Rebellion By Fyodor Dostoevsky: A Problem Of Evil

One of the oldest dilemmas in philosophy is also one of the greatest threats to Christian theology. The problem of evil simultaneously perplexes the world’s greatest minds and yet remains palpably close to the hearts of the most common people. If God is good, then why is there evil? The following essay describes the problem of evil in relation to God, examines Christian responses to the problem, and concludes the existence of God and the existence of evil are fully compatible.

Ivan believes that children are innocent and therefore they should not suffer aggression and torture from adults. When aggression, maltreatment, and torture are done to children, there is where Ivan might ask himself questions like, where is God?, why doesn’t he interfer? Ivan said that he wants to be present the day that Jesus come back to earth to judge dead and alive because he is curios and therefore, he would like to know what are all the sacrifice of humans for. Ivan believes that Jesus makes justice but, he can not simply understand why God doesn’t have mercy of defenseless children who are unreasonable torture.

Important point: Evil does not mean God does NOT exist, but only implies that God’s probably has a lesser chance of existing.

A possible solution to the problem of evil is the Augustinian theodicy which is based on Genesis. St Augustine argued that in genesis 1 God is seen as creating a world that is perfectly good and free from defect. He said that this was clearly outlined in G1:31 where it says “God saw what he had made and it was very good.” He believed that evil itself is not a thing or substance therefore God did not create it. Augustine argue that “evil was the going wrong of something good and as a result Augustine termed evil as a “privation of a good” that did not come from God but entities with free will such as angels and humans who were willing to give

When first reading “The Grand Inquisitor” I felt Dostoyevsky was trying to say that, although he was aware of mans need to invent superstitions and mysticism to explain his reality, he did not feel man was capable of dealing with this reality; that man presented with the knowledge of Darwinian natural selection and the true reality of life would suffer too much anxiety and pain and that it was better for man to believe in an almighty power, an afterlife and a power greater than himself. Thus man is able to find peace even if this peace has no truth in reality. The Grand Inquisitor felt he and few other men of the church alone could handle this knowledge and that burning a few innocent folks to

In The Grand Inquisitor, Dostoevsky narrates that the meaning of life as a life full of love. Towards the end of the book, Father Zossima states, “’What is hell?’ I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.” In this story, Alyosha was not as good of a philosopher as Ivan. Furthermore, Alyosha was not as smart as Ivan.

It becomes evident through Zosima’s life that living in this radical way of sobornost is possible, but only comes through an acceptance of an unconditional love and no amount of knowledge, understanding, or intellectuality. Zosima successfully delivers this message to his people, and in turn others also follow. For this extreme living does not exist for only the holy individuals, but for young monks like Alyosha, terrible women like Grushenka, and miserable sinners like Dimitri. While living in acceptance of the guilt one owes everyone appears unfair and irrational, Dostoevsky proves there is a way and that in the end it produces the most beautiful

Life and Death in “The Death of Ivan Ilych” In the final passage of “The Death of Ivan Ilych,” Leo Tolstoy questions the importance of human interaction, empathy, and love in determining life’s meaning and living a good life. In particular Ivan Ilych realizes that his preoccupation with the material world and emotionless behavior towards people around him was not the right way to live and his life had been squandered. He then questions the right way to live, and comes to the conclusion that to live life in the right way to is to be selfless, live in relation to other humans, and demonstrate and experience empathy and love for people around you. Ivan acts on his new outlook on the right way to live life when he decides that must die to prevent

As Tolstoy explicates at the beginning of the novel how Ivan Ilyich’s life is based on an outer appearance and social status means, insincere régime is the first way humans can choose to live by. He further wrote; Ivan have surrounded himself by “the best circles of lawyers, and wealthy gentry in town...” (54). A luxurious lifestyle is all Ivan knew growing up, because his father, too, was one of the high status officials. It is what Ivan view as “the right” way to live life, and it is customary amongst the people Ivan had surrounded himself with. Ivan made this his foremost focus in life, it was his answer to every enigmatic and life obstacles; even choosing who to marry. He always “did what people of the high standard considered correct” (56). It is a propriety; a decorum to follow the standard of conduct, no only that but it protects them [the wealthy] from unpleasant

Since Alyosha is the “hero” of the story, as Dosteovsky states a couple of times throughout the novel, Ivan is one of the best examples of free will in the novel. He is the rationalist in the novel and he sees the world much like we today see it. He uses reason and logic to make his choices as opposed to his father and brother Dmitri who make decisions based on their usually passionate feelings. For example, it is Ivan who first proposes how importance the existence of immorality is to humanity and what would happen if humanity as a whole were to stop believing in it. If that belief in immortality were to be extinguished, “not only love, but also any living power to continue the life of the world would at once dry up. Not only that, but then nothing would immoral any longer” (pg. 69). Ivan logically links man’s belief in his own eventual immortality with God to how man

In “The Death of Ivan Illych,” Tolstoy portrays life similar to a game of bridge, leaving us to question if life is left up to chance or is there a technique to increase our likelihood of success. Implementing card strategy and the social network that comes with it, bridge becomes a significant symbol of how Ivan conducted himself throughout his existence. Paralleling Peter and Ivan's characters, Tolstoy distorts time and reverses the story's sequence with Peter attending the funeral leading up to Ivan's death. The reversal of the story creates a near paradox between Ivan's happiness playing bridge coinciding with the unbearable pain he experiences also while playing bridge. Finally, the an omnipresence of the card dealer creates a metaphysical

Alyosha has a conversation with his brother Dmitri when he visits his brother in jail. Dmitri believes that God exists. He states that men cannot live and God cannot exist without joy, because God’s gift to humanity is joy. He claims that man cannot exist in prison without God, and that it is stupid to believe that man can love humanity without God.

Alyosha Karamazov was an extremely religious young man studying a lot to be a priest at a Russian Orthodox Christian monastery. He was the youngest of the brothers and has a completely opposite opinion to his atheist intellectual and budding writer named Ivan. In Ivan’s story, people follow a silent Christ because that is easier than take their own decision. Each time that Alyosha read the story of his brother, he also remains silent like the Christ, but his brother’s voice echoed in his consciousness. Alyosha was sent out to practice the love by the father Zosima with whom he continued his religion studies. The father Zosima was old and one day he died expectedly, but shocking. After this sad incident, the whole monastery was waiting for a

In this paper, I plan to explain Dostoevsky’s criticism of Western Individualism. Dostoevsky’s first criticism resides in the idea to “love life more than the meaning of it, “which is presented by the character Alyosha (Dostoevsky 3). Allowing this character to discuss this topic, along with the commentary of Ivan, demonstrates their mindset to solely focus on their own lives, opposed to caring for others. This leads to them living for the now, and not focusing on how their decisions will affect their future or others. Dostoevsky disapproves of this notion because living by this mentality encourages the guidance of logic, which is dangerous because it could tell you to kill yourself. From Dostoevsky’s Eastern Orthodox background, he believes that the only way from living from this situation is to deny it. By denying this way of living, the focus toward life will not be directed toward yourself, but toward the way you can impact the environment around you. Ivan clearly does not believe in these values, due to his intentions to commit suicide at the age of thirty. As said before, living by the idea to “love life more than the meaning of it” leads to death, and Ivan indulges in this to the fullest (Dostoevsky 3).

“Nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom.” –The Grand Inquisitor” “Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” - Father Zosima. These two quotes voice the polarized philosophies that impregnate the book, The Brothers Karamazov. Ivan, the second of the three sons, and Zosima, the old monk, are huge commentators on the question, “Is the burden of free will to much for a human to bear?”