Leszek Kołakowski (; ; 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, especially his three-volume history, '' Main Currents of Marxism'' (1976). In his later work, Kołakowski increasingly focused on religious questions. In his 1986

Jefferson Lecture The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities is an honorary lecture series established in 1972 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). According to the NEH, the Lecture is "the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished ...

, he asserted that " learn history not in order to know how to behave or how to succeed, but to know who we are".Leszek Kołakowski, "The Idolatry of Politics," reprinted in ''Modernity on Endless Trial'' (University of Chicago Press, 1990, paperback edition 1997), , , , p. 158. Due to his criticism of Marxism and of the

Communist state A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comi ...

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 Solidarity ( pl, „Solidarność”, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" (, abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”'' ), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Subseq ...

that flourished in Poland in the 1980s and helped bring about the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, leading to his being described by Bronislaw Geremek as the "awakener of human hopes".Jason Steinhauer (2015). "'The Awakener of Human Hopes': Leszek Kolakowski", John W. Kluge Center at Library of Congress, September 18, 2015; accessed 01 December 2017 He was awarded both the

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

and

Erasmus Prize The Erasmus Prize is an annual prize awarded by the board of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation to individuals or institutions that have made exceptional contributions to culture, society, or social science in Europe and the rest of the world. I ...

in 1983, the 2003

Kluge Prize The John W. Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity is awarded since 2003 for lifetime achievement in the humanities and social sciences to celebrate the importance of the Intellectual Arts for the public interest. Overview The prize is awarded by ...

, and the 2007 Jerusalem Prize.

Biography

Kołakowski was born in

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been the seat of a separate Radom Voivodeship (1975� ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. He could not obtain formal schooling during the

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

(1939–1945) in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, but he read books and took occasional private lessons, passing his school-leaving examinations as an external student in the underground

school system State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

. After the war, he studied philosophy at both

University of Lodz A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

and

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...

, the latter of which he completed a doctorate at in 1953, focusing on

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, ...

from a Marxist viewpoint. He served as a professor and chair of Warsaw University's department of History of Philosophy from 1959 to 1968. In his youth, Kołakowski became a communist. He signed a denunciation against

Władysław Tatarkiewicz Władysław Tatarkiewicz (; 3 April 1886, Warsaw – 4 April 1980, Warsaw) was a Polish philosopher, historian of philosophy, historian of art, esthetician, and ethicist. Early life and education Tatarkiewicz began his higher education at ...

. From 1947 to 1966, he was a member of the

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...

. His intellectual promise earned him a trip to Moscow in 1950. He broke with Stalinism, becoming a revisionist Marxist advocating a

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

interpretation of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

. One year after the 1956

Polish October Polish October (), also known as October 1956, Polish thaw, or Gomułka's thaw, marked a change in the politics of Poland in the second half of 1956. Some social scientists term it the Polish October Revolution, which was less dramatic than the ...

, Kołakowski published a four-part critique of Soviet Marxist dogmas, including

historical determinism Historical determinism is the stance that events are historically predetermined or currently constrained by various forces. Historical determinism can be understood in contrast to its negation, i.e. the rejection of historical determinism. Some po ...

, in the Polish periodical '' Nowa Kultura''. His public lecture at Warsaw University on the tenth anniversary of Polish October led to his expulsion from the

. In the course of the

1968 Polish political crisis The Polish 1968 political crisis, also known in Poland as March 1968, Students' March, or March events ( pl, Marzec 1968; studencki Marzec; wydarzenia marcowe), was a series of major student, intellectual and other protests against the ruling Pol ...

, he lost his job at Warsaw University and was prevented from obtaining any other academic post. He came to the conclusion that the totalitarian cruelty of Stalinism was not an aberration but a logical end-product of

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

, whose genealogy he examined in his monumental '' Main Currents of Marxism'', his major work, published in 1976 to 1978. Leszek Kołakowski Anefo

Kołakowski became increasingly fascinated by the contribution that theological assumptions make to

Western culture Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...

and, in particular, modern thought. For example, he began his ''Main Currents of Marxism'' with an analysis of the contribution that various forms of ancient and medieval Platonism made, centuries later, to the

Hegelian Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

view of history. In the work, he criticized the laws of dialectical materialism for being fundamentally flawed and found some of them being "truisms with no specific Marxist content", others "philosophical dogmas that cannot be proved by scientific means" but others being just "nonsense". Kołakowski defended the role which freedom of will plays in the human quest for the transcendent. His ''Law of the Infinite Cornucopia'' asserted a doctrine of

status quaestionis ''Status quaestionis'', a Latin phrase translated roughly as "the state of investigation," is most commonly employed in scholarly literature to refer in a summary way to the accumulated results, scholarly consensus, and areas remaining to be develo ...

: for any given doctrine that one wants to believe, there is never a shortage of arguments by which one can support it. Nevertheless, although human fallibility implies that we ought to treat claims to infallibility with scepticism, our pursuit of the higher (such as truth and goodness) is ennobling. In 1968, Kołakowski became a visiting professor in the department of philosophy at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

in Montreal and in 1969 he moved to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. In 1970, he became a senior research fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He remained mostly at Oxford, but he spent part of 1974 at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, and from 1981 to 1994, he was a part-time professor at the Committee on Social Thought and in the Department of Philosophy at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. Although the Polish Communist authorities officially banned his works in Poland, underground copies of them influenced the opinions of the Polish intellectual opposition. His 1971 essay ''Theses on Hope and Hopelessness'' (full title: ''In Stalin's Countries: Theses on Hope and Despair''), which suggested that self-organized social groups could gradually expand the spheres of civil society in a totalitarian state, helped to inspire the dissident movements of the 1970s that led to Solidarity and eventually to the collapse of Communist rule in Eastern Europe in 1989. In the 1980s, Kołakowski supported Solidarity by giving interviews, writing and fundraising. Kołakowski maintained throughout his life and career a view of Marxism that was distinct from that of existing political regimes, and he relentlessly disputed these differences and defended his own interpretation of Marxism. In a famous article cleverly entitled "What is Left of Socialism", he wrote

The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia had nothing to do with Marxian prophesies. Its driving force was not a conflict between the industrial working class and capital, but rather was carried out under slogans that had no socialist, let alone Marxist, content: Peace and land for peasants. There is no need to mention that these slogans were to be subsequently turned into their opposite. What in the twentieth century perhaps comes closest to the working class revolution were the events in Poland of 1980-81: the revolutionary movement of industrial workers (very strongly supported by the intelligentsia) against the exploiters, that is to say, the state. And this solitary example of a working class revolution (if even this may be counted) was directed against a socialist state, and carried out under the sign of the cross, with the blessing of the Pope.

In Poland, Kołakowski is regarded as a philosopher and historian of ideas but also as an icon for

anti-communism Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

and opponents of communism.

Adam Michnik Adam Michnik (; born 17 October 1946) is a Polish historian, essayist, former dissident, public intellectual, and editor-in-chief of the Polish newspaper, ''Gazeta Wyborcza''. Reared in a family of committed communists, Michnik became an opponen ...

has called Kołakowski "one of the most prominent creators of contemporary Polish culture". Kołakowski died on 17 July 2009, aged 81, in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England. In an obituary, philosopher

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher and writer who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views. Editor from 1982 ...

wrote that Kołakowski was a "thinker for our time" and that, regarding Kołakowski's debates with intellectual opponents, "even if ... nothing remained of the subversive orthodoxies, nobody felt damaged in their ego or defeated in their life's project, by arguments which from any other source would have inspired the greatest indignation". Leszek Kolakowski grave 2

Awards

In 1986, the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

selected Kołakowski for the

. Kołakowski's lecture "The Idolatry of Politics",Jefferson Lecturers
neh.gov was reprinted in his collection of essays ''Modernity on Endless Trial''.Leszek Kołakowski (1990) "The Idolatry of Politics," p. 158 in ''Modernity on Endless Trial''. University of Chicago Press, . In 2003, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

named Kołakowski the first winner of the

John W. Kluge Prize The John W. Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity is awarded since 2003 for lifetime achievement in the humanities and social sciences to celebrate the importance of the Intellectual Arts for the public interest. Overview The prize is awarded by ...

for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities. His other awards include the following: * Jurzykowski Prize (1969) * Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (1977) * Veillon Foundation European Prize for the Essay (1980) *

(1983) *

for the

(1986) * Award of the Polish Pen Club (1988) *

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

, Gordon J. Laing Award (1991) * Tocqueville Prize (1994) *

Honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

of the

University of Gdańsk The University of Gdańsk ( pl, Uniwersytet Gdański) is a public research university located in Gdańsk, Poland. It is one of the top 10 universities in Poland and is also an important centre for the studies of the Kashubian language. History ...

(1997) * Order of the White Eagle (1997) * Honorary degree of the

University of Wrocław , ''Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau'' (before 1945) , free_label = Specialty programs , free = , colors = Blue , website uni.wroc.pl The University of Wrocław ( pl, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, U ...

(2002) *

of the

(2003) * St George Medal (2006) * Honorary degree of the

Central European University Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social science ...

(2006) * Jerusalem Prize (2007) * Democracy Service Medal (2009)

Bibliography

* ''Klucz niebieski, albo opowieści budujące z historii świętej zebrane ku pouczeniu i przestrodze'' (''The Key to Heaven''), 1957 * ''Jednostka i nieskończoność. Wolność i antynomie wolności w filozofii Spinozy'' (''The Individual and the Infinite: Freedom and Antinomies of Freedom in Spinoza's Philosophy''), 1958 * ''13 bajek z królestwa Lailonii dla dużych i małych'' (''Tales from the Kingdom of Lailonia and the Key to Heaven''), 1963. English edition: Hardcover: University of Chicago Press (October 1989). . * ''Rozmowy z diabłem'' (US title: ''Conversations with the Devil'' / UK title: ''Talk of the Devil''; reissued with ''The Key to Heaven'' under the title ''The Devil and Scripture'', 1973), 1965 * ''Świadomość religijna i więź kościelna'', 1965 * ''Od Hume'a do Koła Wiedeńskiego'' (the 1st edition:''The Alienation of Reason'', translated by

Norbert Guterman Norbert Guterman (1900–1984) was a scholar, and translator of scholarly and literary works from French, Polish and Latin into English. His translations were remarkable for their range of subject matter and high quality. Born in Warsaw, Guterman ...

, 1966/ later as ''Positivist Philosophy from Hume to the Vienna Circle''), * ''Kultura i fetysze'' (''Toward a Marxist Humanism'', translated by Jane Zielonko Peel, and ''Marxism and Beyond''), 1967 * ''A Leszek Kołakowski Reader'', 1971 * ''Positivist Philosophy'', 1971 * ''TriQuartely 22'', 1971 * ''Obecność mitu'' (''The Presence of Myth''), 1972. English edition: Paperback: University of Chicago Press (January 1989). . * ed.
The Socialist Idea: A Reappraisal
', 1974 (with Stuart Hampshire) * ''Husserl and the Search for Certitude'', 1975 * ''Główne nurty marksizmu''. First published in Polish (3 volumes) as "Główne nurty marksizmu" (Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1976) and in English (3 volumes) as " Main Currents of Marxism" (London: Oxford University Press, 1978). Current editions: Paperback (1 volume): W. W. Norton & Company (17 January 2008). . Hardcover (1 volume): W. W. Norton & Company; First edition (7 November 2005). . * ''Czy diabeł może być zbawiony i 27 innych kazań'', 1982 * ''Religion: If There Is No God'', 1982 * ''Bergson'', 1985 * ''Le Village introuvable'', 1986 * ''Metaphysical Horror'', 1988. Revised edition: Paperback: University of Chicago Press (July 2001). . * ''Pochwała niekonsekwencji'', 1989 (ed. by Zbigniew Menzel) * ''Cywilizacja na ławie oskarżonych'', 1990 (ed. by Paweł Kłoczowski) * ''Modernity on Endless Trial'', 1990. Paperback: University of Chicago Press (June 1997). . Hardcover: University of Chicago Press (March 1991). . * ''God Owes Us Nothing: A Brief Remark on Pascal's Religion and on the Spirit of Jansenism'', 1995. Paperback: University of Chicago Press (May 1998). . Hardcover: University of Chicago Press (November 1995). . * ''Freedom, Fame, Lying, and Betrayal: Essays on Everyday Life'', 1999 * ''The Two Eyes of Spinoza and Other Essays on Philosophers'', 2004 * ''My Correct Views on Everything'', 2005 * ''Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?'', 2007 * ''Is God Happy?: Selected Essays'', 2012 * ''Jezus ośmieszony. Esej apologetyczny i sceptyczny'', 2014

References

Jacques Attali Jacques José Mardoché Attali (; born 1 November 1943) is a French economic and social theorist, writer, political adviser and senior civil servant, who served as a counselor to President François Mitterrand from 1981 to 1991, and was the firs ...

. Paris: Fayard, 2005, )
Kołakowski : In Stalin's Countries: Theses on Hope and Despair (1971)

1 April 1999, BBC Radio program In Our Time
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolakowski, Leszek 1927 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Polish philosophers 21st-century Polish philosophers Critics of Marxism European democratic socialists Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Former Marxists Historians of communism Jerusalem Prize recipients MacArthur Fellows Marxist humanists McGill University faculty Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts People from Radom Polish anti-communists Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom Polish dissidents Polish United Workers' Party members Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) Scholars of Marxism Spinoza scholars Spinozist philosophers University of Warsaw alumni University of Warsaw faculty Fellows of the British Academy People associated with the magazine "Kultura"

Biography

Awards

Bibliography

See also

References

Further reading

External links