Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov: Best novel of the 19th century | Sean Kelly and Lex Fridman

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GUEST BIO:
Sean Kelly is a philosopher at Harvard specializing in existentialism and the philosophy of mind.

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[pashapasovski]

Brother Karamazov is the greatest novel ever written! Father is Russian Empire, Alyosha is religion and spiritual Russian society, Ivan is intellectual radical and Dimitri is a true Russian with passion and primitive existence! I never heard this concept, but I told my mother and grandfather who were professors of literature and they agreed!

[lucnotenboom]

This is hands down the most apt summary of Brothers Karamazov. I applaud your insight, and thank you for having given me these words to share with others!

[Lightningrodman]

“Not everything is permitted.”
Powerful and challenging. Just as relevant today as it ever has and forever will be.

[SteveMG]

If you don't or can't read the entire book, just read the parable of "the Grand Inquisitor." It's probably the greatest and most profound insight into freedom and human nature and raises, among other things such as theodicy or a "missing" benevolent God ruling over a world filled with evil, the question of whether man really wants to be free or not. Since freedom comes with so many responsibilities and sacrifices.

[adambycina]

I’ve always thought of the brothers as Jungian aspects of the human mandala, each quadrant representing a part of the whole. It is Alexei who acts as the spiritual mundi and moral center, integrating each aspect into wholeness. Dostoevsky anticipated so much of the 20th and 21 st psychological movements.

[joecocozzella]

Wow. I finished Brother's Karamazov today. Simply incredible! It's worth the investment of time (and increased power of my reading glasses).

[personmcpersonperson]

Currently reading the novel and loving it, can't wait to get into the other Dostoyevski books

[Castaca]

Love it!

The Sartre vs Dostoyevsky arguments are profound!!! This is an astringent to memorize and meditate on.

Where can I get more of this guy's take on Dostoyevsky?

[bigearthurs]

One of my favorite books is brothers Karamazov. The inquisitor shook me.

[amanni]

Brother karmazove is one of the best book ever I have read. The book is of tremendous insight.

[susandiana]

My favorite is The Devils. But clearly the Brothers Karamazov is Dostoevsky's greatest work. Also, Albert Camus discusses Dostoevsky's work in his great, Pulitzer prize winning essay, The Rebel. And clearly Camus's thinking is much closer to Dostoevsky's than Satre's.

[tsgosser]

Currently reading The Brother's Kamarazov. It's deep and intense

[buddyguy]

Dostoyevski's version of God is 100% clear. To muddy these waters is to deny the God of Dostoyevski and I've no doubt these two speakers would like to do this in an effort to convince themselves they appreciate Dostoyevskis created beauty and identify with it without having to admit this comes from a very Christian very devout man of the Bible.

Their attempt to pretend Dostoyevski's God wasn't clear is purely based on their own desire that he not be clear and defined well, Dostoyevski absolutely wouldn't agree with this mischaracterization of his Savior and God.

The reason these Russian writers: Dostoyevski, Tolstoy, et al wrote such beauty about the human condition was precisely because their God was very clear and well defined and because they viewed the world through His lens of the holy scripture.

[brianwagner]

This was a great conversation, and The Idiot is my favorite novel by Dostoyevsky, and probably anyone. But like so many skeptic, non-religious admirers of Dostoyevsky it is irrational how much they divorce him from specifically Christian beliefs. Dostoyevsky is clearly an ardent believer in God, the father of Jesus. It's the ethos underlying every book of his I've read (except maybe Notes from Underground, and it's probably true there only indirectly). If you're admiring the character of Myshkin, he was inspired by Jesus. If you're impressed by the themes of Brothers, the main one I would say is "we are responsible for everyone", it was inspired by Jesus and how Dostoyevsky interprets the command "to love one another."

I'm not saying Dostoyevsky would be comfortable, or an ally to most Western churches. Or that we know most of his particular beliefs about God. But he is not vague in how he believes in God. He is undeniably, specifically Christian.

[niomiwhite]

Crime and Punishment is enthralling to read along with Demons. I really want to read all of his works. I hope you will be able to do just a video only about Dostoevsky! That would be wonderful.

[philtheo]

As Sean Kelly describes it in this video clip, The Brothers Karamazov is the novel form of the moral argument for theism as well as the related argument from conscience. In addition, given Dostoyevsky's Christian beliefs, the novel doesn't give a rational propositional argument in response to the problem of evil and suffering, but instead gives a response to the problem of evil in a person. Cf. 2 Corinthians 3:2: "You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all."

[MarlboroughBlenheim]

Am reading this now. It’s slow in places at the start but it sets the ground for an intensely written and psychologically powerful work.

[adolphsanchez]

I recently went back to my old copy of Brothers Karamazov to add the passages I underlined to my list of book quotes. I wanted to immediately start rereading it again. I had to crack a smile at the description of the book as a "murder mystery" as the work is so much more complex that it can't be so easily categorized (especially not as a piece of genre fiction). I recently reread the Grand Inquisitor section as I wanted to go back and refamiliarize myself with the novel. I am smart enough to know my intellectual limitations, and although I understand that Alyosha is the hero of the novel, I find it difficult to simplify Dostoevsky's message other than he seemed to be pushing back against the growing "Godless" movement of the period with Alyosha being the Jesus-like character serving as a rejection of Ivan's cynicism as it is revealed in his Grand Inquisitor story that states that the price of the iron fist of the Church and the bread they provide can be one's personal freedoms (at least that is what I got from the Inquisitor's dialogue to Jesus and some of the things Ivan stated).

[politicallycorrectredskin]

Tastes will wary, but personally I consider Karamasov not only his best novel and the best novel of the 19th. I think it's easily the best novel ever written, period.

[mistermousterian]

The Possessed, for me, was the most fun read. Lively characterizations, many who might look familiar from current events. The Russian film of it, called Demons, 2014, is very good.