Ivan Karamazov’s rebellion in Albert Camus’ and Karl Jaspers’ interpretations

Urszula Lisowska

doi:10.15503/jecs20102.5.14

Abstract

The aim of this study is to present Albert Camus’and Karl Jaspers’ interpretations of Ivan Karamazov’s rebellion as the diagnoses of the weakness of the human intellect in confrontation with the world and the criticism of rationalism. Therefore, in the introduction I will present those fragments of the novel that characterize Ivan’s rebellion as highly abstract and theoretical. At the same time, this common literary context serves as the ground for reconstruction and comparison of the basic philosophical assumptions of each author. The intention of the remaining part of the paper is, firstly, to reconstruct A. Camus’ and K. Jaspers’epistemology and, secondly, to analyse the arguments against Ivan’s attitude formulated by the writers. Their criticisms of the protagonist’s excessive trust in intellect is based on their own concepts of human epistemic capacity, which are related to the problems of the absurd in A. Camus’ and transcendence in K. Jaspers’ writings. The question of nihilism demands analysis of A. Camus’ idea of the nature of rebellion as both affirmative and negative, and of K. Jaspers’ notion of faith as pre-intellectual trust. Finally, their criticisms of the slogan “If there is no God, then anything is allowed” introduces the problem of freedom, which allows the comparison of the concepts of solidarity (A. Camus) and communication (K. Jaspers). In the conclusion these two philosophical attitudes are discussed together.

Highlights

The rebellion of Ivan Karamazov, the protagonist of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, is one of the most important elements of the writer’s output
By analyzing Karamazov’s criticism of theodicy, I will be able to point to the specificity of his intellectual attitude, which could be described as rationalistic
Since Ivan’s rebellion reveals the weakness of this philosophical paradigm, the second of the mentioned problems is the refutation of rationalism

Summary

Introduction

The rebellion of Ivan Karamazov, the protagonist of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, is one of the most important elements of the writer’s output. The philosophical significance of the fragment consists of two problems. Ivan raises the question of the sense of evil in the divine work of creation.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion