Background
Polak, Leonard was born on January 6, 1880 in Steenwijk, The Netherlands.
Polak, Leonard was born on January 6, 1880 in Steenwijk, The Netherlands.
Philosophy and Law, University of Amsterdam, /offs: Personal influences included Heymans and Van der Wyck: philosophical influences included Spinoza, Kant and Guyau.
Lecturer in Epistemology. University of Amsterdam, 1912. Professor of Philosophy of Law.
University of Leyden, 1925. Professor of Philosophy. University of Groningen, from 1928.
Prominent member of the Dutch League of Atheists ’De Dageraad’ and speaker for the Atheist Broadcasting Company.
Polak considered philosophy first of all as the science of the unity of our knowledge, it is necessary and also possible to solve philosophical problems in a rational and objective way. The ratio is the common instrument of all men, situated on a higher level than all kinds of beliefs that contradict each other. The foundation of philosophy is laid by the pure subject; nature is the product of this subject. Polak's critical philosophy thus opposes all ‘dogmatism’ that is founded on nature. In ethics and in philosophy of law the mind is the source of objective and unchangeable rules and norms. This autonomous position is in agreement with the Stoa and with Spinoza, leading to the sentence that ‘virtue is its own reward'. Within the same tradition Polak states that freedom is causality descending from the strength of our own will, and coercion is causality in spite of our own will. The real foundation of the free personality is called ‘character’. Personal death means no more than the end of subjective life; whatever is done in an objective way will remain. The meaning of death is the call to moral behaviour during lifetime. The moral good originates from the principle of objectivity: the categorical imperative commands: ‘you have to will objectively’, without regarding your own subjective and personal feelings and emotions; you must act as if you were an objective person. The moral bad originates from subjective desire and leads to conflicts with other subjects and with society as a whole. The greatest evil of our time is making war. No objective argument can be found to justify it and therefore all preparation for war is criminal and moral duty is to be an anti-militarist. In his great work on criminal law Polak expounds the theory of retaliation: the only meaning of punishment can be found within the sphere of retributive justice. Punishment has no sense in the context of reconciliation or of compensation, because the only effect of punishment has to be to restore the violated order. The criminal sought pleasure in badness, and the balance has to be recovered by inflicting sorrow.