Abstract

This dissertation is an exegesis of Dostoevsky's concept of a nation. For Dostoevsky a nation is founded upon a moral idea that is directly connected with the immortality of man's soul. Each nation has a respective personality that is formed by upholding the moral ideal. Ultimately, this dissertation supports Dostoevsky's concept of a nation as a means by which the members of a nation unite among themselves as well as other nations. ;Chapter one presents Dostoevsky's anthropology of man as he accepts or rejects the immortality of his soul. Given man is in a position of choice, Dostoevsky's conception of freedom is discussed as well as the denial of freedom that ultimately isolates men. Chapter two is an overview of the intellectual climate Dostoevsky was protesting, and, more specifically, the idea for the unity of man purported by thinkers who had denied their spiritual moorings. Chapter three consists of Dostoevsky's idea of man's unity expressed in three relationships: one's family, one's people, and one's nation that are mediated by Christ. At the least of these relationships lies a character one must freely forge: the idea being that a man is not something one is by nature of biological or socio-political conditions, but is achieved by moral development. I conclude by formulating a criterion for Dostoevsky's concept of a nation and apply it to America, agreeing that it does indeed bring out the nobler aspects of man