The epistemology of the trail and the problem of the unknowable

Abstract

The article is focused on studying the relation-ship between the notions “trace” and “the un-knowable” in the religious-philosophical doc-trine of S. L. Frank. Despite the fact that the “trace”, in contrast to the “unknowable”, or “in-comprehensible”, is an accessible, present, and actual element of reality, it still contains a riddle, because it “reveals and hides” simultaneously, according to the apt expression of Paul Ricњur (“la trace signifie sans faire apparaоtre”). Visible traces are symbols of the invisible world, and therefore have a “symbolic character”. And yet, not every trace is a symbol for us, though any symbol is undoubtedly a trace, because it has its own past. The dialectics of the trace and the symbol, therefore, conceals a complex relation-ship between the eternal and the temporary, the accessible and the inaccessible, human and di-vine. Frank sees the “traces of God’s acts” in objects and phenomena of the world; those who are not religious, as a rule, can not do this. This fact indicates that the same tracks are perceived and read by different people in different ways. However, despite the individual differences in the process of perceiving and reading traces, this process obeys universal laws that neither a reli-gious person nor a non-religious man can break. The reason for these laws to be universal lies in the ontology of the trace that came from the past, but is in the present and, while it is still here, also has its own future. Traces exist in time. The category “time” is of key importance for com-prehending both the ephemeral trace and the eternal unknowable. For this reason, at the end of the article the time problem is analyzed.