Augustyn Jakubisiak (1884-1945), Polish priest, philosopher and theologian,
undertook polemics with Jan Łukasiewicz, whom he knew personally. A
dispute concerning the so-called logistics (mathematical logic) and its
relationship with philosophy developed between the two. The most important
arguments were laid out, primarily in the following works: in the case of
Jakubisiak, in the book From Scope to Content and in the case of Łukasiewicz,
in the texts Logistics and Philosophy and In the Defense of Logistics.
Jakubisiak criticized logistics for its anti-metaphysical, anti-theological and
anti-religious attitude, which was based on neo-positivist philosophy, and led,
in consequence to atheism. He also claimed that one should focus on what is
concrete, avoiding idealization and abstraction (meaning the content of
concepts, not their scope). Łukasiewicz defended logistics claiming that it
possesses its own methods based on intellect, and is also an area of
independent knowledge (but not completely detached) from philosophy, due to
the fact it can consider the most important philosophical problems such as
finiteness and infinity. This dispute, as the researchers identified, basically
concerned the reduction of philosophy to the study of language (analytic
philosophy) and initiated one of the most important discussions concerning the
relationship between philosophy and logic. This debate was crucial because it
also concerned questions related to fundamental metaphysical issues
(naturalism – supranaturalism, rationalism – irrationalism) and epistemological
issues (realism – idealism, boundaries and structure of cognition).