The central methodological question posed in this article pertains to the possibilities and methods of pursuing the history of science. The author discusses this problem with regard to Polish literary theory. Deriving from M.E. Opler’s ideas, she proposes to systematise its history around the so-called cultural themes. According to the Author, the most important theme in Polish literary theory is the one of reference, which she discusses with respect to Roman Ingarden’s most renowned and influential concept. In analysing the semantic and pragmatic foundations for the phenomenologist’s concept of reference in more detail, the Author demonstrates how it was more closely associated with the socio-pragmatic ideas formed by the Modern literary theory of the 30s than it is typically assumed.