Dostoevsky's Critique of Nihilism

Paper Summary:

Dostoevsky, clearly an existentialist, focused much of his literary work on debunking nihilism. Because he believed that human natural could only be fully displayed through the supernatural, Dostoevsky fought the growing trend of applying scientific and rational thought to all aspects of the human experience. By examining some of his most important passages in his works, "Notes From the Underground", "Crime and Punishment" and "The Brothers Karamazov", this paper displays the clear battle that the author fought during his literary career, ultimately culminating in the defeat of Ivan Karamazov in "The Brothers Karamazov".

From the Paper:

"Dostoevsky was concerned with the dangers of Nihilism. He believed that reason, while the prevalent thought in society, could do little to explain human nature. In so codifying human behavior and necessitating a need for predictable outcomes, Dostoevsky surmised that reason would overstep its own laws in a desire to curtail human nature and explain natural irrationality. He believed that predictions could do little to explain love, passion, personality, individuality; it could only offer a formula on how to suppress it. Rationality, along with industrialization, psychology, and capitalism, sought to replace free-choice for, as he would put it later, a loaf of bread."

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