Existential Truth and Rational Truth. Philosophical Controversy between Lev Shestov and Edmund Husserl

Abstract

In 1928–1930 there were only four meetings between Lev Shestov and Edmund Husserl. Already the first meeting revealed a discrepancy in the interpretation of truth: for Husserl, the existence of an ideal object is independent of living re­ality, the real world occupies a subordinate position in relation to the ideal. Ac­cording to Shestov, timeless ideal entities are doomed to decay, although, choos­ing between the real and the reasonable, a person chooses the reasonable, but in the situation of the ultimate idea, they reveal their impotence. Further commu­nication between the two philosophers made it possible to touch upon the ques­tion of “coercion by the truth”, the power of reason, and the tasks of philosophy. Shestov’s controversy with Husserl expressed the opposition between rationalis­tic epistemology and existential philosophy. However, the differences between the thinkers on scientific and philosophical issues did not interfere with their per­sonal friendship. Husserl sees the irrational reality of life, but he believes that philosophy can and aims to overcome this chaos of the irrational; for Shestov, the task is not to reject the rational, but to criticize the notion of its omnipotence. The exchange of ideas between Shestov and Husserl was an important event in the history of philosophy in the 20th century.