Remarks on the chronology of stages in scientific development.

The main goal of this paper is to present a fully developed concept of Paul A. Roth’s philosophy of history to the Polish reader. Of course, it is just an introduction, but with the interview it should be a good starting point for further analysis. These seem desirable given Roth’s very ambitious programme, which in addition is based on “old facts”; that is, an analytical philosophy of history and science. The rapprochement between the two “visions” is not only a philosophical consideration, but also responds to the often-raised voices of practitioners. This introduction refers primarily to Roth’s latest book, indicating a possible interpretation. This “reading” is conducted by indicating the historical context, recalling philosophical analyses and determining the validity of the proposed solutions in order to decide how much science there is in history and vice versa.

The paper analyses Thomas S. Kuhn's theory of the development of science interpreted as a sociological conception. Kuhn's visions of dealing with history as well as eventual controversies connected with its application are discussed.

Gaston Milhaud (1858–1918) był filozofem francuskim, który wychodząc od matematyki, odbył drogę do filozofii (zwłaszcza epistemologii) i historii nauki. Jego prace z zakresu historii nauki były poświęcone nauce greckiej i nauce nowożytnej. Milhaud podnosi w swych pracach, że podstawowe pojęcia i zasady nauki (jej rozmaitych dyscyplin) są efektem decyzji, które zarazem przekraczają tak doświadczenie, jak i logikę. Kładzie on nacisk na rolę swobodnej kreacji i aktywności umysłu. Autor poddaje dyskusji centralne problemy myśli Milhauda, w szczególności zaś kwestię relacji nauki do filozofii.

Fin-de-siècle Central European scholarship takes on a different complexion, if it is approached from the perspective of politically responsible action. The article analyses neither scholarship involved into party politics nor apolitical scientific and scholarly activities but focuses on a specific approach: The scholars I am concerned with in this article strove for the strict division of science and politics; they nevertheless remained committed to political objectives such as improving social conditions. The approaches of Bernard Bolzano, Ernst Mach, Alois Riegl, Sigmund Freud, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Otto Neurath, Hans Kelsen are taken into account.

This article offers a survey of the careers of 54 Polish female historians who received the habilitacja degree in 1945–1989 at seven Polish universities – four of those were founded soon after the Second World War (University of Łódź, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, University of Wrocław, Maria Skłodowska‑Curie University in Lublin), while three had been established earlier (University of Warsaw, Jagiellonian University in Kraków and the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań). Analysis of personal files and various biographical materials has led the author to a number of conclusions about female historians’ academic careers. The careers reflected the discipline’s development, both in terms of the expansion of its field of inquiry, as well its methodological diversity and the conditions in which it operated. Career paths followed by women were not much different from those followed by men. Neither advancement requirements, nor employment policy at the schools of higher learning were discriminatory towards any of the sexes. However, as far as the female career advancement is concerned, there were some differences between the old and new universities: it was easier for women to obtain managerial positions at the latter.

On November 2, 2018, an outstanding Polish medievalist Jerzy Lesław Wyrozumski died in Kraków; he was born on March 7, 1930 in Trembowla (now Ukraine). He graduated in 1955 with a degree in history at the Jagiellonian University. He wrote his master's thesis and doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Roman Grodecki. In 1981 he received the title of professor; he was dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and History in the years 1981–1987, and from 1987 to 1990 he was the prorector of the Jagiellonian University. He published over 600 scholarly books, articles and reviews.

In the article the author deals with the contributions of Goettingian scholars to the study of the so-called “Runic”-Turkic inscriptions discovered in the early 18th century in Siberia during the 18th and 19th centuries before their decipherment by Vilhelm Ludvig Peter Thomsen (1842–1927) and Friedrich Wilhelm Radloff (Vasilij Vasilievič Radlov; 1837–1918). The author points to the scholars speculations on the unknown language of the inscriptions based in Göttingen as well as the research in this field and times outside that town.

The article is devoted to the establishment, development and activity of the Committee of Oriental Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, which has been operating under various names since 1952 and celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. The Committee is the most important institution of Oriental studies in Poland, coordinating and monitoring the development of various fields of this area of science. It also conducts organizational activities (conferences, symposia, conventions) and publishing – among others it is the publisher of the oldest Polish scientific journal in this field, Rocznik Orientalistyczny / Yearbook of Oriental Studies and various publishing series.