Władysław Szumowski: Forerunner of Contemporary Philosophy of Medicine

Abstract

In the life of Professor Władysław Szumowski, the founder of the Chair and Department of the History and Philosophy of Medicine, four turning points can be distinguished, each of which had a decisive influence upon his academic career. The first occurred when he had to interrupt his experimental work on tuberculosis — which he had been carrying out after completing his medical studies at the Medical Faculty of the University of Warsaw — when he himself succumbed to tuberculosis infection. The second turning point took place when he followed the advice of Professor Gluziński, Director of the Clinic for Internal Medicine at the University of Lwów, and began to study philosophy under Professor Twardowski. The third came with the outbreak of World War II and his resulting imprisonment along with other professors of the Jagiellonian University by the Nazi-Germans, which interrupted his research and studies for at least six years. The fourth came in 1947 when, after his retirement during the new communist regime, he was forced to witness the withdrawal of the history of medicine and medical philosophy courses from the study programs offered by post-war Polish medical faculties.