The Il y a and the Ungrund: Levinas and the Russian existentialists Berdyaev and Shestov

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: "Il y a"; "Ungrund"; Anapus būties; Berdiajevas; Blogis; Būtis; Dievas; Dostojevskis; Egzistencializmas; Egzistencializmas, Jakobas Boehme; Etika; Friedrichas Schellingas; Gėris; Kierkegaardas; Koire; Emanuelis Levinas (Emmanuel Levinas); Ontologija; Schellingas; Sorenas Kierkegaardas; Veidas; Vienis; Šestovas; "Il y a"; "Ungrund"; Being; Berdyaev; Beyond being; Dostoevsky; Ethics; Evil; Existentialism; Face; Friedrich Schelling; God; Good; Jacob Boehme; Kierkegaard; Koyre; Oneness; Ontology; Schelling; Shestov; Soren Kierkegaard.

ENJames McLachlan, in the essay takes up Levinas’s notion of the il у a. McLachlan draws parallels between Levinasian il у a, hypostasis, and Schellingian conceptions of the Ungrund, the emergence of the personal from the impersonal ground. In Levinas’s understanding of the ily a McLachlan discovers that similar philosophical views can be found also in Levinas’s contemporary emigres: Lev Shestov, Nicolas Berdyaev, and Alexandre Koyre. For example, McLachlan indicates that Shestov shares some similarities with the Levinasian theme of escape, even though for Shestov escape is glossed with a different goal and takes on a deeply religious sense. McLachlan also discovers that Berdyaev’s characterization of the Ungrund has similarities with Levinas’s ily a inasmuch as both refer to the pre-existential abyss, to an impersonal anonymity. Ungrund, like ily a, is an impersonal absolute, and by itself would signify the dissolution of the distinct or independent person. McLachlan also finds similarities between Berdyaev’s description of the face and that of Levinas, despite Berdyaev’s use of mythical language, and his characterization of Ungrund as preexistential creativity and freedom. From the viewpoint of the history of ideas, McLachlan suggests that it would be interesting to find out more about the crossing paths of Levinas and Berdyaev and Jean Wahl. For instance, both Levinas and Berdyaev attended and participated in a discussion following a lecture by Wahl given in 1937. [From introduction of volume]