Miłowita Kunińskiego droga do i od liberalizmu .......... 85

MIŁOWIT KUNIŃSKI’S JOURNEY TOWARDS AND AWAY FROM LIBERALISM

The article briefly characterizes Professor Miłowit Kuniński as a philosopher who was attracted to the liberal thought owing to his understanding of modern epistemology, which is to say, he recognized in liberalism a position free from a faulty epistemological premise about a direct link between one’s knowledge and one’s actions; a premise that is rejected by modern philosophers, although accepted by Marxist philosophy, for instance. Unlike most interpreters, Kuniński set up to consider F.A. von Hayek’s liberalism in the light of its epistemological solutions, which allow for the phenomenon of human ignorance, and, somewhat hesitantly, he saw in Hayek’s stance an admittance (or potential admittance) of an idea of a strong moral subject, namely a subject that is formed by empirical circumstances and social roles and at the same time is defined in terms of accepted values and life goals and their hierarchy. A reflection on contemporary forms of liberalism, which often morph into systems that are packed with detailed directives and dismiss the idea of a strong moral subject, inclined Kuniński to take an increasingly critical view of this position, although it does not get to be fully reflected in the texts he managed to complete and publish.