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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Dostoevsky’s Storm and Stress Notes from Underground and the Psychological Foundations of Utopia John Luke King-Salter PhD Comparative Literature University of Edinburgh 2019 Lay Summary The goal of this dissertation is to combine philosophical and literary scholarship to arrive at a new interpretation of Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground. In this novel, Dostoevsky argues against the Russian socialists of the early 1860s, and attacks their ideal of a socialist utopia in particular. Dostoevsky’s argument is obscure and difficult to understand, but it seems to depend upon the way he understands the interaction between psychology and politics, or, in other words, the way in which he thinks the health of a society depends upon the psychological health of its members. It is usually thought that Dostoevsky’s problem with socialism is that it curtails individual liber- ties to an unacceptable degree, and that the citizens of a socialist utopia would be frustrated by the lack of freedom. I maintain instead that his argument in Notes from Underground is that the socialists misunderstand and underestimate the psychological importance of spirituality: they fail to consider that people have an innate desire to feel like they are not merely animals, and to feel that human beings have a unique spiritual dignity. By placing the novel in a broader historical context, I show that this new approach can be illuminated and justified with reference to German philosophy and literature, and the works of Friedrich Schiller in particular. The influence of Schiller on Dosto- evsky is well known, but it has not been sufficiently appreciated by those interested in his social and political philosophy. I argue that Notes from Underground should be seen as a revival of psychological themes from the Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) movement to which Schiller contributed, and, crucially, that these themes are the linchpin of Dostoevsky’s criticism of the socialists. This results in a new perspective on Dostoevsky’s stature as a philosopher, his place in the history of philosophy and literature, and on his attitude towards individual liberty. iii Abstract Notes from Underground is Dostoevsky’s most intense examination of the fundamental psychological basis of society and politics, and was conceived as a polemical response to the utopian socialism of Nihilists like Nikolai Chernyshevsky. This dissertation presents a new interpretation of Notes from Underground, and in particular its argu- ment against utopian socialism, based on a comparison with the German Sturm und Drang movement and related literary and philosophical texts. It is usually assumed that Dostoevsky’s problem with utopian socialism is that it curtails individual liber- ties to an unacceptable degree, since human beings have an innate need for freedom. I argue that the appeal of this reading rests on the ambiguity of the word “freedom,” and that when its conceptual foundations are clarified, it leads to serious inconsisten- cies in Dostoevsky’s social thought. The need for an entirely new approach thereby becomes evident. Having examined and clarified the meaning of relevant portions of the novel, I find that for Dostoevsky it is not the need for freedom that renders utopian socialism psychologically inadequate, but the need for deeper spiritual fulfilment. By placing the novel in its broader historical context, I show that this new approach can be illuminated and justified with reference to German philosophy and literature, and the works of Friedrich Schiller in particular. The influence of Schiller on Dosto- evsky is well known, but it has not been sufficiently appreciated by those interested in his social and political philosophy. I argue that Notes from Underground should be seen as a revival of psychological themes from the Sturm und Drang movement to which Schiller contributed, and, crucially, that these themes are the linchpin of Dos- toevsky’s polemic against utopian socialism. The Sturm und Drang movement was a reaction against the demystification of human nature by Enlightenment philosophy; its anti-heroes represented the psychological and spiritual dangers of this demystifi- cation and the lack of spiritual fulfilment it entailed. Dostoevsky, I maintain, draws on these insights to argue that any ideology that rejects the spiritual needs of human- ity, including utopian socialism, will lead to the dire psychological consequences il- lustrated extensively in Notes from Underground. Overall, I present an original reap- praisal of Dostoevsky’s novel that sheds new light on this crucial intersection of his political, psychological, philosophical and religious thought. v No, there are times when it is not possible to turn society, or even one generation, towards the beautiful, so long as it is not shown the depths of its present abasement; there are times when one may not even speak of the sublime and beautiful, if the way and roads to it for everyone are not clear as day.1 “Underground, underground, poet of the underground,” our feuilletonists have been repeating over and over again, as if this were something derogatory to me. Silly fools, it is my glory, for that’s where the truth lies.2 1 Gogol, 1969: 109. 2 Dostoevsky, 1969: 426. vii Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1. The Polemical Context .......................................................................................................1 2. Society and Psychology ...................................................................................................10 Chapter 2: Dostoevsky and Freedom 1. The Libertarian Interpretation ........................................................................................17 2. Disambiguation of “Freedom” .......................................................................................26 3. Moral Autonomy ..............................................................................................................31 4. Caprice ...............................................................................................................................44 5. Evaluating the Libertarian Interpretation.....................................................................55 6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................62 Chapter 3: The Underground Psychology 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................65 2. Basic Features of Underground Psychology ................................................................66 3. The Libertarian Theory of the Underground Psychology ..........................................71 4. Inertia .................................................................................................................................73 5. Hamletism .........................................................................................................................78 6. The Laws of Nature .........................................................................................................84 7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................92 Chapter 4: Chernyshevsky’s Crystal Palace 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................95 2. Rational Egoism and Determinism ................................................................................96 3. The Crystal Palace in Notes from Underground ...........................................................100 4. Free Will in the Crystal Palace .....................................................................................104 5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................111 Chapter 5: Romantic Idealism and Misology 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................113 2. Normal Advantage ........................................................................................................114 3. The Disadvantages of Romanticism ............................................................................115 4. Romanticism in Practice ................................................................................................118 5. Caprice Attacks ..............................................................................................................127 ix 6. Resolving the Contradiction .......................................................................................

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