Obituary
99. Leszek Kolakowski
Jul 30th 2009 From The Economist print edition

Leszek Kolakowski, a Polish-born Oxford philosopher, died on July 17th, aged 81

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HIS life was learningabout history, about his times, about himself. Like some other erstwhile true believers, he became one of most cogent critics of his former faith. Having spent his youthful years as an ardent communist and atheist, Leszek Kolakowski, one of the great minds of the modern era, turned into Marxism's most perceptive opponent, and one with a profound respect for religion.
His intellectual life started in the misery of Nazi-occupied Polandhe had to study in secret, mostly aloneand finished in one of the nicest places imaginable: Oxford's All Souls College. In a university tailor-made for gifted misfits, Mr Kolakowski was happy: he was left alone to read, write, and, less often, talk. All Souls provided a glorious academic retreat: the only obligation is to dine there regularly. His distinctive hat, craggy features, idiosyncratic English and perspex walking stick established him as a landmark even in a city studded with oddities and treasures.
"Philosopher" was his usual label, but not a wholly accurate one: historian of ideas would be better. Mr Kolakowski showed little interest in the Oxford tradition of analytical philosophy like his great Oxonian philosophical contemporary, Isaiah Berlin, he formulated no grand scheme of ideas. His forte was to explain the development, attractiveness and shortcomings of political ideas and systems, particularly the communism invented by Karl Marx and practised across the Soviet empire.

A. 어휘
erstwhile 지난날의, 이전의. cogent 설득력이 있는. critics 비판자, 비평가.
ardent 열렬한. atheist 무신론자. mind 정신적/지적 능력으로서의 인물.
perceptive 지각력이 있는. opponent 적대자. profound 깊은.
intellectual 知的(지적)인. misery 비참한 상태, 困窮(곤궁).
Nazi-occupied 나치가 점령한. tailor-made 조건에 맞도록 만든.
gifted 천부의 재능이 있는, 머리가 아주 좋은. misfit 적응하지 못하는 사람.
retreat 隱遁處(은둔처), 피난처. obligation 의무. distinctive 독특한, 구별이 되는.
craggy 험준한, 바위가 많은. features 얼굴 생김. idiosyncratic 개인에 특유한.
perspex (상표명) 아크릴 수지를 사용한 유리모양의 물질.
stud 물건이 散在(산재)해 있다, 장식용 못을 박다. oddities 奇人(기인), 괴짜.
treasures 보배 같은 사람. historian of ideas 思想(사상) 사학자.
analytical philosophy 분석철학. contemporary 同時代人(동시대인).
formulate 명확한 형태로 나타내다, 公式化(공식화) 하다.
scheme of ideas 사상체계. forte 장점, 特技(특기). shortcomings 결점.
political ideas 정치사상. empire 帝國(제국).

B. 구문
- a university tailor-made for gifted misfits
[천부적인 재능을 가진 부적응아들의 조건에 맞도록 만들어진 대학교]

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His magnum opus was the three-volume "Main Currents of Marxism: Its Rise, Growth and Dissolution", published in the 1970s. It calmly and expertly demolished the pillars of Marxist thought: the labour theory of value, the idea of class struggle, historical materialism and the like. He also pointed out, again without unnecessary polemics, the practical shortcomings of communist systems. Stalinism was not an aberration, he argued, but the inevitable consequence of pursuing a communist utopia. For that, powerful left-wing voices such as the historian E.P. Thompson berated him as a traitor to the noble socialist ideals that he once espoused.

Against the devil
Both his experience and beliefs made such criticism seem patronising. Mr Kolakowski had lived under two kinds of totalitarianism, Nazism and communism his ideas had been censored even in the supposedly more liberal communist Poland of the late 1950s and 1960s. What finally drove him, and his Jewish wife Tamara, to emigrate was the communist-inspired anti-Semitic campaign of 1968. Few if any of his leftist critics had such experiences. In a spirited rejoinder to Thompson, Mr Kolakowski wrote: "The only medicine communism has inventedthe centralised, beyond social control, state ownership of the national wealth and one-party ruleis worse than the illness it is supposed to cure it is less efficient economically and it makes the bureaucratic character of social relations an absolute principle."

A. 어휘
magnum opus 걸작, 大作(대작). Main Currents 主流(주류).
Dissolution 溶解(용해), 분해, 해체. expertly 능숙하게, 노련하게, 전문적으로.
demolish 파괴하다, 粉碎(분쇄)하다. pillar 기둥.
the labour theory of value 노동가치설. class struggle 계급투쟁.
historical materialism 唯物史觀(유물사관). and the like 기타 등등.
polemics 논쟁, 논증. practical shortcomings 실천적 결점.
aberration 常軌逸脫(상궤일탈), 異常(이상). inevitable consequence 불가피한 결과.
left-wing 좌익. berate 호되게 꾸짖다, 욕을 퍼붓다. traitor 배반자, 반역자.
espouse 신봉하다, 받아들이다, 지지하다, 결혼하다. devil 악마.
patronizing 후원하는. totalitarianism 전체주의.
censor 글/말 따위를 삭제하다, 검열하다. supposedly 아마도, 상상적으로.
liberal 자유로운. emigrate 다른 나라로 이민 가다.
communist-inspired 공산주의자들이 鼓吹(고취)하는.
anti-Semitic campaign 反(반) 猶太主義(유태주의) 운동. spirited 힘찬, 용기 있는.
rejoinder 答辯(답변). centralised 중앙집권적인. one-party rule 一黨支配(일당지배).
cure 치료하다. efficient 효율적인. bureaucratic character 관료주의적인 성격.
absolute principle 절대적 원칙.