Background
Schaff, Adam was born in 1913.
Schaff, Adam was born in 1913.
Lwow, Paris and Moscow, tnfls: Marxism-Leninism. Also developments in logic (Tarski) and linguistics (Sapir. Whorf), and Sartre.
Professor of MarxismLeninism, University of Warsaw (1946). Director of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Editor of the journal My si Filozoficzna [Philosophical Thought].
Main publications:
(1948) Wstep do teorii marksizmu [Introduction to Marxist Theory], Warsaw: Ksiazka i Wiedza.
(1950) Narodziny i rozwojfdozofli marksistowskiej [Origins and Evolution of Marxist philosophy]. Warsaw: Ksiazka i Wiedza.
(1951) Z zagadnien marksistowskiej teorii prawdy [Some Problems in the Marxist Theory of Truth]. Warsaw: Ksiazka i Wiedza.
(1955) Obiektywny charakter praw historii [On the Objective Character of Laws of History], Warsaw: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
(1960) Wstep do semantyki [Introduction to Semantics], Warsaw: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
(1961) Marksizm a egzystencializm [Marxism and Existentialism], Warsaw: Ksiazka i Wiedza.
(1962) Filozofia czlowieka (Philosophy of Man], Warsaw: Ksiazka i Wiedza.
(1964) Jezyk apoznanie [Language and Cognition], Warsaw: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
(1965) Marksizm a jednostka ludzka [Marxism and the Human Individual], Warsaw: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
(1970) Historia iprawda [History and Truth], Warsaw: Ksiazka i Wiedza.
(1975) Szkice o struckturalizmie [Studies in Structuralism], Warsaw: Ksiazka i Wiedza.
(1975) Humanismus, sprachphilosophie. erkenntnistheorie des marxismus, Vienna: Europaverlag. (1980) Stereotypen und das mensliche Handeln, Vienna: Europaverlag.
Secondary literature:
Skolimoski. H. (1967) Polish Analytical Philosophy: London: Routledge.
Regarded as one of Poland’s most important Marxist philosophers, SchafF’s thought is distinguished by an unusual degree of open-mindedness. He does not regard Marxism as a finished corpus of sacred writ, but as open, needing modification in the light of changing circumstance, and especially progress in science. In his career, he engaged seriously with three other traditions: Polish analysis; semantics; and Sartre's existentialism. Whilst critical of the views of Tarski, SchalT did come to accept that the standard Leninist theory of truth is inadequate, and attempted to elaborate a correspondence theory of truth compatible with dialectical materialism, and takes over a good deal of analytic method and vocabulary. Again Schaff considers the absence of semantics in Marxism to be a gap to be filled, and this he attempts to plug in his books of 1960. and 1964. He shows considerable sympathy for the views of Sapir and Whorf, construed not as a basis for ‘linguistic relativism’ but as excellent evidence for the rootedness of linguistic structures in the prevailing socioeconomic conditions. His major positive asserbon in Language and Cognition is that there are n<> thoughts which are not linguistic, this assertion being advanced as a synthetic proposition. Whilst Sartre’s existentialism, with its assertion of the autonomy and freedom of the individual, is incompatible with Marxism. Schaff again finds that this tradition indicates a gap in Marxism, this time in respect of philosophical anthropology, and in his book of 1965. Schaff begins the construction of a Marxist ‘philosophy of man". His argument here involves what many ideologues would regard as a debatable interpretation of Marx: economics is always a means, the end being human liberation. Throughout his life, and not just as a young man. Marx was concerned not with 'economic man’ but with the well-being of fully rounded individuals. Marxism is a humanist philosophy.