Leszek Kolakowski Quotes on Knowledge
Leszek Kolakowski was a Polish philosopher and the most influential critic of Marxism from within the Marxist tradition. This page collects quotes attributed to Leszek Kolakowski on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Leszek Kolakowski:
“Modernity is the culture of permanent self-criticism.”
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“Metaphysical Horror (1988)”
A modern philosopher who has never once suspected himself of being a charlatan must be such a shallow mind that his work is probably not worth reading. -
“We learn history not in order to know how to behave or how to succeed, but to know who we are.”
The Idolatry of Politics", U.S. Jefferson Lecture speech (1986) -
“Introduction to My Correct Views on Everything”
Communism was not the crazy fantasy of a few fanatics, nor the result of human stupidity and baseness; it was a real, very real part of the history of the twentieth century , and we cannot understand this history of ours without understanding communism. We cannot get rid of this specter by saying it was just “human stupidity,” or “human corruptibility.” The specter is stronger than the spells we c