Fyodor Dostoevski

Philosophy 151Winter, 2004G. J. Mattey

A Utopian Vision

● Notes from Underground (1864) was written in response to N. G. Chernyshevsky’s What is to be Done (1862)

● This book was in turn a response to a nihilistic character in Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons (1862)

● Chernyshevsky portrayed a utopian society populated by beautiful, healthy people and symbolized by a crystal palace

A Sick and Spiteful Man

● The narrator begins by declaring himself to be a sick and spiteful, as well as distinctly non-beautiful, man

● Dostoevski states in a footnote that this person is a representative of a type that must exist in present society

● He adds that in the first part of the work, the narrator tries to explain why his own type is an inevitable product of his society

A Spiteful Official

● Our narrator writes at age forty● He has probably had liver disease since age

twenty, but he refuses to see a doctor● He was formerly a government bureaucrat● He tells us that he was rude to his clients and

took pleasure in his rudeness● Yet he admits paradoxically that he was not

really spiteful, but only amusing himself at the expense of his clients

Opposite Elements

● What caused the narrator’s spite was the recognition that even in his most extreme moments, he could not be spiteful

● Many elements contrary to spite have always been in him, though he has suppressed them

● This is the basis of his sickness● If treated like a child, he might be appeased

or even touched, though he would be ashamed of this

Characterless

● To be spiteful or kind, a rascal or honest man, a hero or an insect, is to have some kind of character

● Character is possessed by people of action, who are limited in intelligence

● Intelligent people, conversely, can not be anything: they can have no character

● This is the narrator’s “spiteful and useless consolation” for his wretched existence

Underground

● Having worked as a collegiate assessor, the narrator quit when he came into a small inheritance

● His living conditions have deteriorated– His dwellings are wretched– His servant is ill-natured, stupid, and smelly– The climate is bad for his health– It is too expensive for him to live where he does

● But he is not going away

Too Conscious

● To be too conscious is an illness● Human beings only need a quarter of the

consciousness of an intelligent inhabitant of a sophisticated city

● This claim is not directed at the “man of action,” since to be ill is no source of pride

● Absurdly, the narrator (as do others) prides himself on his illness

The “Sublime and Beautiful”

● In the presence of what was called the “sublime and beautiful,” the narrator thinks ugly thoughts and does ugly deeds

● His so doing did not seem to be accidental to him, but rather his normal state

● At first he was ashamed of his abnormality● But he came to cultivate it, to the point where

it brought him “real positive enjoyment”

The Last Barrier

● The narrator is writing to try to explain his enjoyment in his degradation

● The enjoyment of degradation is rooted in natural laws that govern the over-acute consciousness, so that there is no blame

● One feels that one’s degradation is horrible but cannot be overcome

● Or, if it could be overcome, one would do nothing to overcome it

The Enjoyment of Despair

● The narrator is hyper-sensitive● He supposes that he would find enjoyment

from being slapped in the face● He would find enjoyment in his despair, his

“consciousness of being rubbed into a pulp”● He is always to blame due to:

– His cleverness– His lack of magnanimity

No Response

● Even if the narrator had had magnanimity, he would have suffered from his sense of its uselessness– He would not not forgive the assault, since the

slap was a consequence of a law of nature– He would not forget the assault because it is

insulting, even if it is the result of a law of nature● Nor could he have exacted revenge, since he

could not have brought himself to carry it out, even if he had wanted to

The Direct Person

● In general, one who seeks revenge devotes his whole being to it

● He charges against his opponent like a raging bull with its horns down

● The only thing that can stop him is a wall● The narrator envies such a man, despite his

stupidity● The direct person appears to be the normal

person

A Mouse, Not a Man

● Confronted with the direct person, the hyper-conscious person regards himself as a mouse

● No one asks him to view himself in this way● He may be a mouse of acute consciousness,

but he is not a man● He seems to have been born from a test-

tube, not from nature

The Mouse in Action

● How does the mouse react when insulted?● He may accumulate more venom than the

natural man, who stupidly looks at his revenge as mere justice

● He creates a web of doubt and indecision and then retreats into his mouse-hole

● He becomes absorbed in cold, malignant, everlasting spite, which is magnified with the passage of time

● If he acts at all, he only hurts himself

The Stone Wall

● Confronted with the impossible, people of strong nerves stop their bellowing

● The impossible, the stone wall, is the violation of the laws of nature

● “Twice two is a law of mathematics. Just try refuting it”

● Although the narrator does not have the strength to knock the wall down, he is not reconciled to it because it disgusts him

Enjoyment in a Toothache

● If enjoyment is found in despair at not being able to overcome the stone wall, may it be found even in a toothache?

● People with toothaches moan malignantly● The moans express the aimlessness of the

pain: no one is responsible● The educated man will moan only to amuse

himself, thereby annoying everyone else

Ennui

● A person who finds enjoyment in self-degradation has no self-respect

● The narrator used to get into trouble where he was not to blame

● He took offense on purpose● Later he felt remorse and a sick feeling in his

heart● The reason of these ingrained pranks was

inertia, ennui

Primary Causes

● “Men of action” are able to act because they mistake secondary causes for primary causes

● But a person of reflection will recognize that primary causes are unattainable, due to an infinite regress

● The laws of nature thus dissipate anger● So his only motive for revenge is spite: the

desire to beat against the wall so as to perform some action or other

Golden Dreams

● The narrator might have done nothing from laziness

● Then he would have been able to respect himself

● He could have been a sophisticated sluggard and glutton, who drinks to the health of the “sublime and beautiful”

● He would be an “asset,” which is rare in the current negative age

Self-Interest

● It is a commonplace that if people were to know what is to their advantage, then they would act only according to them

● But this is naïve innocence● Historically, humans have always acted

against their own interests because they have disliked the beaten track

● What is to one’s “advantage” may be something that brings him harm

Advantage

● Advantage has been understood in terms of statistical figures and politico-economic formulas

● The advantages are supposed to be “prosperity, wealth, freedom, peace—and so on”

● Yet one advantage is left out invariably● “The most advantageous advantage”

motivates people to flout all laws and all the other “advantages”

Logical Exercises

● The most advantageous advantage breaks down all logical and social classifications

● All the systems of human “interests” are rendered nothing more than logical exercises

● The “predilection for systems and abstract definitions” lead to distortion of the truth

● The claim that civilization softens us is refuted by continual bloodshed

Which is Worse?

● We think that bloodshed is abominable, yet we still engage in it

● We may not be more bloodthirsty, but our bloodthirstiness is more vile

● Is not the present situation worse, because we should know better?

● Is it really the case that our problem is that we have not yet shed some old bad habits?

The Crystal Palace

● Modern thinkers claim that human actions are the outcome of laws of nature

● Humans are mere “piano-keys”● Once this is known (it is claimed) human

society will calm down and proceed on a scientific basis

● The “Palace of Crystal” will be built, and we will live in the halcyon days

Revolt

● If such a “rational” society were to develop, it would lead to boredom

● People would revert to cruelty because they would find life frightfully dull

● Someone will come along advocating the destruction of the beautiful palace in favor of “our own sweet foolish will”

● He expresses the fact that people in the end act simply as they choose to act

The Most Advantageous Advantage

● The narrator’s thesis is that capricious action is the most advantageous

● It cannot be classified within a system, because it works against the system itself

● Theorizers have postulated that human beings want a rational choice

● But what they really want is an independent choice, wherever it may lead

Piano Keys

● The narrator’s inclination to be skeptical about the origin of choice is opposed by the results of science

● If choice is reduced to a formula, then desire will come to an end

● Human beings will be transformed into piano keys without free will

● The advocate of science accepts this conclusion

Reason and Will

● The narrator is “over-philosophical” due to his forty years underground

● He allows that reason is an excellent tool for that rational side of man, which is “one twentieth” of the capacity for life

● Will, on the other hand, manifests all of human life

● We assert our will, stupidly, in order to assert our personality and individuality

Moral Obliquity

● The worse defect of the “ungrateful biped” is his moral obliquity and lack of good sense

● All of history is proof of this● It is monotonous because it is the chonicle of

fighting and more fighting● All the products of the most disordered

imagination have come to pass● “The only thing one can’t say is that it’s

rational”

Never Enough

● Even if men lived in the most rational of societies, with all their needs fulfilled, they would still play some nasty trick out of sheer ingratitude or spite

● The reason is that they must prove that they are free and not piano-keys

● They will launch a curse upon the world – The ability to unleash a curse is what separates

human beings from other animals

Coincidence

● It can be objected that human freedom can be preserved despite the total predictability of human action

● Human will may freely coincide with the laws of rationality according to which we act to promote our interests

● But this is no kind of freedom● Free willing is something that cannot be

tabulated in advance

Reformation

● The narrator states that he is joking● But he has serious questions

– Is it desirable to reform people according to science and good sense?

– Why do people need reformation?– Is not “reformed” behavior sometimes not to

people’s advantage?● The answers of the reformers are only

suppositions, which “may be the law of logic, but not the law of humanity”

Creation and Destruction

● Human beings have a creative side● Even the most stupid practical person gets

more out of the acting than out of accomplishing the end of acting

● It may be that humans love chaos and destruction because they are afraid of attaining their end

● Our lives do not begin and end with the ant-heaps we construct

Afraid of the End?

● Human beings go to great lengths to attain mathematical certainty

● But it may be that humans are afraid of attaining it, just as the narrator is

● When the end is attained, there is nothing else to look for

● Humans absurdly do not like what it is they have endeavored to attain, once they attain it

Suffering

● Why is it assumed that what humans seek to attain is well-being

● Perhaps they are just as fond of suffering● Perhaps suffering is just as much a benefit to

humans as is well-being● It is sometimes very pleasant to smash

things, whether it is good or bad● Suffering is the origin of consciousness,

which we will never renounce

A False Mansion

● The palace of crystal exists only in the imagination of men of a certain era

● The real situation is one more resembling a hen-house or a block of apartments

● Everything that has been constructed is subject to ridicule

● It would be good if there were something that could not be ridiculed

● We must at least hope for such a thing

The Underground Life

● Although the narrator envies the normal person, he does not want to be normal

● At first he praises the inertia of the underground life

● But then he retracts this and says only that he desires something different which he cannot find

● And he says that the whole diatribe was a lie

As if I Had Readers

● The imaginary audience to which the narrator has addressed his speech accuses him of dishonesty

● He responds that the audience itself is a fiction—that his is writing only for himself

● He is trying to be totally honest with himself regarding his “early adventures”

● To commit his thoughts to paper may be helpful in this endeavor, as well as to get rid of his oppressive thoughts of the past

At the Office

● The narrator describes his workplace● He hated his fellow-clerks, who were lowly

but did not care that they were● His attitude alternated between despising

them and feeling them to be superior to him● He could not look anyone in the face● He was conventional to avoid looking

ridiculous to those upon whom he looked down

A Coward and a Slave

● The narrator was morbidly sensitive, as one should be at that time

● He was intelligent enough to know himself to be a coward and a slave

● To be a coward and a slave is was the normal condition

● No one is valiant: at the moment of truth everyone will flee

Romantic

● The narrator was not always in a morbid frame of mind

● He would sometimes become skeptical and indifferent

● He socialized with others● He would reproach himself for being romantic● But he would then be a realistic romantic, not

a transcendental European romantic

Solitude

● The dalliance with social life soon ended● The narrator spent most of the time alone● His main activity was reading, from which he

got pleasure, pain, and sometimes boredom● To overcome boredom, he plunged into petty

vice● His “justification” was that he was depressed

and had nothing in his surroundings that he could respect

The Officer

● One night, the narrator passed by a tavern and saw someone defenestrated

● He went into the tavern looking to get thrown out of a window himself

● Instead, a military officer unceremoniously lifted the narrator out of his way

● He did not protest (for which he would have gotten his wish), but instead resentfully retreated from the tavern

Moral Cowardice

● The narrator asserts that he was not a coward at heart, but a coward in action

● His action was based on “an unbounded vanity”

● He was afraid not of a beating, but of his actions being misunderstood by the rabble

● The officer himself would have insulted him before beating him and throwing him out the window

Revenge

● For years, the narrator nourished his spite and plotted revenge

● He found out the details of the officer’s life● He tried to write a satire about him, but he

could not get it published● His “brilliant” plan was not to get out of the

way when the officer came toward him● But first, he had to borrow money to dress

himself half-decently

Brief Respite

● The narrator could not work out the courage to carry out his plan

● His nerve failed him just before the would-be collision

● He resolved to abandon the plan● When he was rehearsing the abandonment,

he chanced into the officer and rammed him● This made him feel avenged, and happy for a

few days, but it could not last

Escape

● The narrator learned to endure his sickness● But he also had a means of escape through

his dreams of “the sublime and the beautiful”● He became a hero, not a “chicken heart”● He was full of emotion and positively happy● He fancied reality as opening up to him as

almost riding a white horse and crowned with a laurel

Fantastic Love

● The narrator felt a love that exists only in his fantasies, not in reality

● He was triumphant over everyone, who in turn recognized his superiority

● Then he forgave them all ● He fell in love, acquired a fortune, then gave

it away● But this is all “vulgar and contemptible,” as is

the attempt to justify himself through this

Plunging into Society

● The period of dreaming would last a few months and would be followed by attempts to be sociable

● He carried this out by visiting his boss at his home on the boss’s day off

● But the scene there was stultifying, and the narrator did not interact with anyone

● He went home re-thinking his romantic resolve to embrace all of humanity

A Schoolmate

● The narrator’s other acquaintance was a schoolmate

● He had hated his schoolmates generally● But he found in one of them “a certain

independence of character, and even honesty”

● They had had close moments, but those moments were now an embarrassment

● The schoolmate probably disliked him

Crashing the Party-Planning

● The narrator visits his schoolmate, who has guests who are planning a party

● They pay no attention to him, treating him like a “common fly”

● The narrator’s failure in life magnified the hatred they had for him as a student

● The guest of the party is a vulgar, swaggering heir to a fortune, who “had been favored by the gifts of nature”

Zverkov

● The schoolmate Zverkov was to leave St. Petersburg, hence the going-away party

● The narrator had verbally attacked in him school when he was boasting about his future sexual exploits

● The attack was not out of sympathy for the women, but because the other students had applauded him

● Eventually they parted on good terms

Crashing the Party

● The three schoolmates planning the party decide on the place and the contribution

● The narrator insists on being included, claiming he is hurt by being left out

● The schoolmates agree reluctantly to include him in the festivities

● The narrator questions his own motives in agreeing to go

● But he justifies it exactly because it would be so unseemly for him to do so

Bad Memories

● Having agreed to attend the party for someone he scorned, the narrator recollects his school days

● He was an orphan who had been sent to boarding school by distant relatives

● At school, he was mercilessly taunted by the stupid other boys

● They were not “real people” in contrast to his dreaming: they knew nothing of life

Reaction

● The narrator did not desire the affection of his fellow-students, but instead longed to humiliate them

● His weapon was to excel in his studies● He was no longer mocked, but he was still

hated● He wanted a social life, but it never worked

out● Once he had a friend, but he repaid his

affection by tyrannizing him

The Real Thing

● The narrator was quickened by the thought of the party, though he was ill-prepared for it

● He brooded over how it would go, but still he thought it was “the real thing”

● He dreamed of getting the upper hand over these vulgar people

● Yet he recognized that he did not really care how it would turn out

Condescension

● The narrator was humiliated by arriving an hour early because he was not informed of a change in schedule

● Zverkov greeted him with condescension● It startled the narrator to see the Zverkov

really believed he was superior to him● He was embarrassed to reveal the

circumstances of his employment● He starts to mock Zverkov’s speech

Drunk

● The narrator thinks it is an honor for the others to be with him, while they think it is an honor for him to be with them

● He decides to leave, but he stays● He finally gets drunk and causes a scene by

condemning Zverkov’s type● He tries unsuccessfully to provoke a duel ● He waits for them to address him, but they

ignore him

To the Brothel

● After dinner, the company retire to a sofa for more drinking

● The narrator walks back and forth between his table and the stove

● The revelers become even more drunk and decide to go to the brothel

● The narrator apologizes for insulting Zverkov, but he replies that it would be impossible for the narrator to insult him

Everything is Lost!

● The narrator borrows money to follow the party to the brothel, to try again to humiliate them

● In his mind, he humorously contrasts this reality with his romantic fantasies

● He declares himself a scoundrel for making fun of his situation

● But he dismisses the thought because he has committed himself to the act: “everything is lost!”

“I’ll Give it to Him”

● The narrator resolves that upon entering the brothel, he will “give it to” Zverkov

● He will pull the hair of the prostitute who once refused him and pull Zverkov’s ears

● Although he will be beaten up, he will have taken the initiative

● Then the duel will finally take place● The plan, of course, was obviously absurd,

and he stops en route but goes on by fate

Liza

● The revelers have already left the parlor when the narrator arrives

● There, he meets a somber young prostitute, Liza

● The narrator declares himself happy to be repulsive to her

● After a very long silence, he begins to question her

● He tells her horror-stories about the ultimate fate of the young prostitute

Sentimentality

● The narrator next paints a deeply sentimental picture of the life that Liza left

● He romanticizes the relation between father and daughter

● Liza points out that many fathers are eager to sell their daughters

● The narrator responds by saying that a woman in a bad marriage should count her blessings

Love

● The romantic theme is taken to even greater depths

● Love will overcome all quarrels between husband and wife

● “Love is a holy mystery”● It should abide after the the first phase of

marriage, culminating in a “union of souls”● Even the most difficult times will seem happy,

etc.

Bookishness

● Liza responds by telling the narrator ironically that he speaks “somehow like a book”

● In reaction, an “evil feeling took possession” of him

● He did not realize that her irony was covering up her feelings

● In an innocent persons, the feelings are kept back out of pride

Worthless Love

● Now the narrator turns his rage against Liza, doing his best to humiliate her

● He says that in other circumstances, he could fall in love with her

● But in the brothel, he can only dominate her● Her love—her priceless treasure—is worth

nothing here● Any lover she had would have to share her

Consumption

● Liza’s ultimate fate is grim● She will never be able to get out of debt● She will move to more and more disgusting

brothels● Eventually, she will be sick from consumption ● She will be abandoned in the filthiest corner

to die● No one will remember her

Despair

● The speech had its intended effect● The narrator had never before witnessed

such despair● He asks her forgiveness and gives her his

address● She fetches a letter from a medical student

“who knew nothing” of her plight● She wanted to show she was loved, though

nothing would come of it

Aftermath

● After leaving, the narrator is amazed by his sentimentality and upset by the thought that Liza might call on him

● He repays his debt to his schoolmate, writing a noble letter

● He goes out into the busy street, wondering what is wrong with him

● He is worrying about Liza’s possible visit to his shabby underground hole

New Dreams

● The narrator considers going to Liza to explain himself and beg her not to come

● But this made him wrathful and determined to crush her

● He reflects on how easy it was to turn her life around with a few bookish words

● After she does not come around to visit, he begins to dream of saving Liza

● He fantasizes telling her that he knew of her love from the start

Apollon

● The narrator is distracted by the behavior of his servant, Apollon

● This dignified, elderly tailor despises him ● His behavior toward him was tyrranical● In turn, the narrator hated Apollon● He resolved not to pay him his wages● Apollon responded by ritually staring at him

Visitation

● In the midst of the narrator’s confrontation with Apollon, Liza visits him

● He is humiliated by his ragged dress and his wretched dwelling-place

● Yet he professes not to be ashamed● He becomes hysterical ● Liza begins to speak, saying that she wants

to get away from the brothel

Confession

● The narrator reveals to Liza that the real object of his sentimental speech at the brothel was her humiliation

● He had no intention of saving her● He was only playing with words, and wished

that she and the others would go straight to hell

● He is an egoist who only played at being her hero, and he is ashamed

A Worm

● The narrator blames Liza for his own shame● He has confessed to her the worm-like

baseness of his existence● He asks why she remains there, “confronting”

him● Then he realized that she, out of love,

realizes that he is unhappy● She rushes to him and embraces him—and

he responds by being ashamed

Mastery and Possession

● At this point, there is a reversal of roles● She is the heroine and he the humiliated

creature● He reacts in his usual way, by attempting to

dominate and tyrannizing her● He wants to master and possess her● He hates her● And she rapturously embraces him

The Final Insult

● Liza finally understands what the narrator is up to

● She retreats behind a screen, crying● The narrator paces about, peeking in through

a crack● He was incapable of loving her because he

could only tyrranize and show his moral superiority

● That is even how he conceptualized love, even in his dreams

“Peace”

● All the narrator wanted at this point was to be left alone

● He did not realize that she had come to love him, not to hear his “fine sentiments”

● “Real life” was again oppressing him, and he wanted only the “peace” of solitude

● When she was leaving, he tried to give her money, which she threw away

● This was the final act of cruelty

Remorse?

● The narrator pursues her fruitlessly● He wanted to beg forgiveness● Yet he realized that it was to no purpose● He would only hate her tomorrow● And he would try to dominate her● He tried to rationalize his situation to say that

losing her would be better for both● “Which is better—cheap happiness or

exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?”

Oppression

● The narrator sums up by saying that the writing the story is not so much production of literature as corrective punishment

● A novel needs a hero, but the underground man is an anti-hero

● But are we not all cripples like him?● Without books, we would have no idea what

to do● We do not know how to live and are

oppressed at being real human beings

Crime and Punishment

● Two years later, Dostoevsky published his first great novel, Crime and Punishment

● The protagonist, Raskolnikov, in some ways resembles the underground man

● Leading an equally humiliating life, he sets out to do something real

● He commits a terrible crime in the name of a higher consciousness

Conscience

● The engine of the novel is the police investigation of the crime

● But the real theme is the gradual development of Raskolnikov’s guilty conscience

● He is aided in his purification by the prostitute Sonia

● In the end, he embraced Christianity and attempts to atone for his crime

The Idiot

● Another two years later, the second great novel, The Idiot, was published

● The central thesis is that a Jesus-like figure would find it impossible to survive in modern times

● Thus the book is an indictment of modern life as inhospitable to Christianity

The Possessed

● The third great novel came in 1871, three years after the second

● Here, Dostoevsky turns from the psychological arena to that of politics

● He portrays revolutionary reformers (as he once was) as utterly misguided

● The message is that only Christian faith, not political change, can bring salvation

The Brothers Karamazov

● The final great novel was his last, published in 1879

● The Brothers Karamazov is a sweeping tale of morality

● The characters personify the main types of human being– The religious– The sensualist– The rationalist

Doubt

● In one place, the characters try to come to grips with the problem of evil

● How could God allow the immense suffering of children?

● Children are completely innocent and not deserving of any punishment

● A possible answer is that Jesus has the right to forgive everything, because of his own innocent suffering

The Grand Inquisitor

● The most famous passage in the book centers on an inquisitor in the Spanish Inquisition

● Jesus comes back to earth and is incarcerated

● He is told by the inquisitor that he has no right to return, since the welfare of souls has been turned over to the Church

● Jesus’s error was to invite humans to love him freely rather than enslaving them