Arithmetic in Leśniewski's ontology
pp. 227-241
in: Kevin Mulligan, Tomasz Placek (eds), The history and philosophy of Polish logic, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstract
One of the most entertaining aspects of friendship with Jan Woleński is the opportunity to learn from and relish his almost inexhaustible supply of anecdotes about the work, lives and foibles of the figures of Polish logic and philosophy, and it has been my pleasure and privilege to have enjoyed this entertainment for many years, since I first met Jan. He was at that time working on what was to become the definitive history of the Lwów-Warsaw School, first in Polish, and later, with a modicum of linguistic guidance from myself, in English.1 In many ways the most fascinating of the many striking figures of that group of brilliant thinkers was Stanislaw Leśniewski (1886–1939), a man whose many idiosyncrasies, both doctrinal and personal, make him the most entertaining object of all of Jan's anecdotes. Many's the time Jan and I have met again at a conference and he has said, "I have a new story about Big Stan', that appellation being our private name for the great man.2
