Lev Shestov
Lev Isaakovich Shestov (Born in Kiev January 31, 1866), variously known as Leon Shestov, Léon Chestov, Leo Shestov.
He was a Russian—Jewish existentialist writer and philosopher. He was the first Russian philosopher to find an audience in Europe.
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Lev Isaakovich Shestov (Born in Kiev January 31, 1866), variously known as Leon Shestov, Léon Chestov, Leo Shestov.
He was a Russian—Jewish existentialist writer and philosopher. He was the first Russian philosopher to find an audience in Europe. Shestov was an irrationalist whose philosophy ran counter to the prevailing rationalism of his day. Shestov rejected any rational basis for God. He abhorred the rational religion of Western philosophy (for example, Immanuel Kant's Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone), arguing that God is beyond rational comprehension and even morality. Shestov's ideas were certainly influenced by his exposure to the Russian Orthodox Church. His insistence on the absoluteness and incomprehensibility of God through reason were a response to the rationalism of Western philosophy and ideology.
He emigrated to France in 1921, fleeing from the aftermath of the October Revolution. He lived in Paris until his death on November 19, 1938.
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