Dostoyevsky's Existentialism
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Dostoyevsky's Existentialism
Dostoyevsky's existentialism
Existentialism is a philosophical movement or tendency, emphasizing individual existence, freedom and choice, it is almost a religion which assures its believers there is no God, but your actions and consequences are the ones that regulate what you are and will be. Most existentialists define themselves the theory they will follow, depending on their belief. Plato held that the highest ethical good is the same for everyone (as one approaches moral perfection, one resembles other morally perfect individuals); on the other hand, Kierkegaard insisted that the highest good for the individual is to find his or her own unique vocation, as he once said existentialists have to find "the idea for which [they] can live or die for". While some great thinkers and philosophers express their ideas through newspapers and journals; I, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, wrote many books and articles communicating through them my beliefs, being considered the greatest existentialist literary figure.
I was born on a lower-middle-class family in 1821; and the second of seven children. My early education was in an army engineering school, where I was bored with the dull routine and the unimaginative student life. Therefore, I spent most of my time reading the latest authors and writing short stories myself; literature was definitely my weakness. My mother died before I turned sixteen and later on my father was killed by the serfs, my "happy" careless days had ended by then; afterwards, I would have an obsessive interest in death which would later become apparent in all my books. The subject of crime, and murder would become visible in every new publication.
After school (1843) I was appointed an engineer at a post far away from St. Petersburg, but although it was a modest place, I was afraid to lose the chance to make a writing career possible only in the capital. Therefore, in 1844 I quit
the job and went back to the city. Naturally, I was...
- Submitted by: mmoya
- Date Submitted: 10/30/2005 04:46 PM
- Category: English
- Words: 2183
- Pages: 9
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