The Ideas of Russian Slavophiles and Occidentalists as Reflected in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Discourse on Freedom

Abstract

When developing ideological concepts and creating literary characters, Dostoyevsky drew from, among others, the ideas of the then most important trends in the Russian thought: Slavophilic and Occidental, as refl ected, among other examples, in his discourse on freedom. The condemnation of certain aspects of Western European civilization, present in the writer’s work – often articulated by the Slavophiles – expresses his aversion to negative freedom and excessive individualism, which undercut the roots of the social organism. Dostoyevsky’s affi nity with the Slavophiles is also refl ected in his positive attitude towards the Russian people and fascination with the unspoiled Christianity and community which they preserved. The formation of Dostoyevsky’s views was also infl uenced by the Occidentalists. The need to maintain the personality ideal, as the Occidentalists understood it, was extremely important to him. The writer glorifi ed the values that cemented the Orthodox community, without negating the knowledge and experience gained in the course of the 200-year Europeanization of the upper classes of the Russian society. He considered Occidentalism to be a phenomenon “leaning towards” specifi c social realities from which it drew its strength. The writer envisaged a harmonious coexistence of freedom and love, their unity. In his opinion, this unity could not be an expression of excess, egoism, pride, moral and moral promiscuity, exaggerated individualism and rationalism. He equated genuine freedom with commitment to God and to the well-being of the humankind.