Lev Shestov

Leo Isaakowitsch Shestov (Russian Лев Исаакович Шестов / Lev Shestov Isaakowitsch; * 31 Januarjul / February 12 1866greg in Kiev, .. † November 20, 1938 in Paris, actually Yehuda body black man ) was a Russian, Jewish philosopher of existentialism.

Life

Born in Kiev in 1866 Shestov emigrated to France in 1921 to escape the consequences of the Russian October Revolution. Until his death on November 20, 1938 he lived in Paris, where he taught at the Sorbonne.

Philosophy of despair

Shestov thoughts form at first glance anything but a philosophy: They do not form a systematic unity, no coherent system of statements, no theoretical explanation of philosophical problems. A large part of Shestov work is fragmentary, both in terms of the form ( he often used aphorisms ), as well as in terms of style and content. Shestov himself often seems to contradict to seek the paradox even.

This is because Shestov paradox sees life itself as ultimately in the highest degree. He believes that it is using logic or reason can not be detected. No theory can fathom the mysteries of life. Shestov 's philosophy is not ' problem-solving ', but poses problems and tries to make life appear to be as enigmatic as possible. Shestov philosophy does not start from an idea, but an experience.

This basic experience is despair, which he describes as a loss of certainties, loss of freedom and loss of the sense of life for Shestov. The root of this despair is what Shestov often ' need ', ' reason ', ' idealism ' or ' destiny ' called: a certain way of thinking, but at the same time is a very real aspect of the world that life ideas, abstractions and generalizations subjects and so destroyed it by it fails to recognize its uniqueness and vitality.

The ' reason ' does Shestov accepting certainties, claiming that some things are eternal and immutable, while others are impossible and unattainable. Shestov philosophy can thus be seen as irrational. It was Shestov not against reason and science, but only against rationalism and scientism. In the latter he saw the tendency to glorify the reason as a kind of omniscient and omnipotent God as an end in itself.

In Shestov thinking a individualistic train comes into play: man can not be reduced to ideas, social structures, or a mystical one unit.

In Shestov man is irretrievably alone in his suffering. Neither others nor philosophy can free him from this situation.

The desperation as ' second to last word '

But the desperation is not the last word, but only the penultimate. The last word can say neither in human language, be theorized. Shestov philosophy of despair to the starting point, his entire thinking is desperate and yet he tries to have something beyond despair - is - and philosophy.

This he calls faith: a belief is not meant in the sense of security, but a different way of thinking that emerges from the depths of doubt and uncertainty. It is the experience that everything is possible ( Dostoevsky ), that the opposite of necessity is not chance, but the possibility. That boundless freedom exists. Shestov claimed never that life has meaning, that it is " a light behind the curtain " is. He does not contradict the word that everything fighting leads to defeat. But Shestov insists that one should fight against fate and necessity continue, even if success is not certain.

Influence

Shestov influenced, among others, Albert Camus ( The Myth of Sisyphus ), Benjamin Fondane and especially Emil Cioran.

Today, he is little known and read.

Works, in chronological order

• " Шекспир и его критик Брандес ", St. Petersburg. Stasyulevitch, 1898 282 pp. (Shakespeare and his critics Brandes )
• " Добро в учении гр Толстого и Ницше ( философия и проповедь ). ", 1900, (EA ( Tolstoy and Nietzsche, the idea of ​​the good in their lessons Matthes & Seitz, 1994 ISBN 3882212667. . ): Marcan - Block -Verlag, 1923. 262 pp. )
• " Достоевский и Ницше ( философия трагедии ) " St. Petersburg: Stasyulevitch, 1903 245 p ( Dostoevsky and Nietzsche, Cologne, Marcan -Verlag, 1924 389 p. ).
• " Апофеоз беспочвенности ( опыт адогматического мышления ) ", St. Petersburg. Obshestvenaya Polza, 1905, 285 pp. ( apotheosis of groundlessness, English:. All Things are Possible, 1920)
• " Начала и Конци Сборник статей. ", St. Petersburg. Stasyulevitch, 1908 152 p ( Penultimate words, Ed Quatre en samizdat, Berlin 1996, English:. . Anton Chekhov and Other Essays and Penultimate Words )
• " Великие Кануны ", St. Petersburg. Shipovnik, 1911 314 S. ( The big eves, English:. Great Vigil )
• " Власт ключей Potestas clavium. ", Berlin: Scythians -Verlag, 1923 279 p ( Potestas clavium or the power of the keys, Munich, publisher of the Nietzsche Society, 1926, 459 p. ).
• " На Весах Иова Странствования по душам. ", Paris. Annales Contemporaines, 1929 371 pp. ( In Job 's scale, Berlin. Lambert Schneider, 1929, p 578 )
• , Paris " Kierkegaard et la philosophie existential Vox clamantis in deserto. ": Ed. Les Amis de Léon et Librairie Philosophique J. Chestov Vrin, 1936, 384 pp. ( Kierkegaard and existentialism, Graz: 1949 281 p. )
• .. . " Athènes et Jérusalem Un essai de philosophie religieuse ", Graz, 1938 (Athens and Jerusalem trial of a religious philosophy Schmidt- Dengler, Graz 1938; Neuaufl with epilogue, an essay by Raimundo Panikkar: Matthes & Seitz, Munich 1994, ISBN. 3882212683)
• " Умозрение и Откровение Религиозная философия Владимира Соловьева и другие статы. ", Paris. YMCA Press, 1964 347 pp. ( speculation and revelation essays and critical reviews Ellermann, Hamburg 1963. )