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While the positivists were proclaiming the end “once and for all” of unverifiable metaphysical systems and speculative philosophy in general, new doctrines in flagrant contradiction to those ideals have sprung up one after the other. Positivists see no more in this development than evidence of human stupidity, not any reflection on themselves.

— Leszek Kołakowski The Alienation of Reason (1966)

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More quotes by Leszek Kołakowski

Marxism has been the greatest fantasy of our century. It was a dream offering the prospect of a society of perfect unity, in which all human aspirations would be fulfilled and all values reconciled.

Main Currents Of Marxism (1978)

The history of utopias is no less fascinating than the history of metallurgy or of chemical engineering.

Main Currents Of Marxism (1978)

There is no idea so obscure that someone could not come to regard it as self-evident.

The Alienation of Reason (1966)

The concept of original sin gives us a penetrating insight into human destiny.

Pragmatism starts from assumptions similar to those of empiriocriticism, but differs from the latter by its striking formulations, loose aphorisms, and analytical unscrupulousness.

The Alienation of Reason (1966)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Leszek Kołakowski (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.