Notes on Dostoevskij's thought

Abstract

In this few pages we will try to explain, although somewhat briefly, the thoughts of Fëdor Dostoevskij. The Russian writer is certainly acclaimed as one of the greatest thinkers and literary men of his time, and of all time for that matter. Always considered a [cruel intelligence], the attractiveness of his writing stems from the perverse voluptuousness of his torment. He is a cruel intelligent because only a mind free from any frivolous sentimentalism can conceive and implement the figure of the "double", the "imposter", providing "the poor people" with a selfconsciousness so tormented as to go beyond the mere social denunciation. Reading Dostoyevskij is, one could say, to find ourselves marked as troubled. “He induces us in the labyrinth from which we, with breathlessness, search for a way out without success, from the force he holds over the reader”. The thoughts of Dostoevskij are inherent ideals related to existensialism, irrationalism and finally to nihilism. Undoubtedly we are dealing with the works of practical ethics, philosophy applied to reality, and not a mere intellectual exercise, in which some of the most important ancient and modern philosophical positions are in the characters of Dostoevskij's own life.