Wiktor Potempa (1887-1942) - badacz Platona rodem z Górnego Śląska

The article presents a little-known figure of Wiktor Potempa (1887-1942) and his Platonic studies. His works proceeded from his doctoral thesis on Phaedrus which was defended in 1912. Later on he studied relation between Platonism and Christianity, and finally published a handbook for the history of ancient philosophy that was addressed to the Catholic seminarians. Some views of Potempa are compared to those of Stefan Pawlicki, the most important Plato scholar in the neo-Scholastic milieu. In comparison with Pawlicki, Potempa’s attitude to Plato is much less enthusiastic, but rather cautious; he warns the Christian reader not to worship Plato’s philosophy uncritically.