Semyon Ludwigovich Frank, a Russian philosopher, was born in 1877 in Moscow to a Jewish family. His father was a doctor and passed away when Semyon was still a child. The boy was raised by his maternal grandfather, Moisei Mironovich Rossiansky, who adhered to orthodox Jewish traditions, taught his grandson Hebrew, and took him to the synagogue. Thanks to his stepfather, the narodnik Vasily Ivanovich (Tsalei Itzikovich) Zak, Semyon became acquainted with the ideas of N. K. Mikhailovsky and other revolutionaries.

During his school years, Frank became interested in Marxism and in 1894 enrolled in the law faculty of Moscow University. However, he spent more time promoting socialist ideas among workers. By 1896, he began to doubt the economic theories of Marxism, although he continued to consider himself a socialist. In 1899, Frank wrote a revolutionary pamphlet for which he was exiled from Moscow and completed his studies in philosophy and political economy in Berlin. In 1900, he published a work in Russian titled "Marx's Theory of Value and Its Significance: A Critical Study."

Returning to Russia in 1901, Frank obtained a bachelor's degree from Kazan University and fully dedicated himself to philosophy. In 1912, he converted to Christianity.