Explore the vast range of titles available.

\"Drawing on powerful historical and philosophical insight, Main Currents of Marxism traces the intellectual foundations of Marxist thought from Plotinus through Hegel to Lukacs, Sartre, and Mao. Leszek Kolakowski reveals Marxism to be \"the greatest fantasy of our century ... an idea that began in Promethean humanism and culminated in the monstrous tyranny of Stalinism.\" Long before the overwhelming majority of historians, journalists, and intellectuals around the world came to see the devastation wrought by autocratic, state-sponsored socialism, Kolakowski pointed to the shortcomings of a system doomed to failure.\" \"Recognized when it was first published for its profound historical insights and for its exposition of how the Communist hierarchy was quickly corroding from the inside, this forceful work has influenced several generations of scholars and historians. Despite decades of major political change, Main Currents of Marxism remains as accurate and incisive as ever. In a new preface and epilogue, Kolakowski reexamines the collapse of international Communism in light of the last tumultuous years.\"--Jacket.

The question of rationality and irrationality — conceived as characteristics of human behaviour — can be discussed either in empirical or in transcendental terms. In empirical terms political behaviour is called \"irrational\" when it is predictably counterproductive, i.e. when the agents are able, but fail to calculate the outcome of their actions. This is a \"Machiavellian\" concept of rationality and it involves no moral judgement. In transcendental terms rationality or irrationality are measured by standards of the \"rational human nature\" as defined in Platonic, Kantian or Husserlian manner. These two perspectives are mutually exclusive and irreducible, as they involve philosophical options. Rationalité ou irrationalité — considérées comme des caractéristiques du comportement humain — peuvent être discutées soit en termes empiriques, soit en termes transcendentaux. En termes empiriques, une conduite politique est qualifiée d'irrationnelle lorsqu'on peut prévoir qu'elle n'atteindra pas ses buts, c'est-à-dire lorsque les agents pourraient calculer l'effet de leurs actions, mais omettent de le faire. Il s'agit là d'un concept \"machiavellien\" de rationalité, qui n'implique pas de jugement moral. En termes transcendentaux, la rationalité ou l'irrationalité sont mesurées à l'aune de la \"nature humaine rationnelle\" telle qu'elle a été définie à la manière de Platon, de Kant ou de Husserl. Ces deux perspectives s'excluent mutuellement et sont irréductibles l'une à l'autre, car elles reposent sur des options philosophiques. Die Frage der Rationalität und Irrationalität — betrachtet als charakteristische Züge des menschlichen Verhaltens — kann auf entweder empirische oder transzendentale Art diskutiert werden. Empirisch wird politisches Verhalten « irrational » genannt, wenn es voraussagbar unzweckmässig ist, d.h. wenn die Handelnden zwar fähig sind, die Folgen ihrer Handlungen zu berechnen, es aber unterlassen. Das ist ein Machiavellischer Begriff von Rationalität, der kein moralisches Urteil involviert. Im transzendentalen Sinne werden Rationalität oder Irrationalität am Massstab « der rationalen menschlichen Natur » gemessen, wie dieser etwa durch Piaton, Kant oder Husserl bestimmt worden ist. Diese zwei Perspektiven schliessen sich gegenseitig aus, da sie auf verschiedenen philosophischen Standpunkten beruhen.

A discussion on the the symposium for The Intellectual in the Post-Colonial World is presented. Intellectuals are often subject to a special psychological phenomenon, reflecting the fact that they are torn asunder between incompatible desires or attitudes. People cannot say with any certainty what might have developed if the new situation had been allowed to develop in the direction in which it started.