Fyodor Dostoevski

Philosophy 151 Winter, 2004 G. J. Mattey Fyodor Dostoevski

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

Fyodor Dostoevski