This podcast takes you to Warsaw in the first half of the 20th century. Two philosophers, Naomi Osorio-Kupferblum (University of Vienna) and Marta Sznajder (University of Groningen) talk about the fascinating world of modern logic and mathematically oriented, anti-irrationalist philosophy as well as the new possibilities that opened up for women during World War I and in the interwar period in Warsaw. The Polish philosopher Janina Hosiasson-Lindenbaum became internationally acclaimed at an early age for her work in inductive logic. During the 1930s, she continuously published in top Polish and European philosophy journals, and presented her work at international conferences. Nevertheless, as a woman and a Jew she could never get a position at a Polish university and had to teach in a high-school. In September 1939, she was supposed to present her work on confirmation theory at the Unity of Science Congress held at Harvard University. However, the cost of the voyage across the Atlantic was prohibitive for a teacher like her, so she had to stay in Warsaw. While the attendance of this conference saved the lives of a number of her colleagues who had made it there, Janina became a victim of the holocaust. She was shot in 1942.
