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1866–1938 Russia
Lev Isaakovich Shestov (born Yehuda Leib Shvartsman; February 12 [O.S. January 31] 1866 - November 19, 1938) was a Russian existentialist philosopher, known for his "philosophy of despair".
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Unvarnished truth, that truth which runs contrary to the vital needs of human nature, is worse than any lie.
Is it possible to escape from the curse of knowledge?
Science pretends to the certainty, the universality, and the necessity of its statements.
Science is objective, indifferent; it does not consider whether a thing matters or not.
One of the outstanding examples of the unfree character of modern philosophical thought is perhaps the famous dispute between Hume and Kant.
We know how angry he was with Nietzsche for his formula "beyond good and evil", which had resuscitated the forgotten teaching of the old apostle.
Only exceptional conditions of being can free us from the immaterial and eternal truths which rule the world. Only a "madman" declares war on this rule.
(Hegel said then: What is real is rational.)
What can be more terrible than not to know whether one is alive or dead? “Justice” should insist that this knowledge or this ignorance should be the prerogative of every human being. p. 3
When "the light of truth" appeared to Descartes, he immediately imprisoned his discovery within a logical formula: "Cogito, ergo sum." And the great truth perished, it gave nothing either to Descartes or to any one else.
The first commandment of modern philosophy runs: Thou shalt emancipate thyself from all postulates. The postulate has been declared a deadly sin, and he who makes one is the enemy of truth. p. 247
Who is right, Pascal or Descartes?
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