VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1234567 ]


[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 17:26:04 03/07/08 Fri
Author: Joel Gehrke
Subject: Dostoevsky: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing...

On page 5, Dostoevsky writes that "being overly conscious is a full-fledged disease" -- this immediately after saying that a decent man may only discuss himself with pleasure.

He then suggests that "ordinary consciousness-that is, even half or quarter the consciousness available to a 19th century man" is enough human consciousness.

Perhaps in the 19th Century, man know more STUFF than ever before, but D. thinks it hurts them. Some questions ought not be asked, he seems to say. 19th Century men, and specifically the Underground Man, have asked these questions, become "overly-aware."

"Who could be proud of his illnesses?" Everyone. The Underground Man represents, I think, a person in love with the idea of being messed up --- in these gray and latter days, he represents the man who confuses "issues" with profundity. Being unhappy makes him sophisticated. That's why out of spite, he doesn't go to the doctor.

Men in the 19th Cent., he says, have partially answered those questions which ought not be asked, and having answered them, deduce that cynicism is dashing. They fall in love with themselves, and train themselves to be unhappy.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]


Replies:


Post a message:
This forum requires an account to post.
[ Create Account ]
[ Login ]

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.