Barbara Skarga (25 October 1919 – 18 September 2009) was a Polish philosophy historian and philosopher who worked mainly in ethics and epistemology.

Barbara Skarga
Skarga in 2000
Born25 October 1919
Died18 September 2009(2009-09-18) (aged 89)
Olsztyn, Poland
Era20th-century philosophy
RegionWestern Philosophy
SchoolPhilosophy of dialogue
Main interests
Epistemology, humanity, ontology, ethics

Biography

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Skarga was born in 1919 at Warsaw to a Calvinist family with gentry roots. Her sister was actress Hanna Skarżanka and brother was Edward Skarga.

Skarga studied philosophy at Wilno University. During World War II, she was a member of the resistance movement Armia Krajowa. In 1944 the Soviet NKVD arrested and sentenced her to ten years at the katorga. Afterwards, she was forced to live at a collective farm. After the war she wrote an anonymous memoir about her time in the gulag.[1]

She returned to Poland in 1955[2] and graduated in 1957 with a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Warsaw. In 1988 she became a full professor of philosophy.

Skarga was an editor-in-chief of Etyka. In 1995, she was awarded Order of the White Eagle.

Skarga died on 18 September 2009 in Olsztyn, and was buried in Warsaw.[3]

In 2022, the Barbara Skarga Foundation is based in Warsaw and offers a scholarship to unpublished philosophers.[4]

Bibliography

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  • Narodziny pozytywizmu polskiego 1831-1864 (1964)
  • Kłopoty intelektu. Między Comte'em a Bergsonem (1975)
  • Czas i trwanie. Studia nad Bergsonem (1982)
  • Po wyzwoleniu 1944-1956 (1985)
  • Przeszłość i interpretacje (1987)
  • Granice historyczności (1989)
  • Tożsamość i różnica. Eseje metafizyczne (1997)
  • Ślad i obecność (2002)
  • Kwintet metafizyczny (2005)
  • Człowiek to nie jest piękne zwierzę (2007)
  • Tercet metafizyczny (2009)

References

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  1. ^ European Salon website
  2. ^ Archive of the History of Philosophy website
  3. ^ "Skarga, Barbara". Traces Of War. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  4. ^ Barbara Skarga Foundation, scholarship page
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