Bóg i człowiek w antysystemowej i antyracjonalistycznej myśli Lwa Szestowa

Abstract

Lev Shestov, till now, is one of the most controversial Russian thinkers from the beginning of the 20 century. The philosophical system which he created seems to be completely incongruous with contemporary trends of thoughts in Russia and with those which existed then in Western Europe as well. The main aim of Shestov’s philosophizing was a postulate of releasing the philosophical thought from slavery of intellect and dogmatic truth. As a result of that, the context of his philosophizing is widely understood irrationally as the only chance of releasing humanity from intellect. He claimed that human beings met God through tragedy, hopelessness and despair. The experience of tragedy itself suddenly takes a human being from the only safe world standards and rules that they know, becomes the beginning of faith and the moment of meeting with inexpressible God. Shestov’s God is absolutely irrational and crazy; He is a personalized fantasy who “…can freely create the mountains without valleys, the light without darkness and even falsehood made as truth”. So the God is and has unrestricted, absolute freedom. The human being who is as a Biblical image and God icon, can find their likeness to God in giving up rational knowledge and releasing the slavery and handcuffs of intellect because it leads human beings into the abyss of hell.