Fyodor Dostoevsky

Introduction  

At that time in Russia the country was still operating under a system of serfdom which had largely been abandoned long ago in western Europe.

But the winds of change were in the air and became more pronounced whilst Dostoevsky serves is in exile.  

Of that era, another of kindred ideas, namely Soren Kierkegaard, who was born just 10 years before differed only in how he advocates the salvic message to couteract the anticipated descent into nihilism. Kierkegaard relies on an indirect means of communication whilst Dostoevsky confronts you in his  novels with the whole gambit of existence, be it voilence or in love and kindness. But always it is faith over doubt or indifference that is triumphant, but not without him assigning the strongest possible intellectual powers to those who are the villains. This then is the genius of Dostoevsky, so unlike others, to clothe his opponents in the strongest possible garb so that one is forced to  argue against that view in a much more comprehensive manner.     

At that time Hegal was also making his mark but Dostoevsky, similarly to Kierkegaard, was not enamored with his ideas.    

Hegel rejected 

The ideas of Hegel are contained in the works entitled ‘The Philosophy of Religion’.

Little, Daniel, "Philosophy of History", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/history/>.

Hegel's philosophy of history is perhaps the most fully developed philosophical theory of history that attempts to discover meaning or direction in history (1824a, 1824b, 1857). Hegel regards history as an intelligible process moving towards a specific condition—the realization of human freedom. “The question at issue is therefore the ultimate end of mankind, the end which the spirit sets itself in the world” (1857: 63). Hegel incorporates a deeper historicism into his philosophical theories than his predecessors or successors. He regards the relationship between “objective” history and the subjective development of the individual consciousness (“spirit”) as an intimate one; this is a central thesis in his Phenomenology of Spirit (1807). And he views it to be a central task for philosophy to comprehend its place in the unfolding of history. “History is the process whereby the spirit discovers itself and its own concept” (1857: 62). 

In summary Hegel went on to develop a synthesis that combines the finite with the finite under the overarching idea of a thinking spirit, carrying with the implication of rationality. 

Early Period and training in the military academy.  

Dostoevsky grew up on a rural property just out of St. Petersburg in Russia, in a deeply religious family. His youthful interest in reading and early education was supported by his parents and tutors prior to attending boarding school from 13 years of age. But tragedy ensued just 2 years later, aged only 15, with his mother’s death in 1837, followed by that of his irritable alcoholic father when he was 18. His father was an aristocrat and died at the hands of serfs who exacted revenge for his cruelty, although the charges were never proven in court. His education was in a military academy where he graduated in engineering which subsequently provided a high standard of living for a few years before opting for a career as a writer. 

Initial career as a writer 

Dostoevsky initially earned a living as a journalist and magazine publisher prior to travels around Western Europe to succumb to a gambling addiction. Whilst working he published his first novel entitled Poor Folk” which was immensely popular and earnt him membership to the literary establishment. The novel gave a delightful account of the poor folk and peasantry in Russia then.      

However, the initial success of his first novel  was due in no small measure to his confidant and mentor the influential art critic Belinsky. But his followed novels were flops.

We don’t know what effect the precarious nature of his new found writing career was it have on Dostoevsky, but it appears he became the anxious philosopher and writer, capable of cranking out a full blown novel in a few weeks rather than months. 

To reiterate, at that time in Russia the country was still operating under a system of serfdom and Dostoevsky was concerned over the state of the peasantry. He became a member of what was identified as an alleged utopian socialist group highly critical of highly critical of Tsarist Russia. 

Exile 

This association led to incarceration and subsequent sentencing of 4 years to be transported to Siberia, followed by 6 years in exile undertaking military service. But it was on December 1849, that Dostoevsky found himself among 21 condemned men to be executed for revolutionary activities.  

He stood in the freezing square for an agonizing 20 minutes, expecting to be shot at any moment, before a galloping horseman arrived. The message conveyed was that Tsar, Nicholas 1^st had commuted his execution to a prison sentence to be served in Siberia. The staging of his mock execution designed to teach him a lesson and the terror of the occasion combined with the prior murder of his father, the death of his mother and the subsequent Siberian experience, may have contributed to his ongoing epilepsy. But possibly he inherited the condition from his father. Epileptic seizures were to become his constant companion throughout the period of his life. 

Following the sentence Fyodor, in his letter to his brother spoke in glowing terms of his vitality and that he sensed a feeling he would be born again in a spiritual sense in what turned out to be a place of wretched exile. True to this premonition, sharing in the filthy conditions with those murderers and thieves, they became his comrades in chains. Consequently he found meaning in his suffering and in what he perceived as the redemptive nature of his new found faith. He was able to lift out of despair inmates whose tearful embrace at the time of his release gave expression in his subsequent writing.  

Post exile period 

Given Dostoevsky's spiritual transformation whilst imprisoned the new found realization then becomes resplendent in his towering novels of the moral dilemmas we face as a society. It was a fact that the system of serfdom was being dismantled as the process had began while he was in exile. Hence the concerns he previously held were lessened to the extent he could turn his attention to the moral dilemma's facing Russia.         

But after his return, following a tour of western Europe, his newly established magazine called Epoch was bankrupted accompanied by the death of his wife, brother and best friend. Notwithstanding, as an indication of his resilience, he showed steely resolve, occasioned by growing addiction to gambling fueling his debt ridden state, yet he was still able to write one of his considered greatest novels ‘Crime and Punishment’. The overarching theme in Crime and Punishment is the challenge he issues to us about the moral justification to commit a crime. Here we see Dostoevsky imbue his central character Raskolnikov with all the armory to defend his actions based on a Unitarian principle of the greater good.   

After remarrying and despite the prior success of Crimes and Punishment his growing gambling addiction led him to divest his wife of her belongings to service his mounting debts. Those debts continued to mount notwithstanding he was able to complete ‘The Idiot’ -1869  followed by ‘The Possessed’. By then his wife, Anna Gregorian had gained control of his finances and he lived out his last 10 years in relative transquillty to produce possibly his greatest work 'The Brothers Karamazov'. 

In this epic work we are treated to the joy of the everyday miracle of simple existence, in everlasting shared golden memories, interwoven with ideas of indifference, the power of rationality, hubris and heinous crimes. I will provide a brief overlay to introduce some of themes and finally a selection of quotes.    

Overarching Theme- retaining the sacred

One of the key overarching purpose of this magnificent epic was to defend the sacred against the new age science and the new neuron man- one you walk away from because there is no shared ontology. That is portrayed as the eventual trump of faith over doubt. There are numerous references to the sacred nature of existence that can still exist alongside science. Mention is made of this in the characters by way of the descriptive baptismal light rays, to new awakenings of shared joy in memories and of redemption from the hell of societal isolation felt by the well regarded murderer Smoryakov.

Living a lie - Smoryakov

He is living a lie until such time as he finds meaning in the painful redemptive power of confession, not just to the priest, but more importantly to the community, who subsequently don't believe him.

Affirmation to goodness in characters

Whereas Zosima and Alyosha, pursue a love towards mankind of kindness, forgiveness, and goodness. But Doubt is linked to the logical scepticism of Ivan Karamazov which led to the rejection of conventional notions of morality for him to display coldness associated with a crippling despair.

A life of faith must be happier

One notices of course that Dostoevsky unreservedly is on the side of faith, to demonstrate a life of faith must be happier than one of doubt. Doubt, chaos and ensuing unhappiness is evident in  Smerdyakov’s murder of Fyodor Pavlovich and Ivan’s breakdown,

Arguments against this approach-

Notwithstanding the psychology of doubt is examined through Ivan, in the section dealing with “The Grand Inquisitor,” so that one sees the clear cut case against religion, the Church, and God, suggesting that the choice to embrace religious faith can only be made at great philosophical risk, and for reasons that defy a fully logical explanation.

The position of free will is argued as in the narrative that decides whether or not to accept or reject morality. Whether or not to pursue good or evil.

Moral Responsibility

Another theme the central lessons of the novel is that people should not judge one another, seek redemption of criminals rather than their punishment.

Chains of Responsibility 

Zosima explains that this loving forgiveness is necessary because the chain of human causation is so interwoven that everyone bears some responsibility for everyone else- for their transgressions. That is, one person’s actions have so many complicated effects on the actions of so many other people that it is impossible to trace all the consequences of any single action.

Selected Quotes 

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”

“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.”
“I love mankind, he said, "but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.”
“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”
“The world says: "You have needs -- satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.”

“I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness.”

“Besides, nowadays, almost all capable people are terribly afraid of being ridiculous, and are miserable because of it.”

“This is my last message to you: in sorrow, seek happiness.”

“Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.”

 “I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.”

“A beast can never be as cruel as a human being, so artistically, so picturesquely cruel.”

 “A beast can never be as cruel as a human being, so artistically, so picturesquely cruel.”

Conclusion

His work reflected the whole gambit of human nature that he took for granted as if viciousness could equally shake hands with virtue and love. But always he centred his narrative around the human soul and the resurrection by way of a redemptive power over the malevolent or that of indifference.  His work portrayed the way one would find meaning in faith. Freud said he could not bear to read his novels, such was the characters resemblance in every detail to his patients. Like Nietzsche, he foretold the collapse of Europe but also Russia.