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Dostoevsky's Crime And Punishment: Raskolnikov's Mathematical Evaluati

Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment: Raskolnikov's Mathematical Evaluation of Moral
Dilemma Presented To Him Exemplifies The Empirical View of Utilitarianism


"One death, and a thousand lives in exchange--it's simple arithmetic."
-Raskolnikov

Raskolnikov's mathematical evaluation of the moral dilemma presented to
him in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment exemplifies the empirical view of
utilitarianism.   Utilitarianism attempts to distinguish between right and wrong
by measuring a decision based on its calculated worth.   Raskolnikov appears to
employ the fundamentals of utilitarianism by pitting the negative consequences
of murdering his old landlady against the positive benefits that her money would
bestow onto society.   However, a true follower of utilitarianism would be
outraged at Raskolnikov's claim that murdering the old woman can be considered
morally right. Raskolnikov arbitrarily leaves out some necessary considerations
in his moral "equation" that do not adhere to utilitarianism.   A utilitarian
would argue that Raskolnikov has not reached an acceptable solution because he
has not accurately solved the problem.   On the other hand, a non-utilitarian
would reject even the notion of deliberating about the act of murder in such a
mathematical manner.   He might contend that Raskolnikov's reasoning, and the
entire theory of utilitarianism, cannot be used to judge morality because it
rejects individual rights and contains no moral absolutes.
A utilitarian bases his belief upon two principles:   the theory of right
actions and the theory of value.   These two principles work together and serve
as criteria for whether or not a utilitarian can deem an action morally right.
First, the theory of right action argues that the morally right decision is the
one whose consequences are at least as good as any other available option .   For
example, upon receiving the assignment for this paper,   I could have chosen to
ignore the assignment and spend my time on something...