Roman Darowski

Roman Darowski (born August 12, 1935, in Szczepanowice, Poland; died 15 January 2017) was a jesuit, philosopher, professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at the Jesuit University of Philosophy and Education Ignatianum in Kraków.

He entered the Jesuit Order in 1951. He was ordained priest in 1961, in Warsaw. He studied philosophy at the Jesuit Faculty of Philosophy in Kraków (1955-1958) and theology at the Jesuit Faculty of Theology: Bobolanum in Warsaw (1958-1962). He continued his philosophical studies at the Gregorian University in Rome (1963-1966), where he obtained a Ph.D, and in Munich (1966/67); since 1990 full professor (professor ordinarius).

Since 1967, Darowski has been a lecturer in philosophy, mainly in philosophical anthropology, at the Jesuit Faculty of Philosophy in Kraków, now Akademia Ignatianum; dean of the Faculty of Philosophy (1968-1982, 1994-1997, 2001–2007; rector of the Jesuit College in Kraków (1978-1984); founder and the first editor (1996-2006) of a multilingual revue Forum Philosophicum; member of the Committee for the History of Science and Technology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Darowski publishes mainly in the field of philosophical anthropology and in the field of the history of philosophy in Poland, especial¬ly that of the Jesuits. He has published 15 books and over 300 articles – over 50 of them in foreign languages.

Principal publications

• Człowiek świat [Man and World], Kraków 1972.
• La théorie marxiste de la vérité, Rome 1973.
• Człowiek: istnienie i działanie [Man: his existence and his activity], Kraków 1974.
• Filozofia w szkołach jezuickich w Polsce w XVI wieku [Philosophy in the Jesuit Schools in Poland in the 16th Century], Kraków 1994.
• Filozofia człowieka [Philosophical Anthropology], Kraków 1995.
• Studia z filozofii jezuitów w Polsce w XVII i XVIII wieku [Studies in the Philosophy of the Jesuits in Poland in the 17th and 18th Centuries], Kraków 1998.
• Studies in the Philo¬sophy of the Jesuits in Poland in the 16th to 18th Centuries, Cracow 1999.
• Filozofia jezuitów w Polsce w XX wieku [Philosophy of the Jesuits in Poland in the 20th Cen¬tury], Kraków 2001.
• Szczepanowice nad Dunajcem. Dzieje wsi, parafii katolickiej i gminy kalwińskiej [Szczepanowice on the Dunajec River. History of the Village, Catholic Parish and Calvinist Community], second enlarged ed., Kraków 2004 (summaries, p. 502-505, 554-555).
• Szczepanowice nad Dunajcem, ed. R. Darowski, Kraków 2005.
• Philosophiae & Musicae. Liber Jubilaris Prof. S. Ziemiański septuagesimum quintum annum celebranti dicatus, ed. R. Darowski, Kraków 2006.
• „Tezy z całej filozofii” z Krakowskiego Kolegium Jezuitów (1894), Kraków 2007. – «Theses ex universa philosophia» e Cracoviensi Collegio Maximo Societatis Jesu (1894). Introductio, Reproductio textus originalis 190 thesium; Traductio polona.
• Polish Contributions to World Philosophy, in: The Contribution of Polish Science and Technology to World Heritage, ed. by I. Stasiewicz-Jasiukowa, Kraków-Warszawa 2010, pp. 257–285.
• Ks. Piotr Skarga SJ (1536-1612). Życie i dziedzictwo [Fr. Piotr Skarga SJ (1536-1612). Life and Heritage. Ed. by R. Darowski and S. Ziemiański], Kraków 2012.
• The Perennial Value of Peter Skarga’s Legacy, ibidem, pp. 419–436.
• Filozofia jezuitów na ziemiach dawnej Rzeczypospolitej w XIX wieku [Philosophy of the Jesuits on the territories of the former Commonwealth: Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine in the 19th century], Kraków 2013.
• Philosophical Anthropology. Outline of fundamental problems, Kraków 2014.
• Filozofia człowieka [Philosophy of Man], 5th ed., Kraków 2015 (Table of contents – Theses, p. 281-284; Table des matières – Thèses, p. 285-288).
• Fragmenta philosophica. Selected Papers by Roman Darowski SJ Published on His 80th Birthday, Kraków 2015.

Philosophy

Darowski’s philosophical views are presented most clearly in his books: Filo¬zofia człowieka [Philosophy of Man, 5 Polish editions] and Philosophical Anthropology. Outline of fundamental problems, 2014.

Darowski’s philosophy takes its inspiration from the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He also takes into consideration new currents of philosophical thought, especially the personalistic and axiological tendencies, but also, in some fashion, the dialogical one (cf. Philosophical Anthropology, especially the chapter entitled “Human Being as a Dialogical Being”, pp. 123–126). He does not avoid the new achievements of the life-sciences; instead, he attempts to integrate them with philosophy (cf. the chapters entitled “Human Corporeality” (pp. 38–43) and “The Origin of Human Being” (pp. 95–99) of the work just mentioned). Especially in its initial stages, there are many elements in his application of his method resembling a phenomenological description.