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EDUCATION AND THE LIMITS OF REASON: READING DOSTOEVSKY
Author(s) -
Roberts Peter
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
educational theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1741-5446
pISSN - 0013-2004
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-5446.2012.00443.x
Subject(s) - ethical egoism , fyodor , reading (process) , feeling , harmony (color) , epistemology , philosophy of education , character education , sociology , character (mathematics) , value (mathematics) , philosophy , environmental ethics , literature , law , linguistics , higher education , political science , art , geometry , mathematics , machine learning , computer science , visual arts
Philosophers of education have had a longstanding interest in the nature and value of reason. Literature can provide an important source of insight in addressing questions in this area. One writer who is especially helpful in this regard is Fyodor Dostoevsky. In this essay Peter Roberts provides an educational reading of Dostoevsky's highly influential shorter novel, Notes from Underground . This novel was Dostoevsky's critical response to the emerging philosophy of rational egoism. In this close reading of Notes from Underground , Roberts compares rational egoism with neoliberalism, analyzes the experiences of the central character (the Underground Man), and considers the need for harmony in our educational development as reasoning, feeling, and willing beings.