The Russian existentialist philosopher Lev Shestov is known for his “philosophy of despair” or “philosophy of tragedy”. For Shestov, the sources of philosophy were the human tragedy, the horrors and sufferings of human life and the sense of hopelessness.    

Tragedies take place in the depth of the human soul, where no eye can reach out to see. Consequently, He saw the beginning of philosophy starting not with knowledge, not with wonder, but with despair.   

Despair is what he considers a “penultimate knowledge”, that is, a preliminary step that we must acknowledge, in order to progress towards something higher, the “ultimate knowledge”.

👑 Become a Patron

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Access exclusive material and deeper studies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

—

Support the work

☕⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Buy a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

👕 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Official Merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

—

For deeper study

📜 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Full transcript⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📚 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Personal library⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

💡 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠eBooks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎨 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Artwork archive⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Stay connected

📨 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

✍️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

—

Elsewhere

🐦 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📷 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📘 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📚 Recommended Reading

All Things are Possible – Lev Shestov

▶ https://amzn.to/3HteKAE

Athens and Jerusalem – Lev Shestov

▶ https://amzn.to/3G6sVLx

🎧 Prefer Audiobooks? Get a 30-day Audible Plus FREE trial:

▶ https://amzn.to/332zPzN

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

⌛ Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

0:52 Philosophy of Despair

3:32 Conflict between Faith and Reason

6:14 Penultimate Knowledge: Despair and Awakening

11:03 Ultimate Knowledge: Freedom and God