LESZEK KOLAKOWSKI WAS a philosopher and historian of ideas. He
received his doctorate in 1953 for his study of Spinoza. Under
different circumstances, he might have led a satisfying but obscure
academic life, publishing dense scholarly works that hardly anyone
read, and remaining largely aloof from the world’s troubles and
turmoil.
It was Kolakowski’s misfortune, however, to be born in Poland in 1927, on the eve of that nation’s darkest hour. As a teenager, he endured the Nazi occupation, lived among Poles who risked their lives saving their Jewish compatriots, and taught himself Latin, French, and German, as well as philosophy. In 1959, he was appointed to the chair of the history of modern philosophy at Warsaw University, but soon found himself in hot water with the authorities because of his political views. In 1968, Poland’s Communist government expelled him from Warsaw University and banned him from teaching and publishing. After a brief stay in Canada and the U.S., he settled in England and was senior fellow at All Soul’s College, Oxford, until his retirement.
Read more: http://spectator.org/archives/2013/04/19/up-from-totalitarianism
It was Kolakowski’s misfortune, however, to be born in Poland in 1927, on the eve of that nation’s darkest hour. As a teenager, he endured the Nazi occupation, lived among Poles who risked their lives saving their Jewish compatriots, and taught himself Latin, French, and German, as well as philosophy. In 1959, he was appointed to the chair of the history of modern philosophy at Warsaw University, but soon found himself in hot water with the authorities because of his political views. In 1968, Poland’s Communist government expelled him from Warsaw University and banned him from teaching and publishing. After a brief stay in Canada and the U.S., he settled in England and was senior fellow at All Soul’s College, Oxford, until his retirement.
Read more: http://spectator.org/archives/2013/04/19/up-from-totalitarianism
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