The Professorial Committee selected 15 finalists from among nearly 400 candidates. All finalists are already winners of the competition, while five of them will receive the main awards, which will be presented on 18 October 2026. In the humanities category, both finalists represent the UniLodz Faculty of Philosophy and History. Alongside Dr Michał Godziszewski, recognition was also awarded to Dr Dawid Kobiałka.
Dr Michał Godziszewski works at the Department of Logic and Methodology of Science within the Institute of Philosophy, as well as at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Lodz. His research focuses on how people form beliefs, justify claims, make decisions and build shared knowledge.
My research revolves around one broad question: what are rational cognition and action? I seek answers primarily in logic, the foundations of mathematics, the philosophy of mathematics, as well as the tools of theoretical computer science
– explains the researcher.
Is There One Mathematical Universe?
Dr Godziszewski is currently leading a project on pluralism and potentialism in set theory and arithmetic. Potentialism assumes that the universe of mathematical objects is not given as a complete whole. Instead, further classes of objects can be discovered gradually. This idea draws on ancient debates about infinity, namely whether it exists as a completed totality or as the possibility of unlimited further extension.
Pluralism, on the other hand, in the form of multiversism examined by the researcher, allows for a plurality of equally valid models of set theory. Rather than seeking a single ultimate description of the mathematical universe, it proposes the study of different internally consistent models. Dr Godziszewski investigates whether such a position can be maintained and what arguments support or challenge its acceptance.
Artificial Intelligence and Collective Decision-Making
In the coming years, the researcher also intends to focus on the formal and philosophical foundations of artificial intelligence. He is interested in how AI systems can learn through interaction with people, institutions and other systems, and how they can support collective decision-making.
The aim of this research is to develop an understanding of AI as a tool that supports collective rationality rather than prediction alone: a system capable of operating under conditions of uncertainty, strategic interaction and distributed sources of information
– he emphasises.
This line of research is closely connected with the questions that originally led him to philosophy and logic:
I've decided to devote myself to philosophy, and logic in particular, because these disciplines seemed to me, and still seem to me, to offer a way of engaging with the most fundamental and general problems concerning cognition and action in the world. These are precisely the kinds of basic and universal questions that interest me most.
