Leszek Kolakowski

Born in 1927 in Radom, Poland, Leszek Kolakowski was professor of philosophy at the University of Warsaw until 1968, when he left for a professorship at McGill University. He also has taught at Berkeley, Yale, and the University of Chicago. A senior research fellow at All Soul's College, Oxford, until he retired, he received numerous honors, including the Erasmus Prize, the Jefferson Prize, and the Prix Tocqueville. In 2003, he was the first recipient of the John W. Kluge Prize from the Library of Congress, awarded in recognition for lifetime achievement in the humanities and social sciences. The author of more than thirty books and many other writings, he lived in Oxford, England, and died in 2009.

MAIN CURRENTS OF MARXISM: The Founders • The Golden Age • The Breakdown (W. W. Norton & Co., 2005)

WHY IS THERE SOMETHING RATHER THAN NOTHING?: 23 Questions from Great Philosophers (Penguin/Allen Lane, 2007)