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

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.