Michał Wiszniewski

Michał Wiszniewski (27 September 1794 – 22 December 1865) was a Polish philosopher, psychologist, and literary historian.

Michał Wiszniewski. Portrait by Rafał Hadziewicz

Life

Wiszniewski graduated from the celebrated Krzemieniec Lyceum (secondary school), where he subsequently taught for a time.

In 1831 he became a professor at Kraków's Jagiellonian University. He was a conservative activist during the Kraków Uprising of 1846. In 1848 he emigrated to Italy.

Wiszniewski was an epigone of the Polish Enlightenment, and at the same time a precursor of Positivism.

He authored a pioneering book on Characters of Human Minds, which is regarded as the first Polish work in the field of psychology.

Works

• Bacona metoda tłumaczenia natury (Bacon's Method of Explaining Nature; 1834)
• Charaktery rozumów ludzkich (Characters of Human Minds; 1837, English edition 1853 [1]
• O rozumie ludzkim (On the Human Mind; 1848)
• Historia literatury polskiej (A History of Polish Literature; vols. 1–10, 1840–57)

See also

• History of philosophy in Poland
• List of Poles

References

• "Wiszniewski, Michał," Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN (PWN Universal Encyclopedia), Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, vol. 4, 1976, p. 660.
• Polaczkówna, M., "Michał Wiszniewski, 1830-1848," Rocznik krakowski, vol. 12, 1910.
• Kadler, A., "Działaność filozoficzna Michała Wiszniewskiego," Charisteria: Rozprawy filozoficzne, 1960.
• Bańka, J., Poglądy filozoficzno-społeczne Michała Wiszniewskiego, 1967.