The Deontology of the Heart: A Study of Dostoevsky's and Kant's Unconditional Ethics

Dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University (1999)
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Abstract

My dissertation explores the phenomenon of an unconditional ethical commitment, irreducible to any pragmatic, hedonistic or consequentialist considerations. To contextualize my search I reconstruct two celebrated attempts from the history of human thought: Immanuel Kant's duty theory, commonly referred to as "deontology" , and Feodor Dostoevsky's ethical perspective, which I propose to call "the deontology of the heart." I stress that these two seemingly polar thinkers are involved in a similar ethical project that presents a powerful alternative to utilitarianism, social and political determinism and paternalism. ;The dissertation consists of three essays: "Dostoevsky and Kant: The Two Deontologies," "Freedom and Evil," and "Community." The first essay traces the notion of the heart in Russian religious, literary, and intellectual tradition, examines Dostoevsky's philosophy of the heart, and compares and contrasts the commandment of practical reason with the commandment of the heart. The second essay, "Freedom and Evil" discusses various philosophical aspects of freedom, will, arbitrariness, and radical evil in Dostoevsky's and Kant's ethics. Finally, the last essay addresses the two different approaches to ethical community: Kant's "kingdom of ends" and Dostoevsky's "community of living hearts." ;In bringing together Kant's philosophy and Dostoevsky's novels I aim at accomplishing the following interrelated tasks: to engage in and expand Kant's extraordinary deontological experiment; introduce the deontology of the heart as a complementary ethical perspective to Kantian rational deontology; explore the origin of the unconditional ethical choice through the interplay between the heart and reason; bring the heart into focus and show its philosophical and ethical significance; and offer a unified ethical vision that joins the unconditional "ought" with the real living experience of the doubt and agony of human existence

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Evgenia Cherkasova
Suffolk University

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