Vid Snoj

SummaryThe paper discusses the concept of groundlessness in Shestov’s thought within the framework of the dichotomy between Athens and Jerusalem, or reason and faith, which marks Shestov’s late work. Groundlessness emerges when rational truths in which philosophy has grounded human existence are left hanging in the air, and a man loses the ground under his feet. It is, on the other hand, precisely here that Shestov’s own existential philosophy begins, namely, where there is no possibility left for reason. Here only the eye of faith sees the possibility that is not possible for reason, being thus an impossible, absurd...

Pavle Rak

Although this is a scientific symposium, I will risk a totally non-scientific approach (I am not pretending to objectiveness or to a complete knowledge of scientific literature about Shestov…), namely: I will base my contribution on a subjective, personal impression of certain mobiles which generated Shestov‘s ideas and some of their consequences. I hope I have the right to do this: Shestov himself used a non-scientific, personal approach in his writings. All rationalism, particularly idealistic rationalism applied on questions about the sense of human life, was...

Boris Šinigoj

From Daring Uncoverings of the Groundlessness of Thought to Tremendous Revelations of DeathWhat is philosophy? And what is its task?Jésus sera en agonie jusqu’à la fin du monde:il ne faut pas dormir pendant ce temps-là.Blaise Pascal1In his paper entitled “In Memory of a Great Philosopher,”2 Lev Shestov provides some valuable information about his encounters with the founder of modern phenomenology, Edmund Husserl. Although Husserl strived to present philosophy as a strict science based on cognitive principles and the self-evidences of reason, which Shestov always strongly opposed, the two...

Vid Snoj

Our intention today is to speak about »the beginning of things«. When I was invited to participate in a conference on this topic, I accepted the task of discussing the creation of the world in the book of revelation, the Bible. My time is, like that of other speakers, limited. Yet I am nevertheless convinced we should ask ourselves at the very beginning, before tackling the selected topic, whether we are ready at all for a biblical narrative about creation. I don’t think we’re losing time with this question; after all, in Jewish mysticism it was once necessary to reach a...