55th edition of Art and Philosophy journal has been dedicated to Professor Bohdan Dziemidok to honor 60 years of his academic activity. Professor Bohdan Dziemidok is a philosopher, ethicist, axiologist and theoretician of art, for years associated with the University of Gdańsk, where he created philosophy field of study.
The 55th Art and Philosophy journal, published by the University of Warsaw, was prepared by guest editors, professors at the University of Gdańsk, Anna Chęćka and Piotr J. Przybysz, who were joined by aestheticians from Poland and several foreign institutions. Texts dedicated to Professor Dziemidok were written by his former students and coworkers from our university (Monika Bokiniec, Robert Rogoziecki, Anna Chęćka, Piotr J. Przybysz) and doctoral students from Gdańsk Institute of Philosophy (Maja Bieńkowska, Iwona Szydłowska). Researchers from the following universities dedicated their articles to Professor Dziemidok: Jagiellonian University, University of Warsaw and Maria Curie-Skladowska University. The international guests list is headlined by Professor Ken-ichi Sasaki from Tokyo, a friend of Professor Dziemidok. In their texts authors undertake dialog with matters close to the Jubilarian, like art valuation, artistic experience, comedy, popular art or catharsis.
Art and Philosophy is a peer reviewed biannual journal that originated in 1989, currently published by University of Warsaw and Semper publishing house. The journal reflects the character of Polish aesthetics and Władysław Tatrkiewicz accomplishments, it is open to various styles of philosophizing on art, aesthetics and culture. Since its beginning Art and Philosophy fulfills the mission of realizing what happens in aesthetic philosophy community and publishing research works and essays incorporating interests like art, art criticism, aesthetics and philosophy in general.
Bohdan Dziemidok was born in 1933 in Słomin, then Navahrudak Province (Currently Belarus). From 1951 to 1956 he studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Leningrad (St. Petersburg). In September 1956 he took the position of researcher at the Maria Curie-Składowska University in Lublin. He received his doktor (PhD) degree in 1963 and doktor habilitowany (PhD ‘with habilitation’) degree in 1977. Since 1983 he has been associated with the University of Gdańsk. For many years he served as Head of the Institute of Ethics and Aesthetics, Director of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology and from 1996 to 1999 served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Establishing independent field of study, philosophy (necessary for any university to achieve its status) at the University of Gdańsk in 1996 was the crowning achievement of his administrative career. He was a well-liked academic teacher, he encouraged people to think critically and thought philosophical musings also to students of different majors, holding ethics lectures at the Faculty of Law and aesthetics lectures at the Academy of Music in Gdańsk. Professor Bohdan Dziemidok received multiple awards and honors for his research, including The City of Gdańsk Jan Heweliusz Award in humanities category. Professor Dziemidok cooperated with some of the most outstanding representatives of the world of aesthetics and art philosophy, becoming the leading expert on Anglo-Saxon aesthetics in Poland. Through his work as an academic teacher at the University of Gdańsk, UMCS in Lublin and SWPS in Warsaw he has mentored several now scientifically active researchers . As a visiting professor he lectured at the universities in Oxford, Chicago, Tokyo, Berlin and Moscow. He wrote over 140 dissertations, including: The comical (1967) – published in English and Russian (second edition, in Polish, was published with amendments in 2011), Teoria przeżyć i wartości estetycznych w polskiej estetyce dwudziestolecia międzywojennego (1980) [Therory of aesthetic experiences and values of Polish aesthetics of the Interwar Period], Sztuka, wartości, emocje (1992) [Art, values, emotions] and Główne kontrowersje estetyki współczesnej (2012)[Major controversies of modern aesthetics].
Translation: Adam Myzyk
