?
Exploring Fyodor Dostoevsky’s existential thought through the problem of the other
Dostoevsky’s existential thought cannot be adequately understood outside the context of the Christian tradition with which he associated himself. Dostoevsky develops his ideas in accordance with the doctrine of “sobornost” by which God reveals himself primarily as the “bosom of universal synthesis”. Such a condition precedes the individual separateness and subjective isolation. Dostoevsky postulates the initial ontological rootedness of the subject in co-existence with his neighbor whose co-presence is vital for the completeness of the subject’s being (All-Unity). Dostoevsky explains the individual’s separation from the initial All-Unity through the Fall’s plot. Man found himself abandoned, alienated from God and his neighbor both. In this context, civilization should be considered as a period of total disintegration. Such a tendency reached its apotheosis precisely in Western civilization. In this context, the image of the “underground” hero is quite indicative. The hero breaks the bonds of fictional civilized unity in the name of self-realization. His position clearly resembles Heidegger’s teaching on Dasein, which has gained its authenticity. Just as, in Dostoevsky’s view, man is initially ontologically rooted in being-with his neighbor, Heidegger’s Dasein initially finds itself already coexisting with the Other on a common basis. Heidegger regards the initial co-existence with others as an inauthentic mode of Dasein’s being, since the being-with presupposes an impersonal existence. Dasein gains its own authenticity by changing the life attitude from “being-with others” to “being-for-itself”. Dostoevsky’s “underground man” follows the same logic, since he values his own personality and individuality most of all, for the salvation of which he isolates himself from everyone. There is only his will, which is the only one capable to satisfy his need for self- realization. According to Heidegger, the overcoming of the initial dissolution in “being-with others” makes it possible for Dasein to gain its authenticity. For Dostoevsky, such a path leads to the final loss of any authenticity. Dostoevsky proposes to find the solution in the lifestyle of Christ who came and died for all, thereby restating in fullness the essential All- Unity. By his sacrifice, he showed the way to the lost All-Unity. So, to achieve the lost All-Unity, a subject needs to accept the Other as his neighbor.