Dr hab. Agnieszka Nogal, Prof. UW.
Prof. Agnieszka Nogal, PhD, Dr. habil. – philosopher and lawyer, Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Warsaw, Head of the Department of Political Philosophy (since 2017), and member of the Center for Medical and Biotechnology Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Warsaw. From 1994 to 2013 she worked at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and in 2002–2003 she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute in Florence. She is an active member of the Polish Philosophical Society, where she serves as Chair of the National Philosophy Olympiad for secondary school students.
One of Prof. Nogal’s most significant scholarly achievements is the development of a normative model of human dignity situated at the intersection of political philosophy and legal theory. This model is the result of many years of research on the foundations and contemporary challenges of human rights, particularly in the context of biopolitics—the use of one-dimensional scientific rationality to legitimize political decisions that undermine fundamental rights. In response to these tendencies, she developed a concept of dignity grounded in Aristotelian practical rationality and Martha Nussbaum’s capability approach. In her framework, dignity is defined as the capacity to realize legally protected human goods, such as family life, education, and access to care, rather than being reduced to individual autonomy.
This concept is presented in her monograph The Birth of Biopolitics and the Crisis of Human Rights: Defense of Practical Rationality as the Basis of Law (2023) (link) and further developed within the international project On a Democratic State of Law in the Face of the Challenges Related to COVID-19 (2022–2024), conducted in cooperation with Georgian institutions. For this contribution, Prof. Nogal was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by Shota Meskhia Zugdidi State University (2024).
Dr hab. Rafał Wonicki, prof. UW.
Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy of Politics at
the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Warsaw. He deals
with issues of the contemporary philosophy of politics and the theory
of the state and law. Author of the book Spór o demokratyczne
państwo prawa [Dispute about a Democratic and Constitutional State]
(WAiP 2007). Winner of a scholarship from the Ministry of Science
and Higher Education for outstanding young scholars. As
a member of the Central Committee of the Philosophy Olympiad,
he works for the popularization of philosophy.
Dr Magdalena Gawin
Graduate of the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Warsaw.
Teacher of philosophy in schools and cultural institutions. Secretary
of the Polish Philosophical Society. In 2015, she defended her
doctoral thesis titled Nowoczesny paradygmat filozofii polityki a prawa
człowieka [The Modern Paradigm of Political Philosophy and Human
Rights]. She has published her papers in Kronos, Etyka, and other
journals, as well as in numerous collective works.
Prof. Barbara A. Markiewicz, Emeritus Professor.
She has published around 300 academic papers, and has lectured in Turin, Zurich, Paris, Oxford, London, Jerusalem, Barcelona, and Berlin, among other places.
She is the deputy chairperson of the Polish Philosophical Society
as well as the chairperson of the Central Committee of the Philosophy
Olympiad. She has published a book titled Co się śni filozofom
[What Philosophers Dream About] (WAiP 2008). Her main interests
are the history of philosophy, teaching philosophy, and political
philosophy.