Leszek Kołakowski was a Polish philosopher, historian of ideas, and writer. He had particular interest in the history of philosophy that covered the 18th century, liberal doctrines, philosophy of culture, and philosophy of religion. Due to the closure of schools under the Nazi occupation in Poland, he couldn't continue his formal education. He self-educated using his father's home library and by taking private lessons. In 1953, he received his doctoral degree from the University of Warsaw for his thesis on Spinoza. In 1966, he was expelled from the party he was a member of, and two years later, he lost his job. After being exiled to the West, he primarily worked at the University of Oxford. Kołakowski's works have been translated into many languages including English, German, French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Serbian, Czech, and Japanese, among others.