Filozofia, czyli literatura: Wincentego Lutosławskiego ironiczna „metafizyka płci”

Abstract

The author of this study presents a forgotten essay by the Polish philosopher Wincenty Lutosławski (1863-1954) entitled The Metaphysics of Gender. It was published in 1903 in the first issue of the magazine “Eleusis”, which was entirely filled with Lutosławski’s texts. His metaphysics of gender concludes with Theses on Woman. The entire text is a literary and intellectual provocation, balancing between the poetics of a pamphlet, a philosophical treatise, an essay, and a programmatic manifesto. The main theme of the essay is Lutosławski’s vision of a new philosophical approach to gender issues, which he grounds in the metaphysics of the self. He proposes a dynamic view of the self in which there is a constant oscillation between the will (that which is masculine) and love (that which is feminine). The predominance of one of the elements ultimately shapes human sex, which is dynamic in nature. From this concept, the philosopher-writer draws far-reaching conclusions (often utopian) concerning the social role of women and men, the upbringing of children, the understanding of carnality, and the role of marriage. Lutosławski’s ideas were passed over in silence in his era as too bold, “scandalous”.