A modern philosopher who has never experienced
the feeling of being a charlatan is such a shallow mind that
his work is probably not worth reading.
Leszek Kołakowski
The “Reading the Other” symposia are organized at the International Center for Dialogue in Krasnogruda, in the hospitable interiors of the Miłosz’s Manor. Its sessions, held in a form of dialogical seminars, are devoted to contemporary re-readings of books by influential thinkers of the twentieth century, which strongly resonate with the challenges faced by the people of the borderlands. Each symposium has its chosen “guide of thought” whose public voice and works contribute to a unique “vantage point” (Miłosz, The Moral Treaty) . So far, our guides have been: Tony Judt, Zygmunt Bauman i Leonidas Donskis. Our debates will again be accompanied by the ideas expressed in the mottoes of our previous meetings:
.... Hannah Arendt at her best: attacking head-on a painful topic; dissenting from official wisdom; provoking argument not just among her critics but also and especially among her friends; and above all, disturbing the easy peace of received opinion.
Tony Judt
Intellectuals raise issues concerning humanity. They are people who are not restrained by a single point of view or concept, discipline or perspective, culture or ideological preference. A master of his/her discipline of art becomes an intellectual by transcending its limits, when he/she succeeds in translating his/her field’s problems, themes, and ideas into a general cultural framework within which professionals from other fields and/or disciplines can operate. An intellectual, therefore, always fulfils the function of mediating interpreter or critic.
Leonidas Donskis
This time our guide in “Reading the Other” will be Leszek Kołakowski, one of the most outstanding philosophers of the twentieth century. The guides of his journey of meditation through the cognition of reality were the priest and the jester. The affection of his readers has been clearly been leaning towards the jester, both, at the time when his famous essay under the title was published, i.e the era of the communist regime, and today, when we witness the recurrence of totalitarian ideologies and creation of new ones. Yet, we should not forget that if we succumbed to the jester primacy in our thinking and attitudes, we would distort the philosopher's message. "Unlike the priest, the jester cannot himself provide foundations, all he can do is to undermine those already in existence." [194] Marci Shore whom I quoted here, followed the development of Kołakowski's reflection on recognition of utopia and his growing concern for the costs incurred by its application, emphasizes that the author of the essay on The Spirit of Revolution combines it with his conviction that "an answer to lack of ability should not be a fatalist appeasement of all evils. Even though there are no laws of history that would guarantee progress, it does not mean, however, that there are no better worlds than this one."
The participants of our symposion, run in English and Polish, will be “disturbers of peace” from Ukraine, Lithuania, the United States and Poland.
SYLLABUS
Monday 23 July: The Meaning of the Left
“What is Socialism?”/“Czym jest socjalizm?” (1956)
“The Concept of the Left”/“Sens ideowy pojęcia lewicy” (1957)
“Responsibility and History”/“Odpowiedzialność i historia” (1957)
“The Priest and the Jester”/“Kapłan i błazen” (1959)
Tuesday 24 July: Accounting with Marxism
E.P. Thompson-Kołakowski correspondence (1971-1973)
“Interview with Leszek Kołakowski” in Encounter (1977)
“My Correct Views on Everything”/“Moje słuszne poglądy na wszystko” (1974)
“How to be a Conservative-Liberal Socialist”/“Jak być konserwatywno-liberalnym socjalistą?” (1979)
Wednesday 25 July: The Impossibility of Utopia
“In Praise of Inconsistency”/“Pochwala niekonsekwencji”/«Похвала непоследовательности» (1958)
“Ethics without a Moral Code”/“Etyka bez kodeksu” (1966)
“The Death of Utopia Reconsidered” (1982)
Thursday 26 July: What is Truth?
“Karl Marx and the Classical Definition of Truth”/ “Karol Marks a klasyczna definicja prawdy” (1959)
“Totalitarianism and the Virtue of the Lie”/ “Totalitaryzm i zalety kłamstwa” (1983)
Metaphysical Horror (excerpt)/Horror Metaphysicus (fragment) (1988)
Husserl and the Search for Certitude/ Husserl i poszukiwanie pewności (1975)
Friday 27 July: What History Means
“Jezus Chrystus – prorok i reformator” (1965)
“Historical Understanding and the Intelligibility of History”/“Rozumienie historyczne i zrozumiałość zdarzenia historycznego” (1966)
Zygmunt Bauman, “Social Dissent in the East European Political System” (1971)
“A Pleading for Revolution” (response to Bauman)/ “Obrona rewolucji” (1974)
“Modernity on Endless Trial”
“Hitler’s Heirs” (1982)
Saturday 28 July: (10-12): Что делать?
“Why Do We Need Kant?”
“Emperor Kennedy Legend: A New Anthropological Debate”/ “Legend o cesarzu Kennedym: nowa dyskusja antropologiczna” (1986)