Jozef Maria Bochenski

Bocheński, Józef Maria 

Born Aug. 30, 1902, in Czuszów, Poland. Swiss Neo-Thomistic philosopher. Polish nationality.

Bocheński is one of the theoretical leaders of anticommunism and a member of the Dominican Order. Bocheński has been a professor of the history of philosophy (since 1945) and rector (1964–66) of the University of Fribourg. Bocheński was the organizer and director (from 1957) of the Institute of East European Research, which is attached to the university. He is the founder and publisher (since 1961) of the journal Studies in Soviet Thought and the series Sovietica (since 1959). As an opponent of communism, Bocheński has issued statements concerning the “totalitarian and antihuman” character of the Soviet regime as well as the philosophical groundlessness of Marxism-Leninism. In recent years he has shifted from a complete rejection of the scholarly significance of Soviet philosophy to more discriminating forms of “criticism.” Bocheński acknowledges its successes in working out problems in natural science, formal logic, the rapid growth of production, and its other achievements.

Bocheński has written works on the history of philosophy and on modern, and in particular, mathematical, logic.

WORKS

Europaische Philosophic der Gegenwart, 2nd ed. Bern, 1951.
Formale Logik. Munich, 1956.
Wege Zum philosophischen Denken, 2nd ed. Basel-Vienna, 1960.
Logic of Religion. New York, 1965.
Diamat. Stuttgart, 1968.

REFERENCES

Alekseev, M. N. “Issledovanie o problemakh myshleniia.” Vestni kistorii mirovoi kul’tury, 1959, no. 1.
Novye knigi za rubezhom, 1958, no. 21; 1960, nos. 16, 21.
Sitkovskii, E. P. “Protiv filosofskogo antikommunizma.” In Antikommunizm—vrag chelovechestva. Prague, 1962.
Bykhovskii, B. “Partii v filosofii i filosofskii kamufliazh.” Kommunist, 1967, no. 1.

A. A. ALTUKHOV