THE PLACE OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE CONTEMPORARY PARADIGM FOR THE PRACTICE OF SCIENCE

The article is intended to present arguments for the cultivation of philosophy as “sapiential” or wisdom-oriented knowledge whereby human knowledge is realized most fully. The author claims, first, that philosophy has indispensable heuristic value because it considers the understanding of the world and man in the context of the question “why;” the search for an answer to this fundamental question is an expression of the human person’s natural inclination to explain the reality in which he lives. Secondly, he argues that classical philosophy is not only the explanation of the reality, but it is a way of forming man; therefore it is a proposal for a method of philosophical education that is an interesting alternative to contemporary forms of practicism. The reflections are based on the legacy of the Lublin Philosophical School (Poland).