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All Things Are Possible.
This digital edition is a reprint of the original English Edition first published in 1920..
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1905
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About the author
Lev Shestov
88听books203听followersLev Isaakovich Shestov (Russian: 袥械胁 袠褋邪邪虂泻芯胁懈褔 楔械褋褌芯虂胁), born Yehuda Leyb Schwarzmann (Russian: 袠械谐褍写邪 袥械泄斜 楔胁邪褉褑屑邪薪), variously known as Leon Shestov, L茅on Chestov, Leo Shestov.
A Ukrainian/Russian existentialist philosopher. Born in Kiev (Russian Empire). He emigrated to France in 1921, fleeing from the aftermath of the October Revolution. He lived in Paris until his death.
A Ukrainian/Russian existentialist philosopher. Born in Kiev (Russian Empire). He emigrated to France in 1921, fleeing from the aftermath of the October Revolution. He lived in Paris until his death.
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April 2, 2025
In the course of his conclusive argument against the black hole of desperation - the impassable Sink Hole of postmodern Groundlessness - in his book The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus examines the groundbreaking existential thought of Lev Shestev (Camus' spelling of Shestov).
He concludes that Shestev鈥檚 writing is flawed, though initially persuasive.
I would agree. For in the end we are all forced to bear meaninglessness, though it be mitigated by our (thankfully!) flawed humanity.
Our humanity lets in the light, beyond our drawn curtain of our ultimate despair.
But while Shestev defeats our despair, he cannot prevent the light which engendered it, transmogrified by angst, from illuminating the set jawlines of the massed forces of woke, fallen humanity which surround us.
It seeks to weaken - and thus disarm - our will!
But it shall not. For a higher, gentler power than ours will defeat all evil in the end.
His love will prevail.
But religion is not for us here yet a victory. It is an ongoing struggle.
As long as time is unended.
For as I said in my own review of Sisyphus, 鈥渙urs is the task eternal!鈥�
He concludes that Shestev鈥檚 writing is flawed, though initially persuasive.
I would agree. For in the end we are all forced to bear meaninglessness, though it be mitigated by our (thankfully!) flawed humanity.
Our humanity lets in the light, beyond our drawn curtain of our ultimate despair.
But while Shestev defeats our despair, he cannot prevent the light which engendered it, transmogrified by angst, from illuminating the set jawlines of the massed forces of woke, fallen humanity which surround us.
It seeks to weaken - and thus disarm - our will!
But it shall not. For a higher, gentler power than ours will defeat all evil in the end.
His love will prevail.
But religion is not for us here yet a victory. It is an ongoing struggle.
As long as time is unended.
For as I said in my own review of Sisyphus, 鈥渙urs is the task eternal!鈥�
August 28, 2012
"When a man is young he writes because it seems to him that he has discovered a new almighty truth which he must make haste to impart to forlorn mankind. Later, becoming more modest, he begins to doubt his truths: and then he writes to convince himself. A few more years go by, and he knows he was mistaken all round, so there is no need to convince himself. Nevertheless he continues to write, because he is not fit for any other work and to be accounted a 'superfluous' man is so horrible"
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September 4, 2020
May 13, 2019
"He who has once lost his peace of mind will never find it again."
鈥溠€邪蟹 锌芯褌械褉褟胁褕懈泄 锌芯泻芯泄, 薪懈泻芯谐写邪 薪械 芯斜褉械褌械褌 械谐芯 胁薪芯胁褜.鈥�
"Each of us bears in his soul a heavy wound, and knows it, yet carries himself, must carry himself as if he were aware of nothing, while all around keep up the pretence."
鈥溞毿靶缎囱嬓� 懈蟹 薪邪褋 薪芯褋懈褌 胁 谐谢褍斜懈薪械 写褍褕懈 褋胁芯械泄 褌褟卸械谢褍褞 懈 薪械懈蟹谢械褔懈屑褍褞 褉邪薪褍 - 懈 蟹薪邪械褌 芯 薪械泄, 薪芯 写械褉卸懈褌褋褟, 芯斜褟蟹邪薪 写械褉卸邪褌褜褋褟 褌邪泻, 泻邪泻 斜褍写褌芯 斜褘 芯薪 薪懈褔械谐芯 芯 薪械泄 薪械 蟹薪邪械褌, 懈 胁褋械 写械谢邪褞褌 胁懈写, 褔褌芯 胁械褉褟褌 械屑褍.鈥�
"The habit of logical thinking kills imagination. Man is convinced that the only way to truth is through logic, and that any departure from this way leads to error and absurdity."
鈥溞熝€懈胁褘褔泻邪 泻 谢芯谐懈褔械褋泻芯屑褍 屑褘褕谢械薪懈褞 褍斜懈胁邪械褌 褎邪薪褌邪蟹懈褞. 效械谢芯胁械泻 褍斜械卸写邪械褌褋褟, 褔褌芯 械褋褌褜 褌芯谢褜泻芯 芯写懈薪 锌褍褌褜 泻 懈褋褌懈薪械 - 褔械褉械蟹 谢芯谐懈泻褍 懈 褋胁械褉薪褍褌褜 褋 薪械谐芯 - 蟹薪邪褔懈褌 懈写褌懈 薪邪胁械褉薪褟泻邪 泻 薪械谢械锌芯褋褌懈.鈥�
"Moral people are the most revengeful of mankind, they employ their morality as the best and most subtle weapon of vengeance. They are not satisfied with simply despising and condemning their neighbour themselves, they want the condemnation to be universal and supreme: that is, that all men should rise as one against the condemned, and that even the offender鈥檚 own conscience shall be against him. Then only are they fully satisfied and reassured. Nothing on earth but morality could lead to such wonderful results."
鈥溞澭€邪胁褋褌胁械薪薪褘械 谢褞写懈 - 褋邪屑褘械 屑褋褌懈褌械谢褜薪褘械 谢褞写懈, 懈 褋胁芯褞 薪褉邪胁褋褌胁械薪薪芯褋褌褜 芯薪懈 褍锌芯褌褉械斜谢褟褞褌 泻邪泻 谢褍褔褕械械 懈 薪邪懈斜芯谢械械 褍褌芯薪褔械薪薪芯械
芯褉褍写懈械 屑械褋褌懈. 袨薪懈 薪械 褍写芯胁谢械褌胁芯褉褟褞褌褋褟 褌械屑, 褔褌芯 锌褉芯褋褌芯 锌褉械蟹懈褉邪褞褌 懈 芯褋褍卸写邪褞褌 褋胁芯懈褏 斜谢懈卸薪懈褏, 芯薪懈 褏芯褌褟褌, 褔褌芯斜 懈褏 芯褋褍卸写械薪懈械 斜褘谢芯 胁褋械芯斜褖懈屑 懈 芯斜褟蟹邪褌械谢褜薪褘屑, 褌.械. 褔褌芯斜 胁屑械褋褌械 褋 薪懈屑懈 胁褋械 谢褞写懈 胁芯褋褋褌邪谢懈 薪邪 芯褋褍卸写械薪薪芯谐芯 懈屑懈, 褔褌芯斜 写邪卸械 褋芯斜褋褌胁械薪薪邪褟 褋芯胁械褋褌褜 芯褋褍卸写械薪薪芯谐芯 斜褘谢邪 薪邪 懈褏 褋褌芯褉芯薪械. 孝芯谢褜泻芯 褌芯谐写邪 芯薪懈 褔褍胁褋褌胁褍褞褌 褋械斜褟 胁锌芯谢薪械 褍写芯胁谢械褌胁芯褉械薪薪褘屑懈 懈 褍褋锌芯泻邪懈胁邪褞褌褋褟. 袣褉芯屑械 薪褉邪胁褋褌胁械薪薪芯褋褌懈, 薪懈褔械谐芯 胁 屑懈褉械 薪械 屑芯卸械褌 锌褉懈胁械褋褌懈 泻 褋褌芯谢褜 斜谢械褋褌褟褖懈屑 褉械蟹褍谢褜褌邪褌邪屑.鈥�
"Nietzsche and Dostoevsky seem to be typical 鈥渋nverted simulators,鈥� if one may use the expression. They imitated spiritual sanity, although they were spiritually insane. They knew their morbidity well enough, but they exhibited their disease only to that extent where freakishness passes for originality."
鈥溞澬秆喲埿� 懈 袛芯褋褌芯械胁褋泻懈泄 褟胁谢褟褞褌褋褟 褌懈锌懈褔械褋泻懈屑懈 鈥溞拘毖€邪褌薪褘屑懈 褋懈屑褍谢褟薪褌邪屑懈鈥�, 械褋谢懈 褌邪泻 屑芯卸薪芯 胁褘褉邪蟹懈褌褜褋褟. 袨薪懈 锌褉懈褌胁芯褉褟谢懈褋褜 写褍褕械胁薪芯 蟹写芯褉芯胁褘屑懈, 褏芯褌褟 斜褘谢懈 写褍褕械胁薪芯 斜芯谢褜薪褘屑懈. 袨薪懈 褏芯褉芯褕芯 蟹薪邪谢懈, 褔褌芯 斜芯谢褜薪褘, 薪芯 锌褉芯褟胁谢褟谢懈 褋胁芯褞 斜芯谢械蟹薪褜 谢懈褕褜 胁 褌芯泄 屑械褉械, 胁 泻芯褌芯褉芯泄 褔褍写邪褔械褋褌胁芯 褋褏芯写懈褌 械褖械 蟹邪 芯褉懈谐懈薪邪谢褜薪芯褋褌褜.鈥�
"Shy people usually receive their impressions post-dated. During those moments when an event is taking place before their eyes, they can see nothing, only later on, having evoked from their memory a fragment of what happened, they make for themselves an impression of the whole scene. And then, retrospectively arise in their soul feelings of pity, offense, surprise, so vivid, as if they were the flames of the instant moment, not rekindlings from the past. Thus shy people always think a great deal, and are always too late for their work. It is never too late for thought. Timid before others, they reach great heights of daring when alone. They are bad speakers - but often excellent writers. Their life is insignificant and tedious, they are not noticed,鈥攗ntil they become famous. And by the time fame comes, they do not need popular attention any more."
鈥溞椥把佈傂敌窖囆感惭嬓� 谢褞写懈 芯斜褘泻薪芯胁械薪薪芯 胁芯褋锌褉懈薪懈屑邪褞褌 胁锌械褔邪褌谢械薪懈褟 蟹邪写薪懈屑 褔懈褋谢芯屑. 袙 褌褍 屑懈薪褍褌褍, 泻芯谐写邪 薪邪 懈褏 谐谢邪蟹邪褏 褔褌芯-谢懈斜芯 锌褉芯懈褋褏芯写懈褌, 芯薪懈
薪懈褔械谐芯 薪械 蟹邪屑械褔邪褞褌 懈 褌芯谢褜泻芯 胁锌芯褋谢械写褋褌胁懈懈, 胁芯褋锌褉芯懈蟹胁械写褕懈 胁 锌邪屑褟褌懈 芯褌褉褘胁芯泻 懈蟹 锌褉芯褕谢芯谐芯, 芯薪懈 写邪褞褌 褋械斜械 芯褌褔械褌 胁 褌芯屑, 褔褌芯 胁懈写械谢懈. 袠 褌芯谐写邪 褉械褌褉芯褋锌械泻褌懈胁薪芯 胁 懈褏 写褍褕械 胁芯蟹薪懈泻邪褞褌 褔褍胁褋褌胁邪 芯斜懈写褘, 卸邪谢芯褋褌懈, 褍写懈胁谢械薪懈褟 褋 褌邪泻芯泄 卸懈胁芯褋褌褜褞, 泻邪泻 斜褍写褌芯 斜褘 写械谢芯 褕谢芯 薪械 芯 锌褉芯褕谢芯屑, 邪 芯 薪邪褋褌芯褟褖械屑. 袩芯褝褌芯屑褍 蟹邪褋褌械薪褔懈胁褘械 谢褞写懈 胁褋械谐写邪 芯锌邪蟹写褘胁邪褞褌 褋 写械谢芯屑 懈 胁褋械谐写邪 屑薪芯谐芯 写褍屑邪褞褌: 写褍屑邪褌褜 薪懈泻芯谐写邪 薪械 锌芯蟹写薪芯. 袪芯斜泻懈械 锌褉懈 写褉褍谐懈褏, 芯薪懈 写芯褏芯写褟褌 写芯 斜芯谢褜褕芯泄 褋屑械谢芯褋褌懈, 泻芯谐写邪 芯褋褌邪褞褌褋褟 薪邪械写懈薪械 褋 褋芯斜芯泄. 袨薪懈 锌谢芯褏懈械 芯褉邪褌芯褉褘 - 薪芯 褔邪褋褌芯 蟹邪屑械褔邪褌械谢褜薪褘械 锌懈褋邪褌械谢懈. 袠褏 卸懈蟹薪褜 斜械写薪邪 懈 褋泻褍褔薪邪, 懈褏 薪械 蟹邪屑械褔邪褞褌 - 锌芯泻邪 芯薪懈 薪械 锌褉芯褋谢邪胁褟褌褋褟. 袣芯谐写邪 卸械 锌褉懈褏芯写懈褌 褋谢邪胁邪 - 芯斜褖械械 胁薪懈屑邪薪懈械 褍卸械 薪械 薪褍卸薪芯鈥�
"When man finds in himself a certain defect, of which he can by no means rid himself, there remains but to accept the so-called failing as a natural quality. The more grave and important the defect, the more urgent is the need to ennoble it."
鈥溞毿拘承葱� 褔械谢芯胁械泻 蟹邪屑械褔邪械褌 胁 褋械斜械 泻邪泻芯泄-薪懈斜褍写褜 薪械写芯褋褌邪褌芯泻, 芯褌 泻芯褌芯褉芯谐芯 芯薪 薪懈泻邪泻懈屑懈 褋锌芯褋芯斜邪屑懈 薪械 屑芯卸械褌 懈蟹斜邪胁懈褌褜褋褟, 械屑褍 薪懈褔械谐芯 斜芯谢褜褕械 薪械 芯褋褌邪械褌褋褟, 泻邪泻 芯斜褗褟胁懈褌褜 薪械写芯褋褌邪褌芯泻 泻邪褔械褋褌胁芯屑. 袠 褔械屑 褋械褉褜械蟹薪械械 懈 蟹薪邪褔懈褌械谢褜薪械械 薪械写芯褋褌邪褌芯泻, 褌械屑 薪邪褋褌芯褟褌械谢褜薪械械 褋泻邪蟹褘胁邪械褌褋褟 锌芯褌褉械斜薪芯褋褌褜 芯斜谢邪谐芯褉芯写懈褌褜 械谐芯.鈥�
"The best death is really the one which is considered the worst: to die alone, in a foreign land, in a poor-house, or, as they say, like a dog under a hedge. Then at least one may spend one鈥檚 last moments honestly, without dissembling or ostentation, preparing oneself for the dreadful, or wonderful, event."
鈥溞⌒靶夹把� 谢褍褔褕邪褟 褋屑械褉褌褜 - 褝褌芯 褌邪, 泻芯褌芯褉邪褟 锌芯褔懈褌邪械褌褋褟 褋邪屑芯泄 褏褍写褕械泄: 泻芯谐写邪 薪懈泻芯谐芯 薪械褌 锌褉懈 褔械谢芯胁械泻械 - 褍屑械褉械褌褜 写邪谢械泻芯 薪邪 褔褍卸斜懈薪械, 胁 斜芯谢褜薪懈褑械, 褔褌芯 薪邪蟹褘胁邪械褌褋褟, 泻邪泻 褋芯斜邪泻邪 锌芯写 蟹邪斜芯褉芯屑. 袩芯 泻褉邪泄薪械泄 屑械褉械 胁 锌芯褋谢械写薪懈械 屑懈薪褍褌褘 卸懈蟹薪懈 屑芯卸薪芯 薪械 谢懈褑械屑械褉懈褌褜, 薪械 褍褔懈褌褜, 邪 锌芯屑芯谢褔邪褌褜: 锌褉懈谐芯褌芯胁懈褌褜褋褟 泻 褋褌褉邪褕薪芯屑褍, 邪 屑芯卸械褌 斜褘褌褜, 懈 泻 胁械谢懈泻芯屑褍 褋芯斜褘褌懈褞.鈥�
鈥溠€邪蟹 锌芯褌械褉褟胁褕懈泄 锌芯泻芯泄, 薪懈泻芯谐写邪 薪械 芯斜褉械褌械褌 械谐芯 胁薪芯胁褜.鈥�
"Each of us bears in his soul a heavy wound, and knows it, yet carries himself, must carry himself as if he were aware of nothing, while all around keep up the pretence."
鈥溞毿靶缎囱嬓� 懈蟹 薪邪褋 薪芯褋懈褌 胁 谐谢褍斜懈薪械 写褍褕懈 褋胁芯械泄 褌褟卸械谢褍褞 懈 薪械懈蟹谢械褔懈屑褍褞 褉邪薪褍 - 懈 蟹薪邪械褌 芯 薪械泄, 薪芯 写械褉卸懈褌褋褟, 芯斜褟蟹邪薪 写械褉卸邪褌褜褋褟 褌邪泻, 泻邪泻 斜褍写褌芯 斜褘 芯薪 薪懈褔械谐芯 芯 薪械泄 薪械 蟹薪邪械褌, 懈 胁褋械 写械谢邪褞褌 胁懈写, 褔褌芯 胁械褉褟褌 械屑褍.鈥�
"The habit of logical thinking kills imagination. Man is convinced that the only way to truth is through logic, and that any departure from this way leads to error and absurdity."
鈥溞熝€懈胁褘褔泻邪 泻 谢芯谐懈褔械褋泻芯屑褍 屑褘褕谢械薪懈褞 褍斜懈胁邪械褌 褎邪薪褌邪蟹懈褞. 效械谢芯胁械泻 褍斜械卸写邪械褌褋褟, 褔褌芯 械褋褌褜 褌芯谢褜泻芯 芯写懈薪 锌褍褌褜 泻 懈褋褌懈薪械 - 褔械褉械蟹 谢芯谐懈泻褍 懈 褋胁械褉薪褍褌褜 褋 薪械谐芯 - 蟹薪邪褔懈褌 懈写褌懈 薪邪胁械褉薪褟泻邪 泻 薪械谢械锌芯褋褌懈.鈥�
"Moral people are the most revengeful of mankind, they employ their morality as the best and most subtle weapon of vengeance. They are not satisfied with simply despising and condemning their neighbour themselves, they want the condemnation to be universal and supreme: that is, that all men should rise as one against the condemned, and that even the offender鈥檚 own conscience shall be against him. Then only are they fully satisfied and reassured. Nothing on earth but morality could lead to such wonderful results."
鈥溞澭€邪胁褋褌胁械薪薪褘械 谢褞写懈 - 褋邪屑褘械 屑褋褌懈褌械谢褜薪褘械 谢褞写懈, 懈 褋胁芯褞 薪褉邪胁褋褌胁械薪薪芯褋褌褜 芯薪懈 褍锌芯褌褉械斜谢褟褞褌 泻邪泻 谢褍褔褕械械 懈 薪邪懈斜芯谢械械 褍褌芯薪褔械薪薪芯械
芯褉褍写懈械 屑械褋褌懈. 袨薪懈 薪械 褍写芯胁谢械褌胁芯褉褟褞褌褋褟 褌械屑, 褔褌芯 锌褉芯褋褌芯 锌褉械蟹懈褉邪褞褌 懈 芯褋褍卸写邪褞褌 褋胁芯懈褏 斜谢懈卸薪懈褏, 芯薪懈 褏芯褌褟褌, 褔褌芯斜 懈褏 芯褋褍卸写械薪懈械 斜褘谢芯 胁褋械芯斜褖懈屑 懈 芯斜褟蟹邪褌械谢褜薪褘屑, 褌.械. 褔褌芯斜 胁屑械褋褌械 褋 薪懈屑懈 胁褋械 谢褞写懈 胁芯褋褋褌邪谢懈 薪邪 芯褋褍卸写械薪薪芯谐芯 懈屑懈, 褔褌芯斜 写邪卸械 褋芯斜褋褌胁械薪薪邪褟 褋芯胁械褋褌褜 芯褋褍卸写械薪薪芯谐芯 斜褘谢邪 薪邪 懈褏 褋褌芯褉芯薪械. 孝芯谢褜泻芯 褌芯谐写邪 芯薪懈 褔褍胁褋褌胁褍褞褌 褋械斜褟 胁锌芯谢薪械 褍写芯胁谢械褌胁芯褉械薪薪褘屑懈 懈 褍褋锌芯泻邪懈胁邪褞褌褋褟. 袣褉芯屑械 薪褉邪胁褋褌胁械薪薪芯褋褌懈, 薪懈褔械谐芯 胁 屑懈褉械 薪械 屑芯卸械褌 锌褉懈胁械褋褌懈 泻 褋褌芯谢褜 斜谢械褋褌褟褖懈屑 褉械蟹褍谢褜褌邪褌邪屑.鈥�
"Nietzsche and Dostoevsky seem to be typical 鈥渋nverted simulators,鈥� if one may use the expression. They imitated spiritual sanity, although they were spiritually insane. They knew their morbidity well enough, but they exhibited their disease only to that extent where freakishness passes for originality."
鈥溞澬秆喲埿� 懈 袛芯褋褌芯械胁褋泻懈泄 褟胁谢褟褞褌褋褟 褌懈锌懈褔械褋泻懈屑懈 鈥溞拘毖€邪褌薪褘屑懈 褋懈屑褍谢褟薪褌邪屑懈鈥�, 械褋谢懈 褌邪泻 屑芯卸薪芯 胁褘褉邪蟹懈褌褜褋褟. 袨薪懈 锌褉懈褌胁芯褉褟谢懈褋褜 写褍褕械胁薪芯 蟹写芯褉芯胁褘屑懈, 褏芯褌褟 斜褘谢懈 写褍褕械胁薪芯 斜芯谢褜薪褘屑懈. 袨薪懈 褏芯褉芯褕芯 蟹薪邪谢懈, 褔褌芯 斜芯谢褜薪褘, 薪芯 锌褉芯褟胁谢褟谢懈 褋胁芯褞 斜芯谢械蟹薪褜 谢懈褕褜 胁 褌芯泄 屑械褉械, 胁 泻芯褌芯褉芯泄 褔褍写邪褔械褋褌胁芯 褋褏芯写懈褌 械褖械 蟹邪 芯褉懈谐懈薪邪谢褜薪芯褋褌褜.鈥�
"Shy people usually receive their impressions post-dated. During those moments when an event is taking place before their eyes, they can see nothing, only later on, having evoked from their memory a fragment of what happened, they make for themselves an impression of the whole scene. And then, retrospectively arise in their soul feelings of pity, offense, surprise, so vivid, as if they were the flames of the instant moment, not rekindlings from the past. Thus shy people always think a great deal, and are always too late for their work. It is never too late for thought. Timid before others, they reach great heights of daring when alone. They are bad speakers - but often excellent writers. Their life is insignificant and tedious, they are not noticed,鈥攗ntil they become famous. And by the time fame comes, they do not need popular attention any more."
鈥溞椥把佈傂敌窖囆感惭嬓� 谢褞写懈 芯斜褘泻薪芯胁械薪薪芯 胁芯褋锌褉懈薪懈屑邪褞褌 胁锌械褔邪褌谢械薪懈褟 蟹邪写薪懈屑 褔懈褋谢芯屑. 袙 褌褍 屑懈薪褍褌褍, 泻芯谐写邪 薪邪 懈褏 谐谢邪蟹邪褏 褔褌芯-谢懈斜芯 锌褉芯懈褋褏芯写懈褌, 芯薪懈
薪懈褔械谐芯 薪械 蟹邪屑械褔邪褞褌 懈 褌芯谢褜泻芯 胁锌芯褋谢械写褋褌胁懈懈, 胁芯褋锌褉芯懈蟹胁械写褕懈 胁 锌邪屑褟褌懈 芯褌褉褘胁芯泻 懈蟹 锌褉芯褕谢芯谐芯, 芯薪懈 写邪褞褌 褋械斜械 芯褌褔械褌 胁 褌芯屑, 褔褌芯 胁懈写械谢懈. 袠 褌芯谐写邪 褉械褌褉芯褋锌械泻褌懈胁薪芯 胁 懈褏 写褍褕械 胁芯蟹薪懈泻邪褞褌 褔褍胁褋褌胁邪 芯斜懈写褘, 卸邪谢芯褋褌懈, 褍写懈胁谢械薪懈褟 褋 褌邪泻芯泄 卸懈胁芯褋褌褜褞, 泻邪泻 斜褍写褌芯 斜褘 写械谢芯 褕谢芯 薪械 芯 锌褉芯褕谢芯屑, 邪 芯 薪邪褋褌芯褟褖械屑. 袩芯褝褌芯屑褍 蟹邪褋褌械薪褔懈胁褘械 谢褞写懈 胁褋械谐写邪 芯锌邪蟹写褘胁邪褞褌 褋 写械谢芯屑 懈 胁褋械谐写邪 屑薪芯谐芯 写褍屑邪褞褌: 写褍屑邪褌褜 薪懈泻芯谐写邪 薪械 锌芯蟹写薪芯. 袪芯斜泻懈械 锌褉懈 写褉褍谐懈褏, 芯薪懈 写芯褏芯写褟褌 写芯 斜芯谢褜褕芯泄 褋屑械谢芯褋褌懈, 泻芯谐写邪 芯褋褌邪褞褌褋褟 薪邪械写懈薪械 褋 褋芯斜芯泄. 袨薪懈 锌谢芯褏懈械 芯褉邪褌芯褉褘 - 薪芯 褔邪褋褌芯 蟹邪屑械褔邪褌械谢褜薪褘械 锌懈褋邪褌械谢懈. 袠褏 卸懈蟹薪褜 斜械写薪邪 懈 褋泻褍褔薪邪, 懈褏 薪械 蟹邪屑械褔邪褞褌 - 锌芯泻邪 芯薪懈 薪械 锌褉芯褋谢邪胁褟褌褋褟. 袣芯谐写邪 卸械 锌褉懈褏芯写懈褌 褋谢邪胁邪 - 芯斜褖械械 胁薪懈屑邪薪懈械 褍卸械 薪械 薪褍卸薪芯鈥�
"When man finds in himself a certain defect, of which he can by no means rid himself, there remains but to accept the so-called failing as a natural quality. The more grave and important the defect, the more urgent is the need to ennoble it."
鈥溞毿拘承葱� 褔械谢芯胁械泻 蟹邪屑械褔邪械褌 胁 褋械斜械 泻邪泻芯泄-薪懈斜褍写褜 薪械写芯褋褌邪褌芯泻, 芯褌 泻芯褌芯褉芯谐芯 芯薪 薪懈泻邪泻懈屑懈 褋锌芯褋芯斜邪屑懈 薪械 屑芯卸械褌 懈蟹斜邪胁懈褌褜褋褟, 械屑褍 薪懈褔械谐芯 斜芯谢褜褕械 薪械 芯褋褌邪械褌褋褟, 泻邪泻 芯斜褗褟胁懈褌褜 薪械写芯褋褌邪褌芯泻 泻邪褔械褋褌胁芯屑. 袠 褔械屑 褋械褉褜械蟹薪械械 懈 蟹薪邪褔懈褌械谢褜薪械械 薪械写芯褋褌邪褌芯泻, 褌械屑 薪邪褋褌芯褟褌械谢褜薪械械 褋泻邪蟹褘胁邪械褌褋褟 锌芯褌褉械斜薪芯褋褌褜 芯斜谢邪谐芯褉芯写懈褌褜 械谐芯.鈥�
"The best death is really the one which is considered the worst: to die alone, in a foreign land, in a poor-house, or, as they say, like a dog under a hedge. Then at least one may spend one鈥檚 last moments honestly, without dissembling or ostentation, preparing oneself for the dreadful, or wonderful, event."
鈥溞⌒靶夹把� 谢褍褔褕邪褟 褋屑械褉褌褜 - 褝褌芯 褌邪, 泻芯褌芯褉邪褟 锌芯褔懈褌邪械褌褋褟 褋邪屑芯泄 褏褍写褕械泄: 泻芯谐写邪 薪懈泻芯谐芯 薪械褌 锌褉懈 褔械谢芯胁械泻械 - 褍屑械褉械褌褜 写邪谢械泻芯 薪邪 褔褍卸斜懈薪械, 胁 斜芯谢褜薪懈褑械, 褔褌芯 薪邪蟹褘胁邪械褌褋褟, 泻邪泻 褋芯斜邪泻邪 锌芯写 蟹邪斜芯褉芯屑. 袩芯 泻褉邪泄薪械泄 屑械褉械 胁 锌芯褋谢械写薪懈械 屑懈薪褍褌褘 卸懈蟹薪懈 屑芯卸薪芯 薪械 谢懈褑械屑械褉懈褌褜, 薪械 褍褔懈褌褜, 邪 锌芯屑芯谢褔邪褌褜: 锌褉懈谐芯褌芯胁懈褌褜褋褟 泻 褋褌褉邪褕薪芯屑褍, 邪 屑芯卸械褌 斜褘褌褜, 懈 泻 胁械谢懈泻芯屑褍 褋芯斜褘褌懈褞.鈥�
August 11, 2018
Shestov was an erudite Russian rabbi. In this book he stresses the importance of revelation in philosophical thinking. Many people want to make a distinction between science and faith, Shestov writes the difference should be between science and revelation. Both are ways of knowing. He shows how this works in the writings of Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and others.
February 21, 2024
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2020
袣薪懈谐邪 屑芯卸械褌 褋褌邪褌褜 薪械泻芯褌芯褉褘屑 褉邪蟹芯褔邪褉芯胁邪薪懈械屑 写谢褟 锌褉懈胁薪芯褋褟褖械谐芯 胁 胁芯褋锌褉懈褟褌懈械 褔械谐芯-褌芯 "泻邪褌邪褋褌褉芯褎懈褔薪芯谐芯" 写谢褟 褋芯斜褋褌胁械薪薪芯谐芯 屑懈褉芯褋芯蟹械褉褑邪薪懈褟 芯褌 "褉褍褋褋泻芯褟蟹褘褔薪芯谐芯 薪懈褑褕械邪薪懈薪邪", 泻邪泻懈屑 楔械褋褌芯胁 芯褌褔邪褋褌懈 褋褔懈褌邪械褌褋褟.
袥懈褔薪芯 写谢褟 屑械薪褟, 褉邪斜芯褌邪 锌褉械写褋褌邪胁谢褟械褌褋褟, 薪械 褋屑芯褌褉褟 薪邪 褌芯, 褔褌芯 械褞 胁写芯褏薪芯胁谢褟谢褋褟 懈 袣邪屑褞, 褔褜褟 "效褍屑邪", 谐芯胁芯褉褟褌, 胁芯褕谢邪 胁 屑芯写褍, "泻邪褌邪褋褌褉芯褎懈褔薪芯泄" 懈屑械薪薪芯 胁 褋芯斜褋褌胁械薪薪芯泄 褍褋褌邪褉械谢芯褋褌懈 (褝褌芯 薪械 芯褋泻芯褉斜谢械薪懈械, 褋锌械褕褍 褍胁械褉懈褌褜, 薪芯 芯褌褔邪褟薪懈械) - 褋褌邪薪芯胁懈褕褜褋褟 薪邪 锌芯蟹懈褑懈懈 谢懈褌械褉邪褌褍褉芯胁械写芯胁, 芯斜褗褟胁谢褟褞褖懈褏 袥褜胁邪 孝芯谢褋褌芯谐芯 芯写薪懈屑 懈蟹 薪邪懈斜芯谢械械 薪械邪泻褌褍邪谢褜薪褘褏 锌懈褋邪褌械谢械泄 褋芯胁褉械屑械薪薪芯褋褌懈, 薪邪褔懈薪邪械褕褜 锌芯薪懈屑邪褌褜, "芯褌泻褍写邪 薪芯谐懈 褉邪褋褌褍褌" 褍 褌邪泻懈褏 蟹邪褟胁谢械薪懈泄. 袩芯褔械屑褍, 胁 泻芯薪褑械 泻芯薪褑芯胁, 薪械 褔械褉械写邪 泻谢芯薪芯胁 褋芯褑褉械邪谢懈蟹屑邪 懈谢懈 芯褉写褘 褉械胁芯谢褞褑懈芯薪薪褘褏 锌邪屑褎谢械褌懈褋褌芯胁, 胁蟹褉邪褋褌邪褞褖懈褏 薪邪 锌芯褔胁械 褋芯褑懈邪谢褜薪褘褏 胁芯谢薪械薪懈泄 懈 褋胁芯械胁褉械屑械薪薪褘褏 谢懈褕褜 胁 褋芯胁褉械屑械薪薪芯褋褌懈? 袣 褌芯屑褍 卸械, 械褋褌褜 锌褉芯褉胁邪 锌芯褝褌芯胁, 泻芯褌芯褉褘褏, 褋褍写褟 锌芯 胁褋械屑褍, 褋锌械褑懈邪谢懈褋褌褘 褌邪泻懈械 写邪卸械 薪械 写褍屑邪褞褌 芯褌薪芯褋懈褌褜 泻 谢懈褌械褉邪褌褍褉械!
袣邪泻 斜褘 褌邪屑 薪懈 斜褘谢芯 - 锌懈褋邪褌褜 芯斜 "袗锌芯褎械芯蟹械械" 薪械懈薪褌械褉械褋薪芯, 薪械 锌褋懈褏芯谢芯谐懈蟹懈褉褍褟, 薪械 褋锌械泻褍谢懈褉褍褟, 薪械 褍写邪褉褟褟褋褜 胁 芯褌泻褉芯胁械薪薪芯械 褋谢芯胁芯斜谢褍写懈械 (胁 褔褢屑 薪械褌 懈 褌芯谢懈泻懈 写械褉蟹薪芯胁械薪懈褟) - 邪褎芯褉懈蟹屑褘 谐芯写薪褘 谢懈褕褜 薪邪 褉邪褋泻褉褘褌懈械 褋芯斜褋褌胁械薪薪芯泄 懈褋褌芯谢泻芯胁邪薪懈褟, 薪芯 薪械 写谢褟 邪薪邪谢懈蟹邪; 锌芯褌芯屑褍 懈褏 写邪卸械 薪械 褋谢械写褍械褌 锌芯写胁械褉谐邪褌褜 褌邪泻芯胁芯屑褍 - 褌邪泻 泻邪泻 褉懈褋泻褍械褕褜 褍锌褍褋褌懈褌褜 锌芯谢芯卸械薪薪褍褞 胁 芯褋薪芯胁邪薪懈械 "斜械褋锌芯褔胁械薪薪芯褋褌褜".
效褌芯 卸械 泻邪褋邪械褌褋褟 褝褌芯谐芯 褋邪屑芯谐芯 芯褋薪芯胁邪薪懈褟, 褌芯 芯薪芯 锌芯胁褌芯褉褟械褌 芯褕懈斜泻褍 谢褞斜芯泄 "锌褍褋褌芯褌褘, 褋褌芯褟褖械泄 袩芯 孝褍 小褌芯褉芯薪褍" - 薪械 褍褔懈褌褘胁邪械褌 褋邪屑芯械 褋械斜褟; 薪械 褍褔懈褌褘胁邪械褌 褌芯谐芯, 褔褌芯 褋邪屑邪 芯薪邪, 斜械褋锌芯褔胁械薪薪芯褋褌褜, 屑芯卸械褌 褋谢褍卸懈褌褜 写芯褋褌邪褌芯褔薪芯 锌褉芯褔薪褘屑 褎褍薪写邪屑械薪褌芯屑 写谢褟 胁蟹谐谢褟写芯胁, 薪邪锌褉邪胁谢械薪薪褘褏 薪邪 锌械褉械芯褑械薪懈胁邪薪懈械 胁褋械谐芯 薪邪谢懈褔械褋褌胁褍褞褖械谐芯, 锌褉懈胁褘褔薪芯谐芯, 褌褉邪写懈褑懈芯薪薪芯谐芯. 袥械胁 袠褋邪邪泻芯胁懈褔 薪械 写械谢邪械褌 懈 褋邪屑芯泄 屑邪谢芯褋褌懈, 芯褋褌芯褉芯卸薪懈褔邪褟 懈 "薪械 锌褉芯卸懈胁邪褟", 泻邪泻 谐芯胁芯褉褟褌 薪邪 泻褍褉褋邪褏 邪泻褌褢褉褋泻芯谐芯 屑邪褋褌械褉褋褌胁邪.
袥械胁 袠褋邪邪泻芯胁懈褔 锌褉芯褋褌芯 谐芯胁芯褉懈褌, 胁褘褋泻邪蟹褘胁邪械褌褋褟, 褉械锌谢懈褑懈褉褍锟斤拷褌, 胁芯胁褉械屑褟 薪械 写芯谐芯胁邪褉懈胁邪械褌 懈 胁锌芯谢薪械 锌芯薪懈屑邪械褌, 褔褌芯 薪械 胁 锌褉邪胁械 斜褘褌褜 泻邪褌械谐芯褉懈褔薪褘屑 胁 褉械褔懈 - 胁锌褉芯褔械屑, 芯褋褌邪薪械褌褋褟 蟹邪谐邪写泻芯泄, 褋芯芯褌胁械褌褋褌胁芯胁邪谢芯 谢懈 褝褌芯 械谐芯 卸械谢邪薪懈褞 懈谢懈 薪械卸械谢邪薪懈褞 斜褘褌褜 芯锌懈褋邪薪薪褘屑 懈 褍胁懈写械薪薪褘屑 胁 褌邪泻芯屑 褋胁械褌械.
袧械 芯褋褌邪胁谢褟械褌 芯褖褍褖械薪懈械 薪械写芯芯褑械薪泻懈 懈 薪械泻芯褌芯褉芯谐芯 褋褌褘写邪, 锌褉懈 薪邪谢懈褔械褋褌胁褍褞褖械泄 斜谢邪谐芯写邪褉薪芯褋褌懈 - 胁芯蟹屑芯卸薪芯, 褋谢械写褍械褌 芯斜褉邪褌懈褌褜褋褟 泻 写褉褍谐懈屑 褉邪斜芯褌邪屑 谐芯褋锌芯写懈薪邪 楔胁邪褉褑屑邪薪邪.
袥懈褔薪芯 写谢褟 屑械薪褟, 褉邪斜芯褌邪 锌褉械写褋褌邪胁谢褟械褌褋褟, 薪械 褋屑芯褌褉褟 薪邪 褌芯, 褔褌芯 械褞 胁写芯褏薪芯胁谢褟谢褋褟 懈 袣邪屑褞, 褔褜褟 "效褍屑邪", 谐芯胁芯褉褟褌, 胁芯褕谢邪 胁 屑芯写褍, "泻邪褌邪褋褌褉芯褎懈褔薪芯泄" 懈屑械薪薪芯 胁 褋芯斜褋褌胁械薪薪芯泄 褍褋褌邪褉械谢芯褋褌懈 (褝褌芯 薪械 芯褋泻芯褉斜谢械薪懈械, 褋锌械褕褍 褍胁械褉懈褌褜, 薪芯 芯褌褔邪褟薪懈械) - 褋褌邪薪芯胁懈褕褜褋褟 薪邪 锌芯蟹懈褑懈懈 谢懈褌械褉邪褌褍褉芯胁械写芯胁, 芯斜褗褟胁谢褟褞褖懈褏 袥褜胁邪 孝芯谢褋褌芯谐芯 芯写薪懈屑 懈蟹 薪邪懈斜芯谢械械 薪械邪泻褌褍邪谢褜薪褘褏 锌懈褋邪褌械谢械泄 褋芯胁褉械屑械薪薪芯褋褌懈, 薪邪褔懈薪邪械褕褜 锌芯薪懈屑邪褌褜, "芯褌泻褍写邪 薪芯谐懈 褉邪褋褌褍褌" 褍 褌邪泻懈褏 蟹邪褟胁谢械薪懈泄. 袩芯褔械屑褍, 胁 泻芯薪褑械 泻芯薪褑芯胁, 薪械 褔械褉械写邪 泻谢芯薪芯胁 褋芯褑褉械邪谢懈蟹屑邪 懈谢懈 芯褉写褘 褉械胁芯谢褞褑懈芯薪薪褘褏 锌邪屑褎谢械褌懈褋褌芯胁, 胁蟹褉邪褋褌邪褞褖懈褏 薪邪 锌芯褔胁械 褋芯褑懈邪谢褜薪褘褏 胁芯谢薪械薪懈泄 懈 褋胁芯械胁褉械屑械薪薪褘褏 谢懈褕褜 胁 褋芯胁褉械屑械薪薪芯褋褌懈? 袣 褌芯屑褍 卸械, 械褋褌褜 锌褉芯褉胁邪 锌芯褝褌芯胁, 泻芯褌芯褉褘褏, 褋褍写褟 锌芯 胁褋械屑褍, 褋锌械褑懈邪谢懈褋褌褘 褌邪泻懈械 写邪卸械 薪械 写褍屑邪褞褌 芯褌薪芯褋懈褌褜 泻 谢懈褌械褉邪褌褍褉械!
袣邪泻 斜褘 褌邪屑 薪懈 斜褘谢芯 - 锌懈褋邪褌褜 芯斜 "袗锌芯褎械芯蟹械械" 薪械懈薪褌械褉械褋薪芯, 薪械 锌褋懈褏芯谢芯谐懈蟹懈褉褍褟, 薪械 褋锌械泻褍谢懈褉褍褟, 薪械 褍写邪褉褟褟褋褜 胁 芯褌泻褉芯胁械薪薪芯械 褋谢芯胁芯斜谢褍写懈械 (胁 褔褢屑 薪械褌 懈 褌芯谢懈泻懈 写械褉蟹薪芯胁械薪懈褟) - 邪褎芯褉懈蟹屑褘 谐芯写薪褘 谢懈褕褜 薪邪 褉邪褋泻褉褘褌懈械 褋芯斜褋褌胁械薪薪芯泄 懈褋褌芯谢泻芯胁邪薪懈褟, 薪芯 薪械 写谢褟 邪薪邪谢懈蟹邪; 锌芯褌芯屑褍 懈褏 写邪卸械 薪械 褋谢械写褍械褌 锌芯写胁械褉谐邪褌褜 褌邪泻芯胁芯屑褍 - 褌邪泻 泻邪泻 褉懈褋泻褍械褕褜 褍锌褍褋褌懈褌褜 锌芯谢芯卸械薪薪褍褞 胁 芯褋薪芯胁邪薪懈械 "斜械褋锌芯褔胁械薪薪芯褋褌褜".
效褌芯 卸械 泻邪褋邪械褌褋褟 褝褌芯谐芯 褋邪屑芯谐芯 芯褋薪芯胁邪薪懈褟, 褌芯 芯薪芯 锌芯胁褌芯褉褟械褌 芯褕懈斜泻褍 谢褞斜芯泄 "锌褍褋褌芯褌褘, 褋褌芯褟褖械泄 袩芯 孝褍 小褌芯褉芯薪褍" - 薪械 褍褔懈褌褘胁邪械褌 褋邪屑芯械 褋械斜褟; 薪械 褍褔懈褌褘胁邪械褌 褌芯谐芯, 褔褌芯 褋邪屑邪 芯薪邪, 斜械褋锌芯褔胁械薪薪芯褋褌褜, 屑芯卸械褌 褋谢褍卸懈褌褜 写芯褋褌邪褌芯褔薪芯 锌褉芯褔薪褘屑 褎褍薪写邪屑械薪褌芯屑 写谢褟 胁蟹谐谢褟写芯胁, 薪邪锌褉邪胁谢械薪薪褘褏 薪邪 锌械褉械芯褑械薪懈胁邪薪懈械 胁褋械谐芯 薪邪谢懈褔械褋褌胁褍褞褖械谐芯, 锌褉懈胁褘褔薪芯谐芯, 褌褉邪写懈褑懈芯薪薪芯谐芯. 袥械胁 袠褋邪邪泻芯胁懈褔 薪械 写械谢邪械褌 懈 褋邪屑芯泄 屑邪谢芯褋褌懈, 芯褋褌芯褉芯卸薪懈褔邪褟 懈 "薪械 锌褉芯卸懈胁邪褟", 泻邪泻 谐芯胁芯褉褟褌 薪邪 泻褍褉褋邪褏 邪泻褌褢褉褋泻芯谐芯 屑邪褋褌械褉褋褌胁邪.
袥械胁 袠褋邪邪泻芯胁懈褔 锌褉芯褋褌芯 谐芯胁芯褉懈褌, 胁褘褋泻邪蟹褘胁邪械褌褋褟, 褉械锌谢懈褑懈褉褍锟斤拷褌, 胁芯胁褉械屑褟 薪械 写芯谐芯胁邪褉懈胁邪械褌 懈 胁锌芯谢薪械 锌芯薪懈屑邪械褌, 褔褌芯 薪械 胁 锌褉邪胁械 斜褘褌褜 泻邪褌械谐芯褉懈褔薪褘屑 胁 褉械褔懈 - 胁锌褉芯褔械屑, 芯褋褌邪薪械褌褋褟 蟹邪谐邪写泻芯泄, 褋芯芯褌胁械褌褋褌胁芯胁邪谢芯 谢懈 褝褌芯 械谐芯 卸械谢邪薪懈褞 懈谢懈 薪械卸械谢邪薪懈褞 斜褘褌褜 芯锌懈褋邪薪薪褘屑 懈 褍胁懈写械薪薪褘屑 胁 褌邪泻芯屑 褋胁械褌械.
袧械 芯褋褌邪胁谢褟械褌 芯褖褍褖械薪懈械 薪械写芯芯褑械薪泻懈 懈 薪械泻芯褌芯褉芯谐芯 褋褌褘写邪, 锌褉懈 薪邪谢懈褔械褋褌胁褍褞褖械泄 斜谢邪谐芯写邪褉薪芯褋褌懈 - 胁芯蟹屑芯卸薪芯, 褋谢械写褍械褌 芯斜褉邪褌懈褌褜褋褟 泻 写褉褍谐懈屑 褉邪斜芯褌邪屑 谐芯褋锌芯写懈薪邪 楔胁邪褉褑屑邪薪邪.
September 10, 2022
Shestov is such an exacting and rigorous philosopher that finishing this book took about a month for me. Unlike Nietzsche or Kant, everything is not defined a few chapters along and no 鈥渟chool鈥� is introduced, just an examination of the phenomena surrounding humans. Towards the end he breezes by a few philosophical schools here and there but understands that the Big Time philosophers are not going to stop man from living illusions.
Shestov is not like Unamuno, not a thinker who throws possibility around as an antidote to determinism鈥檚 consequences. The vastness of the cosmos, the inability to either define or limit leads him to a consideration of the infinite. Unsparing realism and a definite sense of Pushkin and Russian aesthetics alchemizes into a hybrid sense of nihilism and fantasy combine.
Shestov is not like Unamuno, not a thinker who throws possibility around as an antidote to determinism鈥檚 consequences. The vastness of the cosmos, the inability to either define or limit leads him to a consideration of the infinite. Unsparing realism and a definite sense of Pushkin and Russian aesthetics alchemizes into a hybrid sense of nihilism and fantasy combine.
January 25, 2024
"The philosophers have ever bowed the knee to success. So down they went before the newly-invented law of natural sequence, they hailed it with the title of eternal truth. But even this seemed insufficient."
"There are no all-binding, universal judgments鈥攍et us manage with non-binding, non-universal ones. Only professors will suffer for it."
"past, to peep into the future. Poushkin could cry hot tears, and he who can weep can hope. "I want to live, so that I may think and suffer," he says; and it seems as if the word "to suffer," which is so beautiful in the poem, just fell in accidentally, because there was no better rhyme in Russian for "to die."
"The habit of logical thinking kills imagination. Man is convinced that the only way to truth is through logic, and that any departure from this way leads to error and absurdity."
*"Such being the case, a man deliberately cuts the thread which binds him to hearth and home, so that he may have a legitimate excuse to his conscience for not going back. Philosophy must have nothing in common with logic; philosophy is an art which aims at breaking the logical continuity of argument and bringing man out on the shoreless sea of imagination, the fantastic tides where everything is equally possible and impossible."
"The first assumption of all metaphysics is, that by dialectic development of any concept a whole system can be evolved. Of course the initial concept, the a priori, is generally unsound, so there is no need to mention the deductions."
Funny, "It is related that a famous mathematician, after hearing a musical symphony to the end, inquired, "What does it prove?" Of course, it proves nothing, except that the mathematician had no taste for music."
"Perhaps "cowardice," that miserable, despicable, much-abused weakness of the underworld, is not such a vice after all. Perhaps it is even a virtue. Think of Dostoevsky and his heroes, think of Hamlet. If the underworld man in us were afraid of nothing, if Hamlet was naturally a gladiator, then we should have neither tragic poetry nor philosophy."
"We very often express in a categorical form a judgment of which we do not feel assured, we even lay stress on its absolute validity. We want to see what opposition it will arouse, and this can be achieved only by stating our assumption not as a tentative suggestion, which no one will consider, but as an irrefutable, all-important truth. The greater the value an assumption has for us, the more carefully do we conceal any suggestion of its improbability."
"But our writers of to-day, before they can lay their improbable assertions before the public, must inevitably try to be convinced in their own minds. Otherwise they cannot begin."
"Anton Tchekhov tells the truth neither out of love or respect for the truth, nor yet because, in the Kantian manner, a high duty bids him never to tell a lie, even to escape death. Neither has he the impulse which so often pushes young and fiery souls into rashness; that desire to stand erect, to keep the head high. On the contrary, Tchekhov always walks with a stoop, his head bent down, never fixing his eyes on the heavens, since he will read no signs there."
**"The possibilities which open out before mankind are sufficiently limited. It is impossible to see everything, impossible to know everything, impossible to rise too high above the earth, impossible to penetrate too deeply down."
**"What has been is hidden away, what will be we cannot anticipate, and we know for certain that we shall never grow wings."
**"We must watch our feet, consider each step, since the moment we are off our guard disaster is upon us. Another life is conceivable, however: life in which the word disaster does not exist, where responsibility for one's actions, even if it be not completely abolished, at least has not such a deadly and accidental weight, and where, on the other hand, there is no "regularity," but rather an infinite"
**"But if there is God, and all men are the children of God, then we should be afraid of nothing and spare nothing. And then the man who madly dissipates his own life and fortunes, and the lives and fortunes of others, is more right than the calculating philosophers who vainly seek to regulate mankind on earth."
"the best, the trick was a risky one. As a rule, wisdom goes one way, society the other. They are artificially connected. It is public orators who have trained both the philosophers and the masses to regard as worthy of attention only those considerations which have absolutely everything on their side"
"When a writer has to express an idea whose foundation he has not been able to establish, and which yet is dear to his heart, so that he earnestly wishes to secure its general acceptance, as a rule he interrupts his exposition, as if to take breath, and makes a small, or at times a serious digression, during which he proves the invalidity of this or that proposition, often without any reference to his real theme."
"His calculation is perfectly justified. The reader is afraid to attack such a skilled dialectician, and prefers to agree rather than to risk himself in argument. Not even the greatest intellects, particularly in philosophy, disdain such stratagems. The idealists, for example, before expounding their theories, turn and rend materialism. The materialists, we remember, at one time did the same with the idealists, and achieved a vast success."
"Creative activity is a continual progression from failure to failure, and the condition of the creator is usually one of uncertainty, mistrust, and shattered nerves. The more serious and original the task which a man sets himself, the more tormenting is the self-misgiving."
"A school axiom: logical scepticism refutes itself, since the denial of the possibility of positive knowledge is already an affirmation. But, in the first place, scepticism is not bound to be logical, for it has no desire whatever to gratify that dogma which raises logic to the position of law."
"Secondly, where is the philosophic theory which, if carried to its extreme, would not destroy itself? Therefore, why is more demanded from scepticism than from other systems? especially from scepticism, which honestly avows that it cannot give that which all other theories claim to give."
"In Gogol's Portrait, the artist despairs at the thought that he has sacrificed art for the sake of "life." In Ibsen's drama, When We Dead Awaken, there is also an artist, who has become world-famous, and who repents that he has sacrificed his life鈥攖o art. Now, choose鈥攚hich of the two ways of repentance do you prefer?"
"Man is often quite indifferent to success whilst he has it. But once he loses his power over people, he begins to fret. And鈥攙ice versa." True
**"
If we compare our knowledge with that of the ancients, we appear very wise. But we are no nearer to solving the riddle of eternal justice than Cain was. Progress, civilisation, all the conquests of the human mind have brought us nothing new here. Like our ancestors, we stand still with fright and perplexity before ugliness, disease, misery, senility, death."
**" We are told that perhaps all that is horrible only appears horrible, that perhaps at the end of the long journey something new awaits us. Perhaps! But the modern educated man, with the wisdom of all the centuries of mankind at his command, knows no more about it than the old singer who solved universal problems at his own risk. We, the children of a moribund civilisation, we, old men from our birth, in this respect are as young as the first man."
**"Philosophers dearly love to call their utterances "truths," since in that guise they become binding upon us all. But each philosopher invents his own truths. Which means that he asks his pupils to deceive themselves in the way he shows, but that he reserves for himself the option of deceiving himself in his own way. Why? Why not allow everyone to deceive himself just as he likes?"
**"In the "ultimate questions of life" we are not a bit nearer the truth than our ancestors were. Everybody knows it, and yet so many go on talking about infinity, without any hope of ever saying anything."
"Theories of sequence and consequence, as we already know, are binding only upon disciples, whose single virtue lies in their scrupulous, logical developing of the master's idea. But masters themselves invent ideas, and, therefore, have the right to substitute one for another. The sovereign power which proclaims a law has the same power to abolish it."
"Hopelessness is the most solemn and supreme moment in life. Till that point we have been assisted鈥攏ow we are left to ourselves. Previously we had to do with men and human laws鈥攏ow with eternity, and with the complete absence of laws. Is it not obvious?"
"We have sufficient grounds for taking life mistrustfully: it has defrauded us so often of our cherished expectations. But we have still stronger grounds for mistrusting reason: since if life deceived us, it was only because futile reason let herself be deceived."
"But had he chanced to be brought amongst Russian peasants he would have had to change his opinion. With them thoughts about destiny and the why and wherefore of the universe and infinity and so on, would by no means be considered disinterested, particularly if the man who devoted himself to such thoughts were at the same time to announce, as becomes a philosopher, that he claimed complete freedom from physical labour. There the philosopher, were he even Plato, would be stigmatised with the disgraceful nickname, "Idle-jack." There the highest activity is interested activity, directed towards strictly practical purposes; and if the peasants could speak learnedly, they would certainly call the principle upon which their judgment is founded an a priori."
"Three-fourths of our education goes to teaching us most carefully to conceal within ourselves the changeableness of our moods and judgments. A man who cannot keep his word is the last of men: never to be trusted. Likewise, a man with no firm convictions: it is impossible to work together with him."
"The summit of human existence, say the philosophers, is spiritual serenity, aequanimitas: But in that case the animals should be our ideal, for in the matter of imperturbability they leave nothing to be desired. Look at a grazing sheep, or a cow."
**"To discard logic as an instrument, a means or aid for acquiring knowledge, would be extravagant. Why should we? For the sake of consequentialism? i.e. for logic's very self? But logic, as an aim in itself, or even as the only means to knowledge, is a different matter. Against this one must fight even if he has against him all the authorities of thought鈥攂eginning with Aristotle."
"A = A.鈥擳hey say that logic does not need this postulate, and could easily develop it by deduction. I think not. On the contrary, in my opinion, logic could not exist without this premiss. Meanwhile it has a purely empirical origin. In the realm of fact, A is always more or less equal to A. But it might be otherwise. The universe might be so constituted as to admit of the most fantastic metamorphoses. That which now equals A would successively equal B and then C, and so on."
"The effort to understand people, life, the universe prevents us from getting to know them at all. Since "to know" and "to understand" are two concepts which are not only non-identical, but just the opposite of one another in meaning; in spite of their being in constant use as synonyms."
"It is a case of clearest logical consequence: man loves his neighbour, he sees that heaven is indifferent to misery, therefore he takes upon himself the r么le of Providence. Were he indifferent to the sufferings of others, he would easily become an idealist and leave his neighbours to their fate. Love and compassion kill belief, and make a man a positivist and a materialist in his philosophical outlook. If he feels the misery of others, he leaves off meditating and wants to act. Man only thinks properly when he realises he has nothing to do, his hands are tied."
"And how could we be brought to live "as we ought," when our own nature is and always will be an incalculable mystery. There is no mistake about it, nobody wants to think, I do not speak here of logical thinking. That, like any other natural function, gives man great pleasure. For this reason philosophical systems, however complicated, arouse real and permanent interest in the public provided they only require from man the logical exercise of the mind, and nothing else."
"The pike did not notice the partition, and hurled itself on its prey, with, of course, the result only of a bruised nose. The same happened many times, and always the same result. At last, seeing all its efforts ended so painfully, the pike abandoned the hunt, so that in a few days, when the partition had been removed it continued to swim about among the small fry without daring to attack them.... Does not the same happen with us? Perhaps the limits between "this world" and "the other world" are also essentially of an experimental origin, neither rooted in the nature of things, as was thought before Kant, or in the nature of our reason, as was thought after Kant."
"Perhaps indeed a partition does exist, and make vain all attempts to cross over.. But perhaps there comes a moment when the partition is removed. In our minds, however, the conviction is firmly rooted that it is impossible to pass certain limits, and painful to try: a conviction founded on experience."
"The most lasting and varied experience cannot lead to any binding and universal conclusion. Nay, all our a priori, which are so useful for a certain time, become sooner or later extremely harmful."
Funny, "And this superb principle has been arrived at perfectly by chance, unfortunately not by me, but by one of the comical characters in Tchekhov's Seagull. He mixed up two Latin proverbs, and the result was a splendid maxim which, in order to become an a priori, awaits only universal acceptance."
"Wonderful is man. Knowing nothing about it, he asserts the existence of an objective impossibility."
"And again, no matter what his precautions, a man will meet his fate sooner or later, and come into conflict with the dragon."
"Not in vain is our earth called a vale of tears and sorrow."
"God-conception鈥攚ith theodicy and metaphysical theories as a result, both of which deny the possibility of a mystery. Theodicy has long ago wearied us. The mechanistic theories, which contend that there is nothing special in life, that its appearance and disappearance depend on the same laws as those of the conservation of energy and the indestructibility of matter, these look more plausible at first sight, but people do not take to them. And no theory can survive men's reluctance to believe in it."
"For instance鈥攐ur day is so convinced of the absolute nonsense and uselessness of alchemy and astrology that no one dreams of verifying the conviction. We know there were many charlatans and liars amongst alchemists and astrologers. But what does this prove? In every department there are the same mediocre creatures who speculate on human credulity."
"the "mature" people are mistaken about the nothing new can happen." The fact of spiritual stagnation should not be made the ground for judging all life's possibilities from known possibilities."
"On the contrary, such stagnation should prove that however rich and multifarious the past may have been, it has not exhausted a tittle of the whole possibilities. From that which has been it is impossible to infer what will be."
**"future has every right to be anything whatsoever, like or utterly unlike the past."
**"At times one comes to the conclusion that the natural connection of phenomena, as hitherto observed, is not at all inevitable for the future, and that miracles which so far have seemed impossible, may come to seem possible, even natural, far more natural than that loathsome law of sequence, the law of the regularity of phenomena. We are bored stiff with regularity and sequence鈥攃onfess it, you also, you men of science. At the mere thought that, however we may think, we can get no further than the acknowledgment of the old regularity, an invincible disgust to any kind of mental work overcomes us. To discover another law鈥攕till another鈥攚hen already we have far more than we can do with!"
"Surely if there is any will-to-think left in us, it is established in the supposition that the mind cannot and must not have any bounds, any limits; and that the theory of knowledge, which is based on the history of knowledge and on a few very doubtful assumptions, is only a piece of property belonging to a certain caste, and has nothing to do with us others"
"What a mad impatience seizes us at times when we realise that we shall never fathom the great mystery! Every individual in the world must have felt at one time the mad desire to unriddle the universe."
**"sympathies鈥攊s to cease to fear any absurdities, whether rational or metaphysical, and systematically to reject all the services of reason."
"When a man has done his work, and gives himself up to looking and listening and pleasantly accepting everything, hiding nothing from himself, then he begins to "philosophise." What good are abstract formulae to him? Why should he ask himself, before he begins to think: "What can I think about, what are the limits of thought?" He will think, and those who like can do the summing up and the building of theories of knowledge"
"In practical life, particularly in the social political life to which we are doomed, convictions are a necessity. Unity is strength, and unity is possible only among people who think alike. Again, a deep conviction is in itself a strong force, far more powerful than the most logical argumentation."
"Science is useful鈥攂ut she need not pretend to truth. She cannot know what truth is, she can only accumulate universal laws. Whereas there are, and always have been, non-scientific ways of searching for truth, ways which lead, if not to the innermost secrets, yet to the threshold"
"But does such a thing as ultimate truth exist? Is not the very conception of truth, the very assumption of the possibility of truth, merely an outcome of our limited experience, a fruit of limitation?"
"To out with the truth at all times, always to Until the contrary is proved, we need to think that only one assertion has or can have any objective reality: that nothing on earth is impossible."
"There are no all-binding, universal judgments鈥攍et us manage with non-binding, non-universal ones. Only professors will suffer for it."
"past, to peep into the future. Poushkin could cry hot tears, and he who can weep can hope. "I want to live, so that I may think and suffer," he says; and it seems as if the word "to suffer," which is so beautiful in the poem, just fell in accidentally, because there was no better rhyme in Russian for "to die."
"The habit of logical thinking kills imagination. Man is convinced that the only way to truth is through logic, and that any departure from this way leads to error and absurdity."
*"Such being the case, a man deliberately cuts the thread which binds him to hearth and home, so that he may have a legitimate excuse to his conscience for not going back. Philosophy must have nothing in common with logic; philosophy is an art which aims at breaking the logical continuity of argument and bringing man out on the shoreless sea of imagination, the fantastic tides where everything is equally possible and impossible."
"The first assumption of all metaphysics is, that by dialectic development of any concept a whole system can be evolved. Of course the initial concept, the a priori, is generally unsound, so there is no need to mention the deductions."
Funny, "It is related that a famous mathematician, after hearing a musical symphony to the end, inquired, "What does it prove?" Of course, it proves nothing, except that the mathematician had no taste for music."
"Perhaps "cowardice," that miserable, despicable, much-abused weakness of the underworld, is not such a vice after all. Perhaps it is even a virtue. Think of Dostoevsky and his heroes, think of Hamlet. If the underworld man in us were afraid of nothing, if Hamlet was naturally a gladiator, then we should have neither tragic poetry nor philosophy."
"We very often express in a categorical form a judgment of which we do not feel assured, we even lay stress on its absolute validity. We want to see what opposition it will arouse, and this can be achieved only by stating our assumption not as a tentative suggestion, which no one will consider, but as an irrefutable, all-important truth. The greater the value an assumption has for us, the more carefully do we conceal any suggestion of its improbability."
"But our writers of to-day, before they can lay their improbable assertions before the public, must inevitably try to be convinced in their own minds. Otherwise they cannot begin."
"Anton Tchekhov tells the truth neither out of love or respect for the truth, nor yet because, in the Kantian manner, a high duty bids him never to tell a lie, even to escape death. Neither has he the impulse which so often pushes young and fiery souls into rashness; that desire to stand erect, to keep the head high. On the contrary, Tchekhov always walks with a stoop, his head bent down, never fixing his eyes on the heavens, since he will read no signs there."
**"The possibilities which open out before mankind are sufficiently limited. It is impossible to see everything, impossible to know everything, impossible to rise too high above the earth, impossible to penetrate too deeply down."
**"What has been is hidden away, what will be we cannot anticipate, and we know for certain that we shall never grow wings."
**"We must watch our feet, consider each step, since the moment we are off our guard disaster is upon us. Another life is conceivable, however: life in which the word disaster does not exist, where responsibility for one's actions, even if it be not completely abolished, at least has not such a deadly and accidental weight, and where, on the other hand, there is no "regularity," but rather an infinite"
**"But if there is God, and all men are the children of God, then we should be afraid of nothing and spare nothing. And then the man who madly dissipates his own life and fortunes, and the lives and fortunes of others, is more right than the calculating philosophers who vainly seek to regulate mankind on earth."
"the best, the trick was a risky one. As a rule, wisdom goes one way, society the other. They are artificially connected. It is public orators who have trained both the philosophers and the masses to regard as worthy of attention only those considerations which have absolutely everything on their side"
"When a writer has to express an idea whose foundation he has not been able to establish, and which yet is dear to his heart, so that he earnestly wishes to secure its general acceptance, as a rule he interrupts his exposition, as if to take breath, and makes a small, or at times a serious digression, during which he proves the invalidity of this or that proposition, often without any reference to his real theme."
"His calculation is perfectly justified. The reader is afraid to attack such a skilled dialectician, and prefers to agree rather than to risk himself in argument. Not even the greatest intellects, particularly in philosophy, disdain such stratagems. The idealists, for example, before expounding their theories, turn and rend materialism. The materialists, we remember, at one time did the same with the idealists, and achieved a vast success."
"Creative activity is a continual progression from failure to failure, and the condition of the creator is usually one of uncertainty, mistrust, and shattered nerves. The more serious and original the task which a man sets himself, the more tormenting is the self-misgiving."
"A school axiom: logical scepticism refutes itself, since the denial of the possibility of positive knowledge is already an affirmation. But, in the first place, scepticism is not bound to be logical, for it has no desire whatever to gratify that dogma which raises logic to the position of law."
"Secondly, where is the philosophic theory which, if carried to its extreme, would not destroy itself? Therefore, why is more demanded from scepticism than from other systems? especially from scepticism, which honestly avows that it cannot give that which all other theories claim to give."
"In Gogol's Portrait, the artist despairs at the thought that he has sacrificed art for the sake of "life." In Ibsen's drama, When We Dead Awaken, there is also an artist, who has become world-famous, and who repents that he has sacrificed his life鈥攖o art. Now, choose鈥攚hich of the two ways of repentance do you prefer?"
"Man is often quite indifferent to success whilst he has it. But once he loses his power over people, he begins to fret. And鈥攙ice versa." True
**"
If we compare our knowledge with that of the ancients, we appear very wise. But we are no nearer to solving the riddle of eternal justice than Cain was. Progress, civilisation, all the conquests of the human mind have brought us nothing new here. Like our ancestors, we stand still with fright and perplexity before ugliness, disease, misery, senility, death."
**" We are told that perhaps all that is horrible only appears horrible, that perhaps at the end of the long journey something new awaits us. Perhaps! But the modern educated man, with the wisdom of all the centuries of mankind at his command, knows no more about it than the old singer who solved universal problems at his own risk. We, the children of a moribund civilisation, we, old men from our birth, in this respect are as young as the first man."
**"Philosophers dearly love to call their utterances "truths," since in that guise they become binding upon us all. But each philosopher invents his own truths. Which means that he asks his pupils to deceive themselves in the way he shows, but that he reserves for himself the option of deceiving himself in his own way. Why? Why not allow everyone to deceive himself just as he likes?"
**"In the "ultimate questions of life" we are not a bit nearer the truth than our ancestors were. Everybody knows it, and yet so many go on talking about infinity, without any hope of ever saying anything."
"Theories of sequence and consequence, as we already know, are binding only upon disciples, whose single virtue lies in their scrupulous, logical developing of the master's idea. But masters themselves invent ideas, and, therefore, have the right to substitute one for another. The sovereign power which proclaims a law has the same power to abolish it."
"Hopelessness is the most solemn and supreme moment in life. Till that point we have been assisted鈥攏ow we are left to ourselves. Previously we had to do with men and human laws鈥攏ow with eternity, and with the complete absence of laws. Is it not obvious?"
"We have sufficient grounds for taking life mistrustfully: it has defrauded us so often of our cherished expectations. But we have still stronger grounds for mistrusting reason: since if life deceived us, it was only because futile reason let herself be deceived."
"But had he chanced to be brought amongst Russian peasants he would have had to change his opinion. With them thoughts about destiny and the why and wherefore of the universe and infinity and so on, would by no means be considered disinterested, particularly if the man who devoted himself to such thoughts were at the same time to announce, as becomes a philosopher, that he claimed complete freedom from physical labour. There the philosopher, were he even Plato, would be stigmatised with the disgraceful nickname, "Idle-jack." There the highest activity is interested activity, directed towards strictly practical purposes; and if the peasants could speak learnedly, they would certainly call the principle upon which their judgment is founded an a priori."
"Three-fourths of our education goes to teaching us most carefully to conceal within ourselves the changeableness of our moods and judgments. A man who cannot keep his word is the last of men: never to be trusted. Likewise, a man with no firm convictions: it is impossible to work together with him."
"The summit of human existence, say the philosophers, is spiritual serenity, aequanimitas: But in that case the animals should be our ideal, for in the matter of imperturbability they leave nothing to be desired. Look at a grazing sheep, or a cow."
**"To discard logic as an instrument, a means or aid for acquiring knowledge, would be extravagant. Why should we? For the sake of consequentialism? i.e. for logic's very self? But logic, as an aim in itself, or even as the only means to knowledge, is a different matter. Against this one must fight even if he has against him all the authorities of thought鈥攂eginning with Aristotle."
"A = A.鈥擳hey say that logic does not need this postulate, and could easily develop it by deduction. I think not. On the contrary, in my opinion, logic could not exist without this premiss. Meanwhile it has a purely empirical origin. In the realm of fact, A is always more or less equal to A. But it might be otherwise. The universe might be so constituted as to admit of the most fantastic metamorphoses. That which now equals A would successively equal B and then C, and so on."
"The effort to understand people, life, the universe prevents us from getting to know them at all. Since "to know" and "to understand" are two concepts which are not only non-identical, but just the opposite of one another in meaning; in spite of their being in constant use as synonyms."
"It is a case of clearest logical consequence: man loves his neighbour, he sees that heaven is indifferent to misery, therefore he takes upon himself the r么le of Providence. Were he indifferent to the sufferings of others, he would easily become an idealist and leave his neighbours to their fate. Love and compassion kill belief, and make a man a positivist and a materialist in his philosophical outlook. If he feels the misery of others, he leaves off meditating and wants to act. Man only thinks properly when he realises he has nothing to do, his hands are tied."
"And how could we be brought to live "as we ought," when our own nature is and always will be an incalculable mystery. There is no mistake about it, nobody wants to think, I do not speak here of logical thinking. That, like any other natural function, gives man great pleasure. For this reason philosophical systems, however complicated, arouse real and permanent interest in the public provided they only require from man the logical exercise of the mind, and nothing else."
"The pike did not notice the partition, and hurled itself on its prey, with, of course, the result only of a bruised nose. The same happened many times, and always the same result. At last, seeing all its efforts ended so painfully, the pike abandoned the hunt, so that in a few days, when the partition had been removed it continued to swim about among the small fry without daring to attack them.... Does not the same happen with us? Perhaps the limits between "this world" and "the other world" are also essentially of an experimental origin, neither rooted in the nature of things, as was thought before Kant, or in the nature of our reason, as was thought after Kant."
"Perhaps indeed a partition does exist, and make vain all attempts to cross over.. But perhaps there comes a moment when the partition is removed. In our minds, however, the conviction is firmly rooted that it is impossible to pass certain limits, and painful to try: a conviction founded on experience."
"The most lasting and varied experience cannot lead to any binding and universal conclusion. Nay, all our a priori, which are so useful for a certain time, become sooner or later extremely harmful."
Funny, "And this superb principle has been arrived at perfectly by chance, unfortunately not by me, but by one of the comical characters in Tchekhov's Seagull. He mixed up two Latin proverbs, and the result was a splendid maxim which, in order to become an a priori, awaits only universal acceptance."
"Wonderful is man. Knowing nothing about it, he asserts the existence of an objective impossibility."
"And again, no matter what his precautions, a man will meet his fate sooner or later, and come into conflict with the dragon."
"Not in vain is our earth called a vale of tears and sorrow."
"God-conception鈥攚ith theodicy and metaphysical theories as a result, both of which deny the possibility of a mystery. Theodicy has long ago wearied us. The mechanistic theories, which contend that there is nothing special in life, that its appearance and disappearance depend on the same laws as those of the conservation of energy and the indestructibility of matter, these look more plausible at first sight, but people do not take to them. And no theory can survive men's reluctance to believe in it."
"For instance鈥攐ur day is so convinced of the absolute nonsense and uselessness of alchemy and astrology that no one dreams of verifying the conviction. We know there were many charlatans and liars amongst alchemists and astrologers. But what does this prove? In every department there are the same mediocre creatures who speculate on human credulity."
"the "mature" people are mistaken about the nothing new can happen." The fact of spiritual stagnation should not be made the ground for judging all life's possibilities from known possibilities."
"On the contrary, such stagnation should prove that however rich and multifarious the past may have been, it has not exhausted a tittle of the whole possibilities. From that which has been it is impossible to infer what will be."
**"future has every right to be anything whatsoever, like or utterly unlike the past."
**"At times one comes to the conclusion that the natural connection of phenomena, as hitherto observed, is not at all inevitable for the future, and that miracles which so far have seemed impossible, may come to seem possible, even natural, far more natural than that loathsome law of sequence, the law of the regularity of phenomena. We are bored stiff with regularity and sequence鈥攃onfess it, you also, you men of science. At the mere thought that, however we may think, we can get no further than the acknowledgment of the old regularity, an invincible disgust to any kind of mental work overcomes us. To discover another law鈥攕till another鈥攚hen already we have far more than we can do with!"
"Surely if there is any will-to-think left in us, it is established in the supposition that the mind cannot and must not have any bounds, any limits; and that the theory of knowledge, which is based on the history of knowledge and on a few very doubtful assumptions, is only a piece of property belonging to a certain caste, and has nothing to do with us others"
"What a mad impatience seizes us at times when we realise that we shall never fathom the great mystery! Every individual in the world must have felt at one time the mad desire to unriddle the universe."
**"sympathies鈥攊s to cease to fear any absurdities, whether rational or metaphysical, and systematically to reject all the services of reason."
"When a man has done his work, and gives himself up to looking and listening and pleasantly accepting everything, hiding nothing from himself, then he begins to "philosophise." What good are abstract formulae to him? Why should he ask himself, before he begins to think: "What can I think about, what are the limits of thought?" He will think, and those who like can do the summing up and the building of theories of knowledge"
"In practical life, particularly in the social political life to which we are doomed, convictions are a necessity. Unity is strength, and unity is possible only among people who think alike. Again, a deep conviction is in itself a strong force, far more powerful than the most logical argumentation."
"Science is useful鈥攂ut she need not pretend to truth. She cannot know what truth is, she can only accumulate universal laws. Whereas there are, and always have been, non-scientific ways of searching for truth, ways which lead, if not to the innermost secrets, yet to the threshold"
"But does such a thing as ultimate truth exist? Is not the very conception of truth, the very assumption of the possibility of truth, merely an outcome of our limited experience, a fruit of limitation?"
"To out with the truth at all times, always to Until the contrary is proved, we need to think that only one assertion has or can have any objective reality: that nothing on earth is impossible."
August 3, 2017
"He who is tired of the valleys, loves climbing, and is not afraid to look down a precipice, and, most of all, has nothing left in life but the 'metaphysical craving,' he will certainly climb to the summits without asking what awaits him there. He does not fear, he longs for giddiness. But he will hardly call people after him: he doesn't want just anybody for a companion. In such a case companions are not wanted at all, much less those tender-footed ones who are used to every convenience, roads, street lamps, guide-posts, careful maps which mark every change in the road ahead. They will not help, only hinder. They will prove superfluous, heavy ballast, which may not be thrown overboard. Fuss over them, console them, promise them! Who would be bothered? Is it not better to go one's way alone, and not only to refrain from enticing others to follow, but frighten them off as much as possible, exaggerate every danger and difficulty? In order that conscience may not prick too hard鈥攚e who love high altitudes love a quiet conscience鈥攍et us find a justification for their inactivity. Let us tell them they are the best, the worthiest of people, really the salt of the earth. Let us pay them every possible mark of respect. But since they are subject to giddiness, they had better stay down. The upper Alpine ways, as any guide will tell you, are nur f眉r Schwindelfreie."
"Every creation is created out of the Void. At the best, the maker finds himself confronted with a formless, meaningless, usually obstinate and stiff matter, which yields reluctantly to form. And he does not know how to begin. Every time a new thought is engendered, so often must that new thought, which for the moment seems so brilliant and fascinating, be thrown aside as worthless. Creative activity is a continual progression from failure to failure, and the condition of the creator is usually one of uncertainty, mistrust, and shattered nerves. The more serious and original the task which a man sets himself, the more tormenting is the self-misgiving. For this reason even men of genius cannot keep up the creative activity to the last. As soon as they have acquired their technique, they begin to repeat themselves, well aware that the public willingly endures the monotony of a favourite, even finds virtue in it. Every connoisseur of art is satisfied if he recognises in a new work the accepted "manner" of the artist. Few realise that the acquiring of a manner is the beginning of the end. Artists realise well enough, and would be glad to be rid of their manner, which seems to them a hackneyed affair. But this requires too great a strain on their powers, new torments, doubts, new groping. He who has once been through the creative raptures is not easily tempted to try again. He prefers to turn out work according to the pattern he has evolved, calmly and securely, assured of his results. Fortunately no one except himself knows that he is not any longer a creator. What a lot of secrets there are in the world, and how easy it is to keep one's secret safe from indiscreet glances!"
"Every creation is created out of the Void. At the best, the maker finds himself confronted with a formless, meaningless, usually obstinate and stiff matter, which yields reluctantly to form. And he does not know how to begin. Every time a new thought is engendered, so often must that new thought, which for the moment seems so brilliant and fascinating, be thrown aside as worthless. Creative activity is a continual progression from failure to failure, and the condition of the creator is usually one of uncertainty, mistrust, and shattered nerves. The more serious and original the task which a man sets himself, the more tormenting is the self-misgiving. For this reason even men of genius cannot keep up the creative activity to the last. As soon as they have acquired their technique, they begin to repeat themselves, well aware that the public willingly endures the monotony of a favourite, even finds virtue in it. Every connoisseur of art is satisfied if he recognises in a new work the accepted "manner" of the artist. Few realise that the acquiring of a manner is the beginning of the end. Artists realise well enough, and would be glad to be rid of their manner, which seems to them a hackneyed affair. But this requires too great a strain on their powers, new torments, doubts, new groping. He who has once been through the creative raptures is not easily tempted to try again. He prefers to turn out work according to the pattern he has evolved, calmly and securely, assured of his results. Fortunately no one except himself knows that he is not any longer a creator. What a lot of secrets there are in the world, and how easy it is to keep one's secret safe from indiscreet glances!"
October 28, 2019
Probably would have been 4 stars if I knew enough of the Russian literature he discusses.
I could almost agree with what Nick below said: "a nicer, wimpier Nietzsche". But that's not necessarily a bad thing; Shestov puts some great thoughts into modest words. He happily rails against systems and seems to adopt the book's title as his sole axiom, which I am unhappily but totally on board with. He stays true to the end in not offering anything along with that, which is both satisfying in its sincerity and dissatisfying in its bleakness. Only real complaint is his depiction of science toward the end. Aaaaaand much is lost without a wider familiarity with Russian literature.
I could almost agree with what Nick below said: "a nicer, wimpier Nietzsche". But that's not necessarily a bad thing; Shestov puts some great thoughts into modest words. He happily rails against systems and seems to adopt the book's title as his sole axiom, which I am unhappily but totally on board with. He stays true to the end in not offering anything along with that, which is both satisfying in its sincerity and dissatisfying in its bleakness. Only real complaint is his depiction of science toward the end. Aaaaaand much is lost without a wider familiarity with Russian literature.
August 18, 2011
袙蟹谐谢褟写 褋芯 褋褌芯褉芯薪褘 薪邪 屑褘褋谢懈, 泻芯褌芯褉褘械 褟 芯褔械薪褜 写邪胁薪芯 谐芯薪褟褞 锌芯 泻褉褍谐褍. 小芯 褋褌芯褉芯薪褘 懈 褋 胁褘褋芯褌褘. 校 薪械谐芯 锌芯谢褍褔邪械褌褋褟 褕邪谐薪褍褌褜 胁 褌芯褌 蟹褘斜褍褔懈泄 锌械褋芯泻 褉邪蟹屑褘褕谢械薪懈泄, 胁 泻芯褌芯褉芯屑 褟 褉邪蟹 蟹邪 褉邪蟹芯屑 褌芯薪褍, 懈 褍写械褉卸懈胁邪褌褜褋褟 薪邪 褋邪屑芯屑-褋邪屑芯屑 锌芯褋褌芯褟薪薪芯 芯褋褘锌邪褞褖械屑褋褟 泻褉邪褞, 褋芯褏褉邪薪褟褟 芯褌褋褌褉邪薪械薪薪芯褋褌褜 懈 懈褉芯薪懈褞. 啸芯褉芯褕懈泄 褍褉芯泻.
袧芯 褝褌邪 泻薪懈谐邪, 泻邪卸械褌褋褟, 褍卸械 芯写薪芯泄 薪芯谐芯泄 胁 写胁邪写褑邪褌芯屑 胁械泻械, 胁 锌芯褋褌屑芯写械褉薪懈蟹屑械, 胁 "褌械泻褋褌械". 小谢芯胁邪 屑械褉褌胁械褞褌, 褑械锌械薪械褞褌, 芯褏谢邪卸写邪褞褌褋褟.
袧芯 褝褌邪 泻薪懈谐邪, 泻邪卸械褌褋褟, 褍卸械 芯写薪芯泄 薪芯谐芯泄 胁 写胁邪写褑邪褌芯屑 胁械泻械, 胁 锌芯褋褌屑芯写械褉薪懈蟹屑械, 胁 "褌械泻褋褌械". 小谢芯胁邪 屑械褉褌胁械褞褌, 褑械锌械薪械褞褌, 芯褏谢邪卸写邪褞褌褋褟.
August 13, 2015
Pretty shallow and uninteresting. Of course I read it in translation because I don't know Russian, so maybe the original would rate higher.
October 19, 2019
Nur f眉r Schwindelfreie
March 7, 2024
袗锌芯褎械芯蟹 斜械褋锌芯褔胁械薪薪芯褋褌懈 (袥械胁 楔械褋褌芯胁, 1905)
肖芯褉屑邪褌
袣懈薪写谢, 210 褋褌褉邪薪懈褑.
袩褉械写懈褋谢芯胁懈械 懈 2 褔邪褋褌懈. 袙薪褍褌褉懈 泻邪卸写芯泄 褔邪褋褌懈 屑薪芯卸械褋褌胁芯 屑械谢泻懈褏 谐谢邪胁芯泻.
小芯写械褉卸邪薪懈械
袪邪蟹屑褘褕谢械薪懈褟 胁 胁懈写械 褉胁邪薪褘褏 蟹邪锌懈褋芯泻 薪邪 褋邪屑褘械 褉邪蟹薪褘械 褌械屑邪褌懈泻懈: 芯褌 胁谢懈褟薪懈褟 芯褌褉褘卸泻懈 薪邪 卸懈蟹薪褜 褔械谢芯胁械泻邪 懈 芯写褘 小芯屑薪械薪懈褟屑 写芯 褋邪屑褘褏 芯褋薪芯胁 谐薪芯褋械芯谢芯谐懈懈.
袙锌械褔邪褌谢械薪懈械
效懈褌邪械褌褋褟 谢械谐泻芯, 锌芯褉芯褞 写邪卸械 胁芯蟹写褍褕薪芯. 袩械褉胁褘泄 褎懈谢芯褋芯褎褋泻懈泄 褌械泻褋褌 胁 褝泻蟹懈褋褌械薪褑懈邪谢褜薪芯屑 薪邪褋褌褉芯械薪懈懈, 泻芯褌芯褉褘泄 褌邪泻 褋芯 屑薪芯泄 褋芯胁锌邪谢.
袠薪褌械褉械褋薪邪 褎芯褉屑邪 - 屑械谢泻懈械 褔邪褋褌懈褔泻懈 褌械泻褋褌邪, 屑薪芯卸械褋褌胁芯 蟹邪锌懈褋芯泻, 泻邪泻 屑褘褋谢懈-褔械褉械锌泻懈 芯写薪芯谐芯 斜芯谢褜褕芯谐芯 屑褘褋谢械薪薪芯谐芯 褋芯褋褍写邪. 孝邪泻 褍卸械 斜褘谢芯 褍 袩邪褋泻邪谢褟 懈 斜褍写械褌 械褖械 褍 屑薪芯谐懈褏 褝泻蟹懈褋褌-褍屑薪懈泻芯胁.
袨褔械薪褜 薪褉邪胁懈褌褋褟 褔褌芯 锌褉械懈屑褍褖械褋褌胁械薪薪芯 褉邪蟹斜懈褉邪械褌褋褟 袪褍褋褋泻懈泄 屑邪褌械褉懈邪谢. 袥械褌芯胁 斜械褉械褌 褔褌芯-褌芯 懈蟹 袩褍褕泻懈薪邪, 效械褏芯胁邪, 小邪谢褌褘泻芯胁邪-些械写褉懈薪邪, 孝芯谢褋褌芯谐芯 etc 懈 褉邪蟹屑褘胁邪械褌 锌芯 泻芯褋褌芯褔泻邪屑 懈谢懈 锌褉芯褋褌芯 斜邪谢褍械褌褋褟.
袨褋薪芯胁薪邪褟 褌械屑邪褌懈泻邪 褉邪蟹屑褘褕谢械薪懈泄: 鈥溞叫�-胁褋械-褌邪泻-芯写薪芯蟹薪邪褔薪芯, 褋芯屑薪械胁邪泄褋褟 胁芯 胁褋械屑 懈 胁芯芯斜褖械 锌邪薪泻褍泄 锌芯褔邪褖械鈥�.
袩褉懈胁芯卸褍 锌褉懈屑械褉褘 褟褉泻懈泄 屑褘褋谢械泄, 胁 芯褋薪芯胁薪芯屑 胁 屑芯械屑 锌械褉械褋泻邪蟹械.
鈥溞Ｐ毙敌缎葱敌叫秆� 屑芯卸薪芯 屑械薪褟褌褜 泻邪泻 锌械褉褔邪褌泻懈. 袩褉芯褔薪芯褋褌褜 褍斜械卸写械薪懈褟 褋褌芯懈褌 褋芯褏褉邪薪褟褌褜 褌芯谢褜泻芯 胁 芯褌薪芯褕械薪懈褟褏 褋 谢褞写褜屑懈, 胁械写褜 写芯谢卸薪褘 卸械 芯薪懈 锌芯薪懈屑邪褌褜 泻芯谐写邪 薪邪 胁邪褋 褉邪褋褔懈褌褘胁邪褌褜. 袩芯褌芯屑褍 谢褍褔褕懈泄 锌褉懈薪褑懈锌: 褍胁邪卸械薪懈械 泻 锌芯褉褟写泻褍 懈蟹胁薪械 懈 胁薪褍褌褉械薪薪懈泄 褏邪芯褋. 袝褋谢懈 卸懈褌褜 褋 胁薪褍褌褉械薪薪懈屑 褏邪芯褋芯屑 褋谢芯卸薪芯, 褌芯 屑芯卸薪芯 褋芯蟹写邪胁邪褌褜 懈 锌芯褉褟写芯泻 胁薪褍褌褉懈 褋械斜褟, 薪芯 锌芯屑薪懈褌褜 褔褌芯 褝褌芯 褋谢邪斜芯褋褌褜.鈥�
鈥溞椥靶盒拘� - 褍褋锌芯泻邪懈胁邪褞褖懈泄 褋芯薪, 斜械蟹蟹邪泻芯薪懈械 - 褌胁芯褉褔械褋泻邪褟 写械褟褌械谢褜薪芯褋褌褜.鈥�
鈥溞⌒狙佈傃€邪写邪薪懈械 懈 谢褞斜芯胁褜 泻 谢褞写褟屑 褟胁谢褟械褌褋褟 锌褉械锌褟褌褋褌胁懈械屑 写谢褟 屑械褌邪褎懈蟹懈褔械褋泻芯谐芯 锌芯谢械褌邪. 袙蟹谐谢褟写 锌褉懈泻芯胁褘胁邪械褌褋褟 泻 蟹械屑谢械, 褋芯芯褌胁械褌褋褌胁械薪薪芯 屑邪褌械褉懈邪谢懈褋褌褘 泻邪泻 锌褉邪胁懈谢芯 褟胁谢褟褞褌褋褟 写芯斜褉褘屑懈 谢褞写褜屑懈.鈥�
鈥溞斞冃夹把傃� (锌芯-薪邪褋褌芯褟褖械屑褍 写褍屑邪褌褜) 褔械谢芯胁械泻 薪邪褔懈薪邪械褌 褌芯谢褜泻芯 褌芯谐写邪, 泻芯谐写邪 芯薪 锌芯薪懈屑邪械褌 褔褌芯 袛械谢邪褌褜 芯薪 褍卸械 薪懈褔械谐芯 薪械 屑芯卸械褌 (芯谐褉邪薪懈褔械薪 胁 写械泄褋褌胁懈褟褏). 袨褌褌芯谐芯 芯褔械薪褜 褔邪褋褌芯 薪邪褋褌芯褟褖邪褟 袦褘褋谢褜 薪邪褔懈薪邪械褌褋褟 褋 芯褌褔邪褟薪懈褟.鈥�
肖芯褉屑邪褌
袣懈薪写谢, 210 褋褌褉邪薪懈褑.
袩褉械写懈褋谢芯胁懈械 懈 2 褔邪褋褌懈. 袙薪褍褌褉懈 泻邪卸写芯泄 褔邪褋褌懈 屑薪芯卸械褋褌胁芯 屑械谢泻懈褏 谐谢邪胁芯泻.
小芯写械褉卸邪薪懈械
袪邪蟹屑褘褕谢械薪懈褟 胁 胁懈写械 褉胁邪薪褘褏 蟹邪锌懈褋芯泻 薪邪 褋邪屑褘械 褉邪蟹薪褘械 褌械屑邪褌懈泻懈: 芯褌 胁谢懈褟薪懈褟 芯褌褉褘卸泻懈 薪邪 卸懈蟹薪褜 褔械谢芯胁械泻邪 懈 芯写褘 小芯屑薪械薪懈褟屑 写芯 褋邪屑褘褏 芯褋薪芯胁 谐薪芯褋械芯谢芯谐懈懈.
袙锌械褔邪褌谢械薪懈械
效懈褌邪械褌褋褟 谢械谐泻芯, 锌芯褉芯褞 写邪卸械 胁芯蟹写褍褕薪芯. 袩械褉胁褘泄 褎懈谢芯褋芯褎褋泻懈泄 褌械泻褋褌 胁 褝泻蟹懈褋褌械薪褑懈邪谢褜薪芯屑 薪邪褋褌褉芯械薪懈懈, 泻芯褌芯褉褘泄 褌邪泻 褋芯 屑薪芯泄 褋芯胁锌邪谢.
袠薪褌械褉械褋薪邪 褎芯褉屑邪 - 屑械谢泻懈械 褔邪褋褌懈褔泻懈 褌械泻褋褌邪, 屑薪芯卸械褋褌胁芯 蟹邪锌懈褋芯泻, 泻邪泻 屑褘褋谢懈-褔械褉械锌泻懈 芯写薪芯谐芯 斜芯谢褜褕芯谐芯 屑褘褋谢械薪薪芯谐芯 褋芯褋褍写邪. 孝邪泻 褍卸械 斜褘谢芯 褍 袩邪褋泻邪谢褟 懈 斜褍写械褌 械褖械 褍 屑薪芯谐懈褏 褝泻蟹懈褋褌-褍屑薪懈泻芯胁.
袨褔械薪褜 薪褉邪胁懈褌褋褟 褔褌芯 锌褉械懈屑褍褖械褋褌胁械薪薪芯 褉邪蟹斜懈褉邪械褌褋褟 袪褍褋褋泻懈泄 屑邪褌械褉懈邪谢. 袥械褌芯胁 斜械褉械褌 褔褌芯-褌芯 懈蟹 袩褍褕泻懈薪邪, 效械褏芯胁邪, 小邪谢褌褘泻芯胁邪-些械写褉懈薪邪, 孝芯谢褋褌芯谐芯 etc 懈 褉邪蟹屑褘胁邪械褌 锌芯 泻芯褋褌芯褔泻邪屑 懈谢懈 锌褉芯褋褌芯 斜邪谢褍械褌褋褟.
袨褋薪芯胁薪邪褟 褌械屑邪褌懈泻邪 褉邪蟹屑褘褕谢械薪懈泄: 鈥溞叫�-胁褋械-褌邪泻-芯写薪芯蟹薪邪褔薪芯, 褋芯屑薪械胁邪泄褋褟 胁芯 胁褋械屑 懈 胁芯芯斜褖械 锌邪薪泻褍泄 锌芯褔邪褖械鈥�.
袩褉懈胁芯卸褍 锌褉懈屑械褉褘 褟褉泻懈泄 屑褘褋谢械泄, 胁 芯褋薪芯胁薪芯屑 胁 屑芯械屑 锌械褉械褋泻邪蟹械.
鈥溞Ｐ毙敌缎葱敌叫秆� 屑芯卸薪芯 屑械薪褟褌褜 泻邪泻 锌械褉褔邪褌泻懈. 袩褉芯褔薪芯褋褌褜 褍斜械卸写械薪懈褟 褋褌芯懈褌 褋芯褏褉邪薪褟褌褜 褌芯谢褜泻芯 胁 芯褌薪芯褕械薪懈褟褏 褋 谢褞写褜屑懈, 胁械写褜 写芯谢卸薪褘 卸械 芯薪懈 锌芯薪懈屑邪褌褜 泻芯谐写邪 薪邪 胁邪褋 褉邪褋褔懈褌褘胁邪褌褜. 袩芯褌芯屑褍 谢褍褔褕懈泄 锌褉懈薪褑懈锌: 褍胁邪卸械薪懈械 泻 锌芯褉褟写泻褍 懈蟹胁薪械 懈 胁薪褍褌褉械薪薪懈泄 褏邪芯褋. 袝褋谢懈 卸懈褌褜 褋 胁薪褍褌褉械薪薪懈屑 褏邪芯褋芯屑 褋谢芯卸薪芯, 褌芯 屑芯卸薪芯 褋芯蟹写邪胁邪褌褜 懈 锌芯褉褟写芯泻 胁薪褍褌褉懈 褋械斜褟, 薪芯 锌芯屑薪懈褌褜 褔褌芯 褝褌芯 褋谢邪斜芯褋褌褜.鈥�
鈥溞椥靶盒拘� - 褍褋锌芯泻邪懈胁邪褞褖懈泄 褋芯薪, 斜械蟹蟹邪泻芯薪懈械 - 褌胁芯褉褔械褋泻邪褟 写械褟褌械谢褜薪芯褋褌褜.鈥�
鈥溞⌒狙佈傃€邪写邪薪懈械 懈 谢褞斜芯胁褜 泻 谢褞写褟屑 褟胁谢褟械褌褋褟 锌褉械锌褟褌褋褌胁懈械屑 写谢褟 屑械褌邪褎懈蟹懈褔械褋泻芯谐芯 锌芯谢械褌邪. 袙蟹谐谢褟写 锌褉懈泻芯胁褘胁邪械褌褋褟 泻 蟹械屑谢械, 褋芯芯褌胁械褌褋褌胁械薪薪芯 屑邪褌械褉懈邪谢懈褋褌褘 泻邪泻 锌褉邪胁懈谢芯 褟胁谢褟褞褌褋褟 写芯斜褉褘屑懈 谢褞写褜屑懈.鈥�
鈥溞斞冃夹把傃� (锌芯-薪邪褋褌芯褟褖械屑褍 写褍屑邪褌褜) 褔械谢芯胁械泻 薪邪褔懈薪邪械褌 褌芯谢褜泻芯 褌芯谐写邪, 泻芯谐写邪 芯薪 锌芯薪懈屑邪械褌 褔褌芯 袛械谢邪褌褜 芯薪 褍卸械 薪懈褔械谐芯 薪械 屑芯卸械褌 (芯谐褉邪薪懈褔械薪 胁 写械泄褋褌胁懈褟褏). 袨褌褌芯谐芯 芯褔械薪褜 褔邪褋褌芯 薪邪褋褌芯褟褖邪褟 袦褘褋谢褜 薪邪褔懈薪邪械褌褋褟 褋 芯褌褔邪褟薪懈褟.鈥�
May 22, 2019
Started unimpressively, became more interesting as it went on, and then finished weakly. Shestov鈥檚 main point in this work seemed to be 鈥測ou just never know鈥� and while that鈥檚 true, I regard it as specious in our modern age where we implicitly accept the aggregated experience of science and other people. Obviously influenced by Nietzsche in his aphoristic style, Shestov鈥檚 disjointed insights were sometimes pallid and mundane compared to his predecessor鈥檚, but I did enjoy his reflections on the greats of Russian literature: both of their works and their personalities. Sometimes too, Shestov hit a vein of inspired material, but it was poetic rather than philosophical in that there was no rigour to it. It was interesting that D.H. Lawrence wrote the introduction.
February 27, 2020
Lev Shestov has single handedly created a highly intuitive text; rich with description and admiration. His philosophy of despair trend continues forward here, forcing the reader to contemplate a vast multitude of his hypocritical and contrast teachings. Never once have I been challenged reading philosophy, but this man has instilled in a me a new level of investigation that truly is without merit.
In other words: READ. THIS. BOOK.
In other words: READ. THIS. BOOK.
July 27, 2024
"Orice om inteligent va r芒de din toat膬 inima de punctele de vedere 'c膬rtur膬re葯ti'. Dar c膬r葲ile vin de la 卯n葲elep葲i. 葮i 卯ntr-adev膬r ele pot fi deseori extrem de interesante - dar tocmai 卯n m膬sura 卯n care nu con葲in reguli generale. Vai de cel c膬ruia 卯i trece prin minte s膬-葯i r芒nduiasc膬 via葲a potrivit lui Schopenhauer, Hegel, Schiller, Tolstoi sau Dostoevski. Ace葯tia pot 葯i chiar trebuie s膬 fie citi葲i, dar de tr膬it, trebuie tr膬it cu propria ta minte."
October 15, 2018
3.5 stars
July 8, 2019
Perhaps better liked by philosophers. A collection of random unrelated thoughts. Was not what I expected. Did not work for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 25, 2022
I was expecting him to be more like Cioran, but he was more tame, which was disappointing. Went on about the differences between Tolstoy and Turgenev.
November 15, 2023
"A belch interrupts the loftiest meditation. You may draw a conclusion if you like: if you don't like, you needn't."
February 26, 2024
I honestly read this because Kraven the Hunter was reading it in an issue of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and I was genuinely curious what on earth the Russian philosophy he was reading could be about. I read it and while I didn't get lots of it because unlike Kraven the Hunter I am DUM, I did enjoy the very few parts I understood about his philosophies of fate and our experiences in mortality. 4 stars.
July 22, 2016
Hard to write a review of this. It reads sort of like a nicer, wimpier Nietzsche. I also feel like I would have gotten more out of this if I had a familiarity with Dostoyevsky. If this philosopher has a "system" I couldn't detect it in these aphorisms. The only real consistent theme I was able to detect was an antagonism towards consistency or solidity or highly structured modes of thinking. He seems to flirt with both despair and the transcending of that despair, but it isn't clear to me how the overly abstracted view of life is to be transcended, or why rationalism and excessive abstraction are necessarily concomitant. Perhaps it is to be overcome by faith? If so thats a disappointing conclusion. And besides his view of faith is different from the common definition, so I'm not sure what that would mean. It hints at certain methods of searching for truth without empirical science, but what exactly does it suggest? Alchemy? Numerology? Meditation? Drugs? Prayer? That is the problem with this kind of wishy washy philosophy. It is actually possible to do philosophy in a non systematic way while still expressing yourself clearly. Nevertheless, if I ignore for a moment the precise meaning which the author intended, I am able to enjoy this as a sort of poetry into which I fill in the inferential leaps or vague spots in the text with my own answers. There is a sense of youthful exuberance and and forward moving rhetoric here which is somehow nice to read, almost like a political radical's oratory yet on the subject of philosophy.
February 22, 2011
"You may draw a conclusion if you like: if you don't like, you needn't."
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June 29, 2016
袗斜褋褌褉邪泻褌薪褘械 褎懈谢芯褋芯褎褋泻懈械 褌褉褍写褘 屑械薪褟 薪懈泻芯谐写邪 芯褋芯斜械薪薪芯 薪械 懈薪褌械褉械褋芯胁邪谢懈. 袨写薪邪泻芯, 懈屑械薪懈 邪胁褌芯褉邪 薪械 蟹薪邪谢, 褔褌芯 蟹邪 泻薪懈谐邪 - 薪械 锌芯褋屑芯褌褉械谢. 袠 锌芯写械谢芯屑 屑薪械.
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October 13, 2016I want to read this book
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