Transcript Jeremy Bentham vs. John Stuart Mill

Philosopical Ideas
In
CRIME AND
PUNISHMENT
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
(1770-1831)
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Born and raised in Stuttgart, Germany
Graduated from University of Tübingen
Member of philosophy department of
University of Jena (among its members
were Fichte, Schelling, von Schegel,
and Schiller)
During the Napoleonic Wars, Hegel
moved to Bamberg, where he worked
as a newspaper editor
Worked as a school principal in
Nuremberg
Became a professor of philosophy in
Heidelberg, then transferred to the
University of Berlin where he remained
for the rest of his life
The Hegelian Tragedy
• Tragedy, according to Hegel, is a conflict between two opposing
forces – a conflict of rights
• A tragic event is one in which two “good” values are in
opposition and one must give way to another
• A conflict between “good and “evil” cannot be tragic, rather,
tragedy is when a “good” value is in fatal conflict with another
equally “good” conflict
←Antigone is the quintessential Hegelian tragedy –
Antigone is bound by family responsibility to
bury her brother Polynices, but this act would
violate the decree of Creon, the king
The Hegelian Tragedy in
Crime and Punishment
• Raskolnikov’s “desire to provide for his first steps in life”
(Epilogue, Ch. 1) and be “extraordinary” vs. obeying
society’s regulations, namely those regarding murder
• His orders to “Go at once, this very minute, stand at the
cross-roads, bow down, first kiss the earth which you
[Raskolnikov] have defiled and then bow down to all the
world and say to all men aloud ‘I am a murderer!’” (Part
Five, Ch. 4) oppose his belief that he has an “inner right
to decide in his own concept to overstep… certain
obstacles” (Part Three, Ch. 5)
History and Truth
• History, as well as reason, is progressive (river)
• History shows humanity moving toward greater
rationalism and freedom
• Truth: coherence within a complete system of thought
• “The truth is the whole.”
Hegelian Dialectic
• History= chain of reflections
– Thesis: the proposed thought
– Antithesis/negation: a thought rising counter to the
proposed thought
– Synthesis: negation of the negation, combines the
best elements of each of the two other thoughts
– Synthesis => Thesis, whole triad repeats
• History reveals itself through this dialectical pattern
• Dynamic logic: reality is characterized by opposites
Hegel and Romanticism
• Individualism rose as a thesis during the Romantic
Age
• Hegel proposed an antithesis: “objective” powers
(family, civil society, and the state)
• Synthesis: individual is an organic part of the
community—state is more than the individual citizen,
more than the sum of its citizens
• 3 stages of the “world spirit”: “subjective” spirit
(individual), “objective” spirit (interaction), “absolute”
spirit (art, religion, philosophy)
Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900)
• Born in Röcken, Prussia to a devout Lutheran minister who died
when Nietzche was four
• Loved Classical literature and philosophy (especially that of
Plato) as a child
• Attended University of Bonn, but found his Bonn classmates and
teachers too “superficial,” and transferred to Leipzig, where he
met he was profoundly influenced by the philosophy of
Schopenhauer and the music of Richard Wagner
• Became a professor at the University of Basel when he was 24
• Left the university to become a full-time writer
The Philosophical Ideas of Nietzsche
• No things exist in and of themselves
• Rejected entirely the concept of the Platonic ideal
• Existence is a dynamic flux upon which human will acts. This
will is not bound by reason, which Nietzsche denounces as
ancient unreality
• “God is dead” – the philosophical concept of a supreme deity no
longer serves a positive function
• The powerful must impose their will on the weak – the
Übermensch
• No absolute truths, the best way to exist is to lie in a manner
that is fundamentally creative and subjugates others’ wills to
one’s own
Raskolnikov as the Übermensch
• In his dialogue with Porfiry Petrovitch in Part Three, Chapter 5,
Raskolnikov makes it clear that he is a proponent of Nietzsche’s
Übermensch. He claims men like “Kepler and Newton…
Lycurgus, Solon, Mahomet, Napoleon…” were all “extraordinary
people” who “would indeed have been duty bound… to eliminate
the dozen or the hundred men for the sake of making his
discoveries known to the whole of humanity.” Raskolnikov kills
Alyona Ivanovna because he wondered “whether I have the
right” In the end, however, he “felt clearly of course that I
[Raskolnikov] wasn’t Napoleon.” (Part Five, Ch. 4)
• However, Raskolnikov’s dream refutes the ideal of übermensch:
“Each thought that he alone had the truth and was wretched
looking at the others, beat himself on the breast, wept, and
wrung his hands…Men killed each other in a sort of senseless
spite.” (Epilogue, Ch. 2). In essence, when multiple people
believe themselves to be übermensches, chaos ensues.
The Nihilists
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903):
• Born in Derby, England
• His father taught him empirical science at a very young age
• Was introduced to pre-Darwinian concepts of evolution by the Derby
Philosophical Society (that his father was Secretary of)
• Wrote books dealing with psychology initially, and then philosophy
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
• Initially went to University of Edinburgh to become a doctor but he found lectures
and surgery uninteresting
• Studied at University of Cambridge to get a Bachelor of Arts and developed an
interest for natural science
• 5-year trip on the H.M.S. Beagle making geological and natural observations
• Developed the theory of natural selection as shown in On the Origin of Species
Nihilism
The belief that values do not exist
Spencer:
• Agnostic because there is no way for humanity to have certain
knowledge of God
• Ardent proponent of evolution to even society and mental development
• There is a final point in evolution where we see the “perfect man in the
perfect society”
• Evolutionary value would be the maximization of utility
Darwin:
• Believed that natural selection described life and did not need a design
• Did not believe that an omnipotent deity could be responsible for so
much pain and suffering in the world
• “an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind”
• Last words: "I am not the least afraid of death – Remember what a
good wife you have been to me – Tell all my children to remember how
good they have been to me"
Nihilism in Crime and
Punishment
• Raskolnikov (regarding Sonia): “and your worst sin is that you
have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing. Isn’t that
fearful? Isn’t it fearful that you are living in this filth which you
loath so, and at the same time you know yourself (you’ve only to
open your eyes) that you not helping anyone by it, not saving
anyone from anything!” (Part Four, Ch, 4)
• Dostoevsky (regarding Raskolnikov): “And what comfort was it
to him that at the end of eight years he would only be thirty-two
and be able to begin a new life! What had he to live for? What
had he to look forward to? Why should he strive? To live in
order to exist?” (Epilogue, Ch. 2)
• Svidrigaïlov (on helping the little girl [an act of
benevolence/virtue]): “‘What a folly to trouble myself,’ he
decided with an oppressive feeling of annoyance. ‘What idiocy!’”
(Part Six, Ch. 6)
The Existentialists
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855):
• Born in Copenhagen, Denmark
• Studied theology, literature, and philosophy at the University of
Copenhagen
• Originally deeply influenced by Hegel, but came to reject his
philosophies
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
• An orphan, Sartre was raised by his grandfather who had an
extensive library, which Sartre regarded as “a temple”
• Studied philosophy at École Normale Supérieure and in Berlin
• Taught philosophy bur resigned to become a full-time writer
• Was awarded the Nobel Prize but rejected it because he
viewed it as a tool of the military-industrial complex (Sartre was
very left-wing)
Existentialism
Kierkegaard:
• Traditional philosophy and institutional religions hamper human
individuality and prevent an authentic life
• Self-existence through self-actualisation
• Thought is an abstraction and prevents direct engagement with reality
• Since objectivity is impossible, the subjective thinker lives in perpetual
uncertainty – escape by “leap of faith”
Sartre:
• God’s inexistence means there are no objective values and that
existence is without purpose
• Human existence precedes human essence
• No universally true statements regarding how life should be lived
• Consciousness implies being free
• “Man is condemned to be free. Condemned because he has not
created himself–and is nevertheless free. Because having once been
hurled into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”
Existentialism in Crime and
Punishment
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Raskolnikov, while still feeling guilty regarding the murder, has a very
existentialist outlook on life, especially regarding the concept of God.
This is especially prominent when he is notes that it is religiosity that
keeps Sonia from utter depravity or worse. He asks her, “And what
does God do for you?” and concludes that “She is a religious maniac!”
(Part Four, Ch. 4). His lack of reverence and his judgment of Sonia
show that Raskolnikov has a very impious, doubtful view of God. Like
Sartre, he views God as irrelevant.
Kierkegaard’s Leap of Faith: “Raskolnikov at that moment felt and knew
once for all that Sonia was with him for ever and would follow him to the
ends of the earth, wherever fate might take him. It wrung his heart…
but he was reaching the fatal place.” (Part Six, Ch. 8) The “Leap of
Faith” is a jump from the ethical stage to the highest stage of life, where
one surrenders their self to a greater power, in which they have faith.
Raskolnikov gives up his freedom and his pride and trusts in Sonia,
who will follow him “to the ends of the earth.”
John Stewart Mill
(1806-1873)
• Born in London, England
• Educated by his father, a
prominent philosopher, historian,
and economist
• Had read all the works of Plato in
their original Greek by age 8
• Worked for the East India
Company
• Ran for Parliament in 1865 and
won by a landslide
• Achieved sweeping reforms for the
working class
Utilitarianism
• Self-interest is inadequate for moral goodness
• Intellectual and moral pleasures are superior to
physical forms of pleasure
• Happiness is determined by the individual
• Morality of an action is judged by its outcome –
consequentialism
• A person should follow a moral that brings more good
consequences than another
• Morals that provide the greatest good for the greatest
number of people should be followed
• Rights must be protected for the greatest good
Utilitarianism in Crime and
Punishment
• The quintessential manifestation of utilitarianism is the murder of
Alyona Ivanovna. The student discussing the pawnbroker with
the officer eschews the “very same ideas” as Raskolnikov when
he says “On the other side, fresh young lives thrown away for
want of help and by thousands on every side! A hundred
thousand good deeds could be done and helped, on that old
woman’s money which will be buried in a monastery! Hundreds,
thousands perhaps, might be set on the right path; dozens of
families saved from destitution, from ruin, from vice, from the
Lock hospitals – and all with her money.” (Part One, Ch.6). The
moral ambiguity of murdering Alyonya Ivanovna would be
dissipated by the good that could come out of it.
Works Cited
• Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. New
York: Barnes and Noble, 1994.
• Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie's World. New York: Berkely
Books, 1996.
• Kolak, Daniel, and Garrett Thomson. The Longman
Standard History of Philosophy. New York: Pearson
Education, Inc., 2006.
• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter
2008 Edition) URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/>