political science, anthropology, sociology, religion, linguistics and criticism in the arts and literature. Nominators for the prize were asked to recommend preeminent scholars in any of these or other closely related fields whose work was recognized as outstanding by their peers, they and also spoke to people in other fields and in public life.

Professor Kolakowski is the author of more than 30 books and 400 other writings in a wide variety of formats and in four languages: primarily in Polish, but also in French, English and German. His principal lines of inquiry have been in the history of philosophy and the philosophy of religion.

In announcing the award, Dr. Billington commented: "Very rarely can one identify a deep, reflective thinker who has had such a wide range of inquiryand demonstrable importance to major political events in his own time. Out of deep scholarship and relentless inquiry, Leszek Kolakowski made clear from within the Soviet system the intellectual bankruptcy of the Marxist ideology, and the necessity of freedom, tolerance of diversity and the search for transcendence for reestablishing individual dignity. His voice was fundamental for the fate of Poland, and influential in Europe as a whole. In addition to his sustained anti-dogmatic philosophical inquiries, he writes essays that are readable, provocative, and sometimes ironic and humorous. With charm, resourcefulness and gentle self-mockery, he raises questions about the sometimes mindless modernity of contemporary Europe and North America. He is a true humanist: philosopher, intellectual historian and cultural critic. Throughout his creative life he has asked big questions with