The Stoic tradition in Russian and Western existentialism: Lev Shestov and Karl Jaspers

Danil S. Popov

doi:10.21638/spbu17.2022.308

Authors

Danil S. Popov St Petersburg State University, 7–9, Universitetskaya nab., St Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu17.2022.308

Abstract

The article investigates the Stoic tradition in Russian and Western existentialism, drawing on the example of the philosophy of L. Shestov and K.Jaspers. Applying the methods of textual analysis, the study focuses on their accounts of what the Stoics did and preached (or would have done and preached), instead of revealing alleged conceptual affinities between Stoic philosophy and existentialism. The author shows that both thinkers used these accounts as crucial points of reference, developing and upholding their own key doctrines: refutation of rationalism (L. Shestov), the experience of boundary situations and existential communication (K.Jaspers). Yet, they expressed serious criticism of Stoic ideas and emphasised that people would not achieve the highest aim of philosophising if they pursued the strategies of the Stoics. The study highlights the fact that L. Shestov and K.Jaspers were neither historians of philosophy nor proponents of Stoicism and examined not Stoic doctrines but a set of certain Stoic values. The form and content of their arguments make it possible to consider them as coherent Stoic narratives. Thus, the article suggests that accounts of Stoic attitudes and values offered in Russian and Western existentialism give an essential guide as to how one ought or ought not to exist, act and think.

Keywords:

Stoics, Stoicism, Stoic narrative, existentialism, irrationalism, boundary situations, Jaspers, Shestov

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

References

Inwood, B. (ed.) (2003), Introduction: Stoicism, An Intellectual Odyssey, in: The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–6.

Sellars, J. (ed.) (2016), Introduction, in: The Routledge Handbook of the Stoic Tradition, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 1–13.

Gadzhikurbanova, P.A. (2012), Early Stoic Ethics: The Doctrine of Appropriate, Moscow: IF RAN Publ. (In Russian)

Andrew, E. (2016), The Epicurean Stoicism of the French Enlightenment, in: Sellars, J. (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of the Stoic Tradition, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 243–253.

Popov, D. S. (2020), Stoic Narrative: on the Problem of Studying the Stoic Legacy in Western Philosophical Thought, Manuscript, vol. 13 (9), pp. 80–87. (In Russian)

Seitz, B. (2008), Foucault and the Subject of Stoic Existence, Human Studies, vol. 35 (4), pp. 539–554.

Machulskaya, O.I. (1991), The Stoic Tradition in Moral Philosophy in the Middle of 19th and the 20th Century, The Ethics of Stoicism: Tradition and Modernity, Moscow: AS USSR Publ., pp. 104–116. (In Russian)

Stepanova, A. S. (2004), Stoicism: Philosophical Innovations and Education (From Paradigm to Project), Izvestia: Herzen University Journal of Humanities & Sciences, vol. 4 (7), pp. 16–24. (In Russian)

Stepanova, A. S. (2012), Stoic Philosophy as a Phenomenon of Hellenistic and Roman Culture, St Petersburg: Petropolis Publ. (In Russian)

Spinu, L.M. (2012), In Search of Truth: A.Camus’ Philosophy “of Absurdity and Freedom”, RUDN Journal of Philosophy, no. 3, pp. 99–112. (In Russian)

Shestov, L. (1993), Potestas Clavium (Power of the Keys), in: Shestov, L., Collected Works, in 2 vols, vol. 1, Moscow: Nauka Publ., pp. 17–316. (In Russian)

Shestov, L. (1993), Outraged words (about Plotinus’ ecstasies), in: Shestov, L., Collected Works, in 2 vols, vol. 2, Moscow: Nauka Publ., pp. 325–364. (In Russian)

Shestov, L. (1993), Gethsemane night. (Philosophy of Pascal), in: Shestov, L., Collected Works, in 2 vols, vol. 2, Moscow: Nauka Publ., pp. 278–324. (In Russian)

Shestov, L. (1993), Athens and Jerusalem, in: Shestov, L., Collected Works, in 2 vols, vol. 1, Moscow: Nauka Publ., pp. 317–664. (In Russian)

Evlampiev, I.I. (2005), The Conception of the Human in Russian Existentialism, Izvestia: Herzen University Journal of Humanities & Sciences, vol. 5 (10), pp. 122–133. (In Russian)

Shestov, L. (1993), Sons and Stepsons of Time, in: Shestov, L., Collected Works, in 2 vols, vol. 2, Moscow: Nauka Publ., pp. 253–277. (In Russian)

Shestov, L. (2001), Lectures on the History of Greek Philosophy, Moscow and Paris: Russkii put’ Publ., YMCA-PRESS. (In Russian)

Shestov, L. (1992), Kierkegaard and the Existential Philosophy (the Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness), Moscow: Progress Publ.; Gnosis Publ. (In Russian)

Shestov, L. (1975), In Job’s Balances: on the Sources of the Eternal Truths, Athens: Ohio University Press.

Long, A.A. (2006), From Epicurus to Epictetus. Studies in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Neto, J.R.M. (1995), The Christianization of Pyrrhonism: Scepticism and Faith in Pascal, Kierkegaard, and Shestov, Dordrecht, Boston and London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Oppo, A. (2020), Lev Shestov: The Philosophy and Works of a Tragic Thinker, Boston: Academic Studies Press.

Epictetus (1956), The Discourses as Reported by Arrian, the Manual, and Fragments with an English translation by W.A.Oldfather, in 2 vols, vol. 1: Discourses, books I and II, Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann.

Evlampiev, I.I. (2020), Reflections of Lev Shestov on the Essence of Freedom in the Context of Theology, Philosophy and Modern Science, Issues of Theology, vol. 2 (1), pp. 136–152. (In Russian)

Vlasova, O.A. (2018), Karl Jaspers. The Way of the Philosopher, St Petersburg: Vladimir Dal’ Publ. (In Russian)

Salamun, K. (1988), Moral Implications of Karl Jaspers’ Existentialism, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, vol. 49. (2), pp. 317–323.

Jaspers, K. (2003), Way to Wisdom. An Introduction to Philosophy, New Heaven and London: Yale University Press.

Marcel, G. (1973), Tragic Wisdom and Beyond. Including Conversations Between Paul Ricœur and Gabriel Marcel, Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

Jaspers, K. (1970), Philosophy, vol. 2, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

Peach, F. (2008), Death, “Deathlessness” and Existenz in Karl Jaspers’ Philosophy, Edinburg: Edinburgh University Press.

Graver, M.R. (2007), Stoicism and Emotions, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

Jaspers, K. (1923), Allgemeine Psychopathologie: für Studierende, Ärzte und Psychologen, Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer Verlag.

Jaspers, K. (1962), The Great Philosophers. The foundations, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.

Salamun, K. (2006), Karl Jaspers’ Conceptions of the Meaning of Life, An International Journal in Philosophy, Religion, Politics, and Arts, vol. 1 (1–2), pp. 1–8.

Seneca (1969), Letters from a Stoic. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, London: Penguin Books.

Stoliarov, A.A. (1995), The Stoa and Stoicism, Moscow: AO Kami-grupp Publ. (In Russian)

Perov, Y.V. (2000), Karl Jaspers’ Project of the Philosophical History of Philosophy, in: Jaspers, K.,World History of Philosophy. Introduction, St Petersburg: Nauka Publ., pp. 5–50. (In Russian)

Jaspers, K. (1919), Psychologie der Weltanschauungen, Berlin: Verlag von Julius Springer.

Fisher, W.R. (1985), The Narrative Paradigm: An Elaboration, Communications Monographs, vol. 52 (4), pp. 347–367.

D’Jeranian, O.(2021), Sartre, Stoicism, and the Problem of Moral Responsibility (from 1939 to 1948). Available at: https://www.academia.edu/20074850/Sartre_Stoicism_and_the_Problem of Moral_ Responsibility (accessed: 03.08.21).

Sellars, J. (2010), Stoicism, Durham: Acumen, 2010.