The Sin of Knowledge and an Attempt at Freedom: The Notion of ‘Fall’ in the Religious and Philosophical Concepts Advanced by Lev Shestov and Nikolai Berdyaev
Adam SAWICKI
University of the National Education Commission, Krakow , PolandAbstract
The article discusses two concepts of the Fall, conceived of as, firstly, the sin of knowledge and, secondly, as an attempt at freedom. The former may be found in Lev Shestov’s biblical philosophy, and the latter in Nicolai Berdyaev’s Christian gnosis. The author expounds the way in which the mentioned philosophers reconstructed the relationship between the fall, knowledge, and freedom, as well as the one between God, nothingness, and the human being. He also analyzes the problem of the consequences of the Fall of man Shestov and Berdyaev, respectively, scrutinize, as well as the ways of overcoming these consequences they propose. The paper emphasizes religious inspiration of their views and compares the conceptions they worked out, taking into account their debate on the original sin.
Keywords:
the Fall, nothingness, freedom, objectification, good, evil, faithUniversity of the National Education Commission, Krakow
