The article presents the Stefan Pawlicki’s (1839–1916) view on social policy. Stefan Pawlicki was a catholic priest, philosopher and the head of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He was one of the ancestors of the catholic thought on social policy in Poland, the editor of a periodical “Ruch Społeczny” (The Social Movement) and a founder of an association “Towarzystwo Pielęgnowania Nauk Społecznych” (The Association Caring of Social Sciences Development) in Kraków, at the beginning of XX century. According to Stefan Pawlicki, the discipline of social policy should be seen as a part of philosophy. The first reason is the use of similar cognitive methods. The second reason is social policy’ close connection to ethics. Stefan Pawlicki’s academic focus was the theory of a social question (kwestia socjalna). He stated that neither liberalism nor socialism may find a solution to the social question. As Pawlicki stressed in his works from the end of XIX century, the only way out of a social question is the broad ethical renewal on the basis of Christian solidarity