“All for All”: The Nature and Relationship of Freedom and Responsibility in Dostoevsky

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

In Winter Notes on Summer Impressions, Dostoevsky writes: “a voluntary, absolutely conscious and completely unforced sacrifice of oneself for the sake of all is, I consider, a sign of the highest development of individual personality, its highest power, highest self-possession and highest freedom of individual will.” Herein he sets forth the foundation for one of the most crucial ideas in his works—the nature and relationship of freedom and responsibility. This roundtable will investigate and discuss the philosophical and religious foundations of these two principles through various lenses in order to shed light on their influence on Dostoevsky’s ideology and poetic structure. In light of the Conference’s theme of “Liberation”, the roundtable hopes to engender discussion on the inherent problems of human freedom and the dangers of the abuse of the concept of responsibility as Dostoevsky presented them, and how open discourse on them can aid in combating the exploitation of them.

Sub Unit

• Literature: 19th Century

Chair

• Peter G Winsky, U of Southern California

Roundtable Members

• Paul Joseph Contino, Pepperdine U

• Octavian Gabor, Methodist College

• Amy Singleton Adams, College of the Holy Cross

• Peter G Winsky, U of Southern California