TY - JOUR N2 - The leading purpose of this paper is to provide an answer to the question whether Karl Marx belongs to philosophy and history of philosophy, and whether placing him in these categories gives a fair picture of what he really intended to achieve. When analyzing Marx’s thought, one should remember that is his own eyes he was not a philosopher but a researcher who goes beyond the horizon of philosophy in order to undertake scientific and not ideological work aimed at organizing political battles of that time. Of course, what a particular thinker believes of himself cannot be an ultimate criterion for interpreting his/her academic output. The doubts are augmented when we consult Leszek Kołakowski’s Main Currents of Marxism – a book that is based on the assumption that “Karl Marx was a German philosopher”, and this starting point supports the critique of Marx’s thought. The problem arises from the fact that Leszek Kołakowski, who was a post-Marxist, despises science and philosophy, and sees myth as the basis of thought dynamics. Thus the question of the adequacy of his presentation of Marx aris es and strengthens the suspicion that Kołakowski did not present the real Marx’s philosophy but rather a myth of Marx’s theory centered on the idea of making people happy against their will and nature. L1 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/109519/PDF/PF%204-18%2014-A.Ciazela.pdf L2 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/109519 PY - 2018 IS - No 4 EP - 201 DO - 10.24425/pfns.2018.125501 KW - Marxism KW - science KW - ideology KW - philosophy KW - myth A1 - Ciążela, Andrzej PB - Komitet Nauk Filozoficznych PAN PB - Wydział Filozofii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego DA - 2019.01.30 T1 - Was “Karl Marx a German philosopher”? The place of Marxism in contemporary debates, as exemplified by L. Kołakowski SP - 185 UR - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/109519 T2 - Przegląd Filozoficzny. Nowa Seria ER -