The Footprint, the Presence of Stigma Registered. On the Incontrology and Ergantrophy of Andrze Nowicki

Abstract

On the occasion of the first anniversary of Professor Andrzej Nowicki’s death the author recalls the most valuable – in his opinion – intellectual inspirations of his former teacher. They focus on the incontrological and erganthrophic vision of the human being, consistently developed and discussed in the numerous publications by Nowicki. The first trace of the new human recognition appeared in 1966 in the article “The Atheistic Perpective of Immortality” in the journal Euhemer. Andrzej Nowicki developed the main ideas of his philosophical theory of encounters – called by him incontrology – in two books: The Human Being in the World of Works, Warsaw 1974 and The Encounter in Things, Warsaw 1991. On the other hand, the most comprehensive presentation of the concept of the so-called ergantrophy can be found in a paper delivered at the Congress of Polish Philosophy in Cracow, entitled “Ergantrophy as a Central Category of Philosophy of Culture” and published in Philosophical Studies, 1987, No.11. The author of this article exposes the most innovative philosophical solutions of Nowicki who challenges many preconceived notions of the nature and essence of the human being. At the same time, these solutions are confronted with critical reflection in the light of other authors' thoughts, which sheds light on the meaning and interpretation of the concepts reconstructed in this text.