The metaphysics of light. An introduction to the pantheistic ecophilosophy of Henryk Skolimowski

Abstract

The main thesis of this article is the assumption that Henryk Skolimowski’s metaphysics of light constitutes an original metaphysical concept and, moreover, that it could only have been written at the end of the twentieth century and only by a personality with a deeply interdisciplinary orientation. Skolimowski was undoubtedly erudite, not only in terms of the history of Western and Far Eastern philosophy, but also in the mathematical and natural sciences. He was a philosopher by training, and in his youth he also obtained a master’s degree in geodesy, which left its mark in such a way that he continued to deepen his knowledge in the mathematical and natural sciences for the rest of his life. Hence, his mindset was profoundly interdisciplinary. For a full understanding of Skolimowski’s metaphysical conception of light, it is crucial to break away from traditional metaphysical dualisms, especially those initiated by the Platonic tradition and continued by the Judeo-Christian tradition, whose apogee is the philosophy of Rene Descartes.