Search results for ""Author Agnieszka Kolakowska""
Canongate Books Madame
Madame tells the story of a self-absorbed Polish teenager as he pursues intellectual maturity, and the woman of his dreams, his French teacher 'Madame', in the communist-dominated Warsaw of the early 1970s.Libera paces his exuberant young hero's fulminations, fantasies and discoveries beautifully, building a remarkably subtle characterisation of a free mind in a repressive culture. This is one of those rare novels which reminds us why we love books. A consummate literary entertainment.
£12.35
The University of Chicago Press Metaphysical Horror
For over a century, philosophers have argued that philosophy is impossible or useless, or both. Although the basic notion dates back to the days of Socrates, there is still heated disagreement about the nature of truth, reality, knowledge, the good, and God. This leaves us with a feeling of radical uncertainty, a feeling described by Kolakowski as "metaphysical horror". "The horror is this" , he says, "if nothing truly exists except the Absolute, the Absolute is nothing; if nothing truly exists except myself, I am nothing". The aim of this book, for Kolakowski, is finding a way out of this seeming dead end. This book confronts these dilemmas through examinations of prominent Western philosophers including Descartes, Spinoza, Husserl, and many of the Neo-Platonists. He argues that philosophy may not provide definitive answers to the fundamental questions, yet the quest itself transforms our lives. It may undermine most of our certainties, yet it still leaves room for our spiritual yearnings and religious beliefs.
£23.18