publ.
- 1973: Ethos rycerski i jego odmiany [The Chivalric Ethos and Its Varieties], 3rd edition, 2000, Warsaw, PaÃ
Âstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, .
- 1983: O czÃ
Âowieku, moralnoÃ
Âci i nauce: miscellanea [On Man, morality, and science: miscellanies, ed. by Maria Ofierska and Maria SmoÃ
Âa. Warszawa: PaÃ
Âstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
- 1992: Wzór demokraty: cnoty i wartoÃ
Âci [The paragon of a democrat: Virtues and values] Lublin: Daimonion.
- 2002: Intymny portret uczonych: korespondencja Marii i StanisÃ
Âawa Ossowskich [An intimate portrait of a scholarly couple: The correspondence of Maria Ossowska and StanisÃ
Âaw Ossowski], ed. by ElÃ
¼bieta Neyman. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo "Sic!". .
See also
Notes
References
- Olgierd Sochacki (ed.): WÃÂ
tki polityczne w pracach Marii i StanisÃ
Âawa Ossowskich [Political threads in the works of Maria Ossowska and StanisÃ
Âaw Ossowski]. GdaÃ
Âsk: GdaÃ
Âskie Towarzystwo Naukowe. .