Leszek Kołakowski
Polish philosopher and historian of ideas (born 1927–2009) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Leszek Kołakowski (/ˌkɒləˈkɒfski/; Polish: [ˈlɛʂɛk kɔwaˈkɔfskʲi]; 23 October 1927 – 17 July 2009) was a Polish philosopher and historian of ideas. He is best known for his critical analyses of Marxist thought, such as in his three-volume history of Marxist philosophy Main Currents of Marxism (1976). In his later work, Kołakowski increasingly focused on religious questions. In his 1986 Jefferson Lecture, he asserted that "we learn history not in order to know how to behave or how to succeed, but to know who we are".[1]
Leszek Kołakowski | |
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Born | (1927-10-23)23 October 1927 |
Died | 17 July 2009(2009-07-17) (aged 81) Oxford, England |
Education | University of Łódź University of Warsaw (PhD, 1953) |
Notable work | Main Currents of Marxism (1976) |
Awards | Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (1977) MacArthur Fellowship (1983) Erasmus Prize (1983) Kluge Prize (2003) Jerusalem Prize (2007) |
Era | 20th-/21st-century philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
School | |
Institutions | University of Warsaw |
Doctoral students | |
Main interests | |
Notable ideas | Humanist interpretation of Marx Criticism of Marxism |
Due to his criticism of Marxism and of the Communist state system, Kołakowski was effectively exiled from Poland in 1968. He spent most of the remainder of his career at All Souls College, Oxford. Despite being in exile, Kołakowski was a major inspiration for the Solidarity movement that flourished in Poland in the 1980s[2] and helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading to his being described by Bronisław Geremek as the "awakener of human hopes".[3][full citation needed][4] He was awarded both the MacArthur Fellowship and Erasmus Prize in 1983, the 2003 Kluge Prize, and the 2007 Jerusalem Prize.