Lev Shestov

Lev Isaakovich Shestov (??? ????????? ??????), born Yehuda Leyb Schwarzmann (?????? ???? ????????)) was a Russian - Jewish existentialist philosopher. Born in Kiev (Russian Empire) on January 31 (February 13) 1866, he emigrated to France in 1921, fleeing from the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution. He lived in Paris until his death on November 19 1938.

The Philosophy of Despair

Shestov's philosophy is, at first sight, not a philosophy at all: it offers no systematic unity, no coherent set of propositions, no theoretical explanation of philosophical problems. Most of Shestov's work is fragmentary: with regard to the form (he often used aphorisms), the style (which is more web-like than linear, and more explosive than argumentative) as well as to the content. He seems to contradict himself on every page, and even seeks the paradox. This is because he believes that life itself is in the last analysis deeply paradoxical, not understandable through logical or rational inquiry. Shestov believes that no theory can solve the mysteries of life. His philosophy is not 'problem-solving', but problem-generating, and tries to make life appear as enigmatic as possible.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His point of departure is not a theory, an idea, but an experience. It is the experience described so eloquently by James Thomson in The City of Dreadfull Night:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:The sense that every struggle brings defeat

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::Because Fate holds no prize to crown success;

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:That all the oracles are dumb or cheat

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::Because they have no secret to express;

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:That none can pierce the vast black veil uncertain

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::Because there is no light beyond the curtain;

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:That all is vanity and nothingness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is the experience of despair, which Shestov describes as the loss of certainties, the loss of freedom, the loss of the meaning of life. The root of this despair is what he frequently calls 'Necessity', but also 'Reason', 'Idealism' or 'Fate': a certain way of thinking (but at the same time also a very real aspect of the world) that subdues life to ideas, abstractions, generalisations and thereby kills it, by ignoring the uniqueness and livingness of reality.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

'Reason' is the obedience to and the acceptance of Certainties that tell us that certain things are eternal and unchangeable and other things are impossible and can never be attained. That's why his philosophy is a form of irrationalism, though it is important to note that he doesn't oppose reason, or science in general, but only rationalism and scientism: the tendency to consider reason as a sort of omniscient, omnipotent God that is good for its own sake. It's also a form of individualism: people can't be reduced to ideas, social structures, or mystical oneness. We are all irrevocably alone with our suffering, and can't be helped by others, nor by philosophy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~