Kazimierz Jodkowski

Kazimierz Walenty Jodkowski (born 14 February 1950) is a Polish philosopher and professor in the humanities, specializing in the philosophy of science and natural philosophy and natural sciences, including topics such as intertheoretical incommensurability and the demarcation problem. He is the creator of the book series Realizm. Racjonalność. Relatywizm (Realism. Rationality. Relativism) and the online journal Filozoficzne Aspekty Genezy.

Biography Kazimierz Jodkowski was born on 14 February 1950 to Tadeusz and Stefania Jodkowski. He completed primary school in Złocieniec and general secondary school in Drawsko Pomorskie.

He studied philosophy at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, earning his master's degree with distinction in 1974. His master's thesis focused on the cosmology of Edward Arthur Milne, supervised by . In 1983, he defended his doctorate in philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, exploring the anti-cumulative theories of Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend. From January to May 1990, he held a fellowship at the Commonwealth University-Lock Haven. On 28 April 2000, he was awarded the title of professor in the humanities.

Jodkowski began his academic career on 1 April 1975 at the Institute of Philosophy within the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. From 1985 to 1994, he served as head of the methodology of sciences section in the Department of Logic and Methodology of Sciences at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. In October 1995, he joined the Department of Logic and Methodology of Sciences at the Zielona Góra Pedagogical University.

In 1984, alongside Zbysław Muszyński, , and , he founded the philosophical book series Realizm. Racjonalność. Relatywizm (Realism. Rationality. Relativism), which has published over 40 volumes.

Scholarly views Jodkowski's research investigates what distinguishes science from non-science and what criteria should be used for this demarcation. He argues that no effective criterion for the demarcation problem exists, asserting that there is no direct sensory contact with reality and that the human nervous system can only produce three-dimensional simulations of the surrounding world.

He views science as a societal construct, secondary to society's existence. Politicians, representing society, have the right to determine science funding, as society's survival outweighs science's. Consequently, in conflicts, non-scientific values often dominate scientific ones.

Jodkowski has set a high bar for creationists, arguing they must demonstrate not only that science cannot explain something naturalistically but also that such an explanation is impossible. He developed the concept of epistemic frames of reference, later elaborated by Krzysztof Kilian.

Reception contested Jodkowski's claim that scientific creationism leads to theism, suggesting it might only temporarily undermine belief in Darwinism and at most support belief in non-material causes of life.

Publications Teza o niewspółmierności w ujęciu Thomasa S. Kuhna i Paula K. Feyerabenda (The Thesis of Incommensurability in the Views of Thomas S. Kuhn and Paul K. Feyerabend), Lublin, 1984. . Wspólnoty uczonych, paradygmaty i rewolucje naukowe (Communities of Scholars, Paradigms, and Scientific Revolutions), Lublin, 1990. . Metodologiczne aspekty kontrowersji ewolucjonizm-kreacjonizm, Realizm. Racjonalność. Relatywizm (Methodological Aspects of the Evolutionism-Creationism Controversy, Realism. Rationality. Relativism), vol. 35, UMCS Publishing, Lublin, 1998. . Spór ewolucjonizmu z kreacjonizmem. Podstawowe pojęcia i poglądy (The Evolutionism vs. Creationism Dispute: Basic Concepts and Views), Library of Philosophical Aspects of Genesis, vol. 1, Megas Publishing, Warsaw, 2007. .

Awards In 1999, he received the First Degree Award from the Minister of National Education for his monograph Metodologiczne aspekty kontrowersji ewolucjonizm-kreacjonizm (Methodological Aspects of the Evolutionism-Creationism Controversy).