Leszek Kołakowski in Memoriam

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Publisher : Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften
ISBN 13 : 9783631618240
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (182 download)

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Book Synopsis Leszek Kołakowski in Memoriam by : Jacek Migasiński

Download or read book Leszek Kołakowski in Memoriam written by Jacek Migasiński and published by Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is devoted to the person and work of Leszek Kołakowski, who died in July 2009. At the turn of the 1940s and 1950s, Leszek Kołakowski belonged to a group of young intellectuals actively supporting on the «ideological front» and in the University of Warsaw the new political agendas of Marxist provenance introduced in Poland. But already in 1955-56, he came to the fore of a movement of philosophical revisionists radically questioning the validity of these Marxist prescriptions. This resulted in his expulsion from the Communist Party in the early 1960s, then from the University and finally from Poland after the «March events» in 1968. Presented in this volume are, on the one hand, texts drawing up a historical balance sheet of theoretical achievements of Leszek Kołakowski (articles by Andrzej Walicki and Andrew Targowski), and, on the other, essays devoted to certain aspects of his philosophical position (articles by Marcin Król, Zofia Rosińska, Janusz Dobieszewski, Witold Mackiewicz and Janusz Kuczyński). Also presented in this volume are some occasional essays sketching a portrait of Leszek Kołakowski (by Marek J. Siemek, Karol Toeplitz and Jerzy Szacki). The book is closed with an extensive bibliography.

Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?

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Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 0465010385
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (65 download)

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Book Synopsis Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? by : Leszek Kolakowski

Download or read book Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? written by Leszek Kolakowski and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2007-11-20 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do we have free will? How can we know anything? What is justice? Why is there evil in the world? What is the source of truth? Is it possible for God not to exist? Can we really believe what we see? These are some of the questions that have intrigued the world's greatest thinkers over the ages. They are questions that make us think about the way we live, work, relate to each other, and see the world. In elegant and accessible prose, the eminent philosopher Leszek Kolakowski explores the essence of these ideas and their ongoing relevance as he introduces us to the great figures of Western thought: from Socrates to St. Augustine, Descartes to Nietzsche, and beyond. Reflecting on the great issues that animate our lives -- good and evil, truth and beauty, faith and the soul, free will and consciousness -- Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? offers a guided tour of Western philosophy by one of the world's greatest living experts.

The Presence of Myth

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022622225X
Total Pages : 151 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (262 download)

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Book Synopsis The Presence of Myth by : Leszek Kolakowski

Download or read book The Presence of Myth written by Leszek Kolakowski and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-11-16 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[An] important essay by a philosopher who more convincingly than any other I can think of demonstrates the continuing significance of his vocation in the life of our culture."—Karsten Harries, The New York Times Book Review With The Presence of Myth, Kolakowski demonstrates that no matter how hard man strives for purely rational thought, there has always been-and always will be-a reservoir of mythical images that lend "being" and "consciousness" a specifically human meaning. "Kolakowski undertakes a philosophy of culture which extends to all realms of human intercourse—intellectual, artistic, scientific, and emotional. . . . [His] book has real significance for today, and may well become a classic in the philosophy of culture."—Anglican Theological Review

Modernity on Endless Trial

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226450465
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (264 download)

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Book Synopsis Modernity on Endless Trial by : Leszek Kolakowski

Download or read book Modernity on Endless Trial written by Leszek Kolakowski and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1997-06-23 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leszek Kolakowski delves into some of the most intellectually vigorous questions of our time in this remarkable collection of essays garnished with his characteristic wit. Ten of the essays have never appeared before in English. "Exemplary. . . . It should be celebrated." —Arthur C. Danto, New York Times Book Review "This book . . . express[es] Kolakowski's thought on God, man, reason, history, moral truth and original sin, prompted by observation of the dramatic struggle among Christianity, the Enlightenment and modern totalitarianism. It is a wonderful collection of topics." —Thomas Nagel, Times Literary Supplement "No better antidote to bumper-sticker thinking exists than this collection of 24 'appeals for moderation in consistency,' and never has such an antidote been needed more than it is now." —Joseph Coates, Chicago Tribune "Whether learned or humorous, these essays offer gems in prose of diamond hardness, precision, and brilliance." —Thomas D'Evelyn, The Christian Science Monitor A "Notable Books of the Year 1991" selection, New York Times Book Review—a "Noted with Pleasure" selection, New York Times Book Review—a "Summer Reading 1991" selection, New York Times Book Review—a "Books of the Year" selection, The Times.

Is God Happy?

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Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 0465075746
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (65 download)

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Book Synopsis Is God Happy? by : Leszek Kolakowski

Download or read book Is God Happy? written by Leszek Kolakowski and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2013-02-05 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The late Leszek Kolakowski was one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. A prominent anticommunist writer, Kolakowski was also a deeply humanistic thinker, and his meditations on society, religion, morality, and culture stand alongside his political writings as commentaries on intellectual—and everyday—life in the twentieth century. Kolakowski’s extraordinary empathy, humor, and erudition are on full display in Is God Happy?, the first collection of his work to be published since his death in 2009. Accessible and wide ranging, these essays—many of them translated into English for the first time—testify to the remarkable scope of Kolakowski’s work. From a provocative and deeply felt critique of Marxist ideology to the witty and self-effacing “In Praise of Unpunctuality” to a rigorous analysis of Erasmus’ model of Christianity and the future of religion, these essays distill Kolakowski’s lifelong engagement with the eternal problems of philosophy and some of the most vital questions of our age.

My Correct Views on Everything

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Publisher : St Augustine PressInc
ISBN 13 : 9781587315268
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (152 download)

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Book Synopsis My Correct Views on Everything by : Leszek Kolakowski

Download or read book My Correct Views on Everything written by Leszek Kolakowski and published by St Augustine PressInc. This book was released on 2010-12-10 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Leszek Kolakowski's title essay, "My Correct Views on Everything" (his famous rejoinder to E.P. Thompson's "Open Letter to L. Kolakowski"), the former Communist "High Priest" accounts for his apostasy from communism and explains why communism had to fail. Next, in a number of scholarly articles, he explains why communism assumed the pernicious form it had. The two other sections of the book, on Christianity and Liberal ideologies, are equally prescient. Each is both a pointed, incisive, often humorous exposition, even indictment, and yet each offers an intimate portrait of Kolakowski's spiritual and intellectual development. Included also are two interviews with the author. Far from believing that the author has "correct views on everything," the reader is likely to be convinced that Kolakowski is right on more than one point. One's rejection of Marxist ideology does not have to lead, he implicitly suggests, to the dismissal of the Marxist dream of a world without greed. Being criticial of this or that item in the Church's politics should not have to make one reject Jesus's teaching. Finally, being concerned with liberalism's inability to generate moral values should not lead us past the compelling reason to accept the liberal state as the only viable political alternative both to the political and cultural follies of our times and the dangers of religious theocratic temptations. What Kolakowski offers in this wonderful collection of essays is, in short, a "catechism" for non-ideological Marxists, Christians, liberals, and conservatives alike. Book jacket.

Bergson

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (97 download)

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Book Synopsis Bergson by : Leszek Kołakowski

Download or read book Bergson written by Leszek Kołakowski and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kolakowski shows how Henri Bergson sought to reconcile Darwin's theory with his own beliefs about the nature of the universe. Bergson believed that time could be thought of in two different ways: as an abstract measuring device used for practical purposes, or as duree, the "real" time we actually experience. He also held that all matter is propelled by an internal elan vital, or life-drive, and that the life of the universe is constantly creative and unpredictable. On the basis of these ideas he constructed a system of thought that embraced his views on memory, matter, consciousness, movement, religious morality, and the nature of laughter. His pantheistic and dynamic vision of the universe, which emerged at a time of crisis in Western intellectual life, was symptomatic of the struggle between a rigid scientific determinism and the Christian tradition of a divine creation.

Metaphysical Horror

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226450551
Total Pages : 140 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (55 download)

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Book Synopsis Metaphysical Horror by : Leszek Kolakowski

Download or read book Metaphysical Horror written by Leszek Kolakowski and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2001-07 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A modern philosopher who has never once suspected himself of being a charlatan,' writes Leszek Kolakowski at the start of this endlessly stimulating book, 'must be such a shallow mind that his work is probably not worth reading.' For over a century, philosophers have argued that philosophy is impossible or useless, or both. Although the basic agenda dates back tot he days of Socrates, there is still disagreement about the nature of truth, reality, knowledge, good and God. This may make little practical difference to our lives, but it leaves us with a feeling of radical uncertainty described by Kolakowski as 'metaphysical horror'. Is there any way out of this cul-de-sac? This trenchant analysis confronts these dilemmas head on. Philosophy may not provide definitive answers to the fundamental questions, yet the quest itself transforms our lives. It may undermine most of our certainties, yet it still leaves room for our spiritual yearnings and religious beliefs. Kolakowski has forged a dazzling demonstration of philosophy in action. It is up to readers to take up the challenge of his arguments.

The Devil in History

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Publisher : University of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520282205
Total Pages : 334 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis The Devil in History by : Vladimir Tismaneanu

Download or read book The Devil in History written by Vladimir Tismaneanu and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2014-03-14 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Devil in History is a provocative analysis of the relationship between communism and fascism. Reflecting the author’s personal experiences within communist totalitarianism, this is a book about political passions, radicalism, utopian ideals, and their catastrophic consequences in the twentieth century’s experiments in social engineering. Vladimir Tismaneanu brilliantly compares communism and fascism as competing, sometimes overlapping, and occasionally strikingly similar systems of political totalitarianism. He examines the inherent ideological appeal of these radical, revolutionary political movements, the visions of salvation and revolution they pursued, the value and types of charisma of leaders within these political movements, the place of violence within these systems, and their legacies in contemporary politics. The author discusses thinkers who have shaped contemporary understanding of totalitarian movements—people such as Hannah Arendt, Raymond Aron, Isaiah Berlin, Albert Camus, François Furet, Tony Judt, Ian Kershaw, Leszek Kolakowski, Richard Pipes, and Robert C. Tucker. As much a theoretical analysis of the practical philosophies of Marxism-Leninism and Fascism as it is a political biography of particular figures, this book deals with the incarnation of diabolically nihilistic principles of human subjugation and conditioning in the name of presumably pure and purifying goals. Ultimately, the author claims that no ideological commitment, no matter how absorbing, should ever prevail over the sanctity of human life. He comes to the conclusion that no party, movement, or leader holds the right to dictate to the followers to renounce their critical faculties and to embrace a pseudo-miraculous, a mystically self-centered, delusional vision of mandatory happiness.

The Alienation of Reason

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Alienation of Reason by : Leszek Kołakowski

Download or read book The Alienation of Reason written by Leszek Kołakowski and published by . This book was released on 1968 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Making of the English Working Class

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Publisher : IICA
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 866 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis The Making of the English Working Class by : Edward Palmer Thompson

Download or read book The Making of the English Working Class written by Edward Palmer Thompson and published by IICA. This book was released on 1964 with total page 866 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This account of artisan and working-class society in its formative years, 1780 to 1832, adds an important dimension to our understanding of the nineteenth century. E.P. Thompson shows how the working class took part in its own making and re-creates the whole life experience of people who suffered loss of status and freedom, who underwent degradation and who yet created a culture and political consciousness of great vitality.

Main Currents of Marxism

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Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 9780393060546
Total Pages : 1324 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (65 download)

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Book Synopsis Main Currents of Marxism by : Leszek Kołakowski

Download or read book Main Currents of Marxism written by Leszek Kołakowski and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2005 with total page 1324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The commanding study of Marxism, now in one masterful volume with a new preface and epilogue by the author.

God Owes Us Nothing

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022618949X
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (261 download)

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Book Synopsis God Owes Us Nothing by : Leszek Kolakowski

Download or read book God Owes Us Nothing written by Leszek Kolakowski and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-11-09 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God Owes Us Nothing reflects on the centuries-long debate in Christianity: how do we reconcile the existence of evil in the world with the goodness of an omnipotent God, and how does God's omnipotence relate to people's responsibility for their own salvation or damnation. Leszek Kolakowski approaches this paradox as both an exercise in theology and in revisionist Christian history based on philosophical analysis. Kolakowski's unorthodox interpretation of the history of modern Christianity provokes renewed discussion about the historical, intellectual, and cultural omnipotence of neo-Augustinianism. "Several books a year wrestle with that hoary conundrum, but few so dazzlingly as the Polish philosopher's latest."—Carlin Romano, Washington Post Book World "Kolakowski's fascinating book and its debatable thesis raise intriguing historical and theological questions well worth pursuing."—Stephen J. Duffy, Theological Studies "Kolakowski's elegant meditation is a masterpiece of cultural and religious criticism."—Henry Carrigan, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Metaphilosophy

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Publisher : Verso Books
ISBN 13 : 1784782750
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (847 download)

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Book Synopsis Metaphilosophy by : Henri Lefebvre

Download or read book Metaphilosophy written by Henri Lefebvre and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading French thinker with his key work on philosophical thought In Metaphilosophy, Henri Lefebvre works through the implications of Marx’s revolutionary thought to consider philosophy’s engagement with the world. Lefebvre takes Marx’s notion of the “world becoming philosophical and philosophy becoming worldly” as a leitmotif, examining the relation between Hegelian–Marxist supersession and Nietzschean overcoming. Metaphilosophy is conceived of as a transformation of philosophy, developing it into a programme of radical worldwide change. The book demonstrates Lefebvre’s threefold debt to Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche, but it also brings a number of other figures into the conversation, including Sartre, Heidegger and Axelos. A key text in Lefebvre’s oeuvre, Metaphilosophy is also a milestone in contemporary thinking about philosophy’s relation to the world.

The Flame of Eternity

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691162190
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

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Book Synopsis The Flame of Eternity by : Krzysztof Michalski

Download or read book The Flame of Eternity written by Krzysztof Michalski and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-12-26 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Flame of Eternity provides a reexamination and new interpretation of Nietzsche's philosophy and the central role that the concepts of eternity and time, as he understood them, played in it. According to Krzysztof Michalski, Nietzsche's reflections on human life are inextricably linked to time, which in turn cannot be conceived of without eternity. Eternity is a measure of time, but also, Michalski argues, something Nietzsche viewed first and foremost as a physiological concept having to do with the body. The body ages and decays, involving us in a confrontation with our eventual death. It is in relation to this brute fact that we come to understand eternity and the finitude of time. Nietzsche argues that humanity has long regarded the impermanence of our life as an illness in need of curing. It is this "pathology" that Nietzsche called nihilism. Arguing that this insight lies at the core of Nietzsche's philosophy as a whole, Michalski seeks to explain and reinterpret Nietzsche's thought in light of it. Michalski maintains that many of Nietzsche's main ideas--including his views on love, morality (beyond good and evil), the will to power, overcoming, the suprahuman (or the overman, as it is infamously referred to), the Death of God, and the myth of the eternal return--take on new meaning and significance when viewed through the prism of eternity.

Reading the Past

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Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9780333771228
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (712 download)

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Book Synopsis Reading the Past by : Tamsin Spargo

Download or read book Reading the Past written by Tamsin Spargo and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2000 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Questions about how and why we read the past continue to demand the attention of cultural critics. Reading the Past introduces key debates about history, historiography, and historicism that have transformed approaches to history and literature. It includes influential and provocative theoretical essays as well as lively case studies and readings by literary critics and historians.

The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe

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Publisher : Central European University Press
ISBN 13 : 9789639241398
Total Pages : 520 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (413 download)

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Book Synopsis The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe by : Barbara J. Falk

Download or read book The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe written by Barbara J. Falk and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In addition to the huge list of written sources from samizdat works to recent essays, Falk's sources include interviews with many personalities of those events as well as videos and films."--Jacket.