(2007) Studies in East European Thought 59 (1-2).
"Ridiculous" dream versus social contract
Dostoevskij, Rousseau, and the problem of ideal society
Olga Stuchebrukhov
pp. 101-117
Drawing on the Second Discourse and the Social Contract and Notes from Underground and "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man," this essay examines the striking similarities and fundamental differences between Dostoevskij's and Rousseau's treatment of the problem of individual vs. society and their notions of ideal social relations. The essay investigates Rousseau's attempt to absorb morality into politics and "to concretize" Diderot's universal moral man into citizen. It also suggests that Dostoevskij takes Rousseau's attempt at concretization a step further by exposing humanist conceptions of man and society in general as fiction and creating a model of ideal society that absorbs morality, not into politics (as does Rousseau's model), but into the sanctity of the Word.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/s11212-007-9025-8
Full citation:
Stuchebrukhov, O. (2007). "Ridiculous" dream versus social contract: Dostoevskij, Rousseau, and the problem of ideal society. Studies in East European Thought 59 (1-2), pp. 101-117.
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