Andrzej Rusław Fryderyk Nowicki (27 May 1919 – 1 December 2011) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

philosopher of culture, a specialist in the

history of philosophy The history of philosophy is the systematic study of the development of philosophical thought. It focuses on philosophy as rational inquiry based on argumentation, but some theorists also include myth, religious traditions, and proverbial lor ...

and of

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...

, in

Italian philosophy Over the ages, Italian philosophy had a vast influence on Western philosophy, beginning with the Ancient Greece, Greeks and Ancient Rome, Romans, and going onto Renaissance humanism, the Age of Enlightenment and modern philosophy. Philosophy wa ...

of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and in

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

and Grand Master of the Grand East of Poland and a

connoisseur A connoisseur (French language, French Reforms of French orthography, traditional, pre-1835, spelling of , from Middle-French , then meaning 'to be acquainted with' or 'to know somebody/something') is a person who has a great deal of knowledge ...

of the fine arts, poet and diplomat. In the years 1937–1939 he studied philosophy, psychology and Italian studies at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

. He resumed his studies in philosophy during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

underground education Underground education or clandestine education refers to various practices of teaching carried out at times and places where such educational activities were deemed illegal. Examples of places where widespread clandestine education practices took ...

. His teachers were, among others:

Tadeusz Kotarbiński Tadeusz Marian Kotarbiński (; 31 March 1886 – 3 October 1981) was a Polish philosopher, logician and ethicist. A pupil of Kazimierz Twardowski, he was one of the most representative figures of the Lwów–Warsaw School, and a member of th ...

Władysław Tatarkiewicz Władysław Tatarkiewicz (; 3 April 1886 – 4 April 1980) was a Polish philosopher, historian of philosophy, historian of art, esthetician, and ethicist. Early life and education Tatarkiewicz began his higher education at Warsaw University ...

Władysław Witwicki Władysław Witwicki (; 30 April 1878, Lubaczów – 21 December 1948, Konstancin) was a Polish psychologist, philosopher, translator (mainly of Plato's works into Polish), historian (of philosophy and art) and artist. He is seen as one of the ...

. Nowicki conceived his own

philosophical system A philosophical theory or philosophical positionBothamley, Jennifer (1993), ''Dictionary of Theories'', Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press is a view that attempts to explain or account for a particular problem in philosophy. The use of the term "theory ...

which he called "the ergantropic and incontrological () philosophical system of meetings within things". He worked as an academic at the University of Warsaw (1952–1963), the

University of Wrocław The University of Wrocław (, UWr; ) is a public research university in Wrocław, Poland. It is the largest institution of higher learning in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, with over 100,000 graduates since 1945, including some 1,900 researcher ...

(1963–1973), the

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (MCSU) (, UMCS) is a public research university, in Lublin, Poland. It is named in honour of Marie Curie-Sklodowska. The University was founded on October 23, 1944, by the Lublin Committee during the Second W ...

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

(1973–1991) and achieved the rank of a professor. He was co-founder and chairman of the Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and of the . He was a member of the committee of the

Front of National Unity Front of National Unity or National Unity Front (, FJN) was a popular front supervising elections in the Polish People's Republic which also acted as a coalition for the dominant communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) and its allies. It w ...

in 1958. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the " Euhemer" magazine. He was the grandmaster of the Grand Orient of Poland in 1997–2002. Later in his life he developed an interest in the Chinese language.Recollection of Ivonna Nowicka, author of the picture of Nowicki's library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowicki, Andrzej 1919 births 2011 deaths Polish atheists Atheist philosophers Atheism activists University of Warsaw alumni Academic staff of the University of Warsaw Academic staff of the University of Wrocław 20th-century Polish philosophers 20th-century atheists 21st-century atheists Polish Freemasons Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland