is the most eminent Polish philosopher and historian of ideas of our times. He has been a Professor at the Universities of Yale, McGill, Berkeley and Oxford. he is mainly known for his critical analyses of Marxist thought, presented in works like the trilogy Main Currents of Marxism (1978). Since then, he wrote, among many other things, Modernity on Endless Trial (1990), God Owes Us Nothing (1995), Freedom, Fame, Lying, and Betrayal: Essays on Everyday Life (1999), The Two Eyes of Spinoza and Other Essays on Philosophers (2004) en My Correct Views on Everything (2005). In 1983 Kolakowski received the Erasmus Prize; in 2004 the Library of Congress honoured him with the first ‘Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities’.