|
The Parable of the Grand Inquisitor Review: Turgenev’s
Point: The intelligentsia must embrace a
liberal path to social reform based on Western models. That means the
government must grant freedom to the serfs and establish an economy which
provides incentives for individual initiative. Reform should be led by the
educated elite whose practical business skill is matched and moderated by humanitarian
ideals and patriotic love of country. Turgenev urges his readers to commit to
this reform movement yet pursue it with patience because real change takes
time- it relies upon the free decisions of those in power to make the just
choice. Further, we must moderate any utopian expectations by acknowledging
that no change will bring us a fairy tale ending. The best we can hope for is
the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Chernyshevky (and Bazarov’s) Response:
Social justice can never be achieved if we rely upon the ideals of those in
power. Liberals will use any rationale to expand their wealth and power.
Sharecropping (ie a market economy) is only slavery
in a more advanced form-- humans are still regarded as property and workers
are robbed of the fruits of their labor. We buy and sell each other in a
blind competitive frenzy whose rapaciousness will eventually be revealed. Let
the liberals pursue their selfish ends. Let them justify their greed. When
enough people recognize that society is built on the blind pursuit of
self-interest, when wealth has been concentrated in a tiny number of hands,
when the oppression of the poor reaches new extremes, a new consciousness
will dawn. People will recognize that their true self-interest resides in
their class’ recognition of the might of their collective will. When that
great day comes, the workers will unite and overthrow their liberal masters-
and a new society will be born- not one based on false ideals but on equality
and reason. The Crystal
Palace. Dostoevsky dives into the debate
and clobbers both the liberal westernizers and their radical antagonists. In the excerpt we read for today,
he explores the problem of freedom in ways which Turgenev evades and
pooh-poohs. “We must be patient…. We must not have unrealistic expectations….
We must rely on ideals and patriotism and so urge those in power to make the
right choice- to lead more compassionately and responsibly.” Dostoevsky furiously interrupts,
“Freedom! The problem of freedom is the problem of evil. Social Justice?
There can be no social justice in a free society. However, the alternative
may be even worse! Any society which seeks equality must radically limit our
freedom, and without the opportunity to make moral choices, we cease to be
human beings. So, who’s to blame? How have we developed such irreconcilable
contradictions? Or were we created to begin with?” and he directs his fury,
like Job, against God himself. He takes on the ultimate liberal, Christ. He attacks:
Close Reading: Part II. Chapter 4: Rebellion
The problem of freedom is the
problem of human evil. How can it be reconciled with theology, and by
extension, with the best possible political philosophy? The Situation: Ivan Karamazov
confesses to his brother Alyosha that he may just
opt out of an existence which tolerates the suffering of innocents. He says,
“I must have justice, or I will destroy myself. And not justice in some
remote infinite time and space, but here on earth.” Ivan believes that his hope for
the future depends on embracing violence as a tool of social change, and he
tests his resolve as he edges closer to arranging the murder of his father:
an aging and corrupt landowner who has committed outrage after outrage in his
life to satisfy his taste for emotional cruelty. In his most notorious
misdeed he raped Lizaveta, a simple retarded woman
whom the town had adopted. Lizaveta died giving
birth to Smerdyakov, Ivan and Alyosha’s
half brother. Now grown up, Smerdyakov
wants to pin the murder on the third Karamazov brother, the impulsive Dimitri, who certainly has the motive to kill his father.
The old man is courting Dimitri’s lover, Grushenka…. [Engrossing, Highly readable, will
change your life category] “Ivan
argues that the call to violence as a means to the goal of social justice is
the answer of reason to the Christian ethic of forgiveness, which seems, on
the observable evidence of history and human behavior, to be singularly
ineffective as a means of persuading men not to oppress their neighbors.
Though Dostoevsky had, as his letters reveal, chosen Christ in spite of
reason, he concedes that the arguments of reason can be rejected, but never
finally refuted. Ivan and his alter ego, the Grand Inquisitor, are not devils
but devil's advocates, challenging the mystery of the Christian ethic in the
name of the people whose suffering it does nothing to relieve.” (Kelly) In this episode of the action, Ivan
takes on the theological concept of Theodicy: (The Justice of God) ·
The Problem of Evil (theological) How can God tolerate it? ·
The Problem of Freedom (political)
When deliberate evil becomes the ‘most advantageous advantage’, radical
restrictions on freedom become necessary) Ivan creates a test case which
calls into question not only the existence of an omnipotent and benign God,
but the wisdom of founding any political state on the principle of freedom. Dostoevsky’s rhetorical style can
be called eschatological. [Eschatology: (f. Gr. Ivan says, “Imagine that you are creating a
fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end,
giving them peace and rest at last, but that it was essential and inevitable
to torture to death only one tiny creature -- that baby beating its breast
with its fist, for instance -- and to found that edifice on its unavenged tears, would you consent to be the architect on
those conditions?” (7) To hammer home his argument, Ivan
rubs his reader’s face in a series of horrific situations (drawn from
contemporary news stories) with Grand Guignol
delight. (Poe was a strong influence on Dostoevsky.)
What has been proven? Even that child’s mother may have
the right to forgive her boy’s murderer for her own suffering, but we cannot
forgive because the child’s suffering has gone unexpiated.
It cannot be expiated. Purpose? ·
Has Ivan simply gotten Alyosha to admit that some crimes deserve capital
punishment? ·
Or has he just proven that humans
cannot be the creation of a just God? Has Ivan justified turning in his
ticket to life by revealing how unbearable indifference to human cruelty is
to a thinking person. ·
Or, you might use the same
evidence to say, “How can you argue that absolute Good
and Evil do not exist?” Hasn’t Dostoevsky just revealed to his gentle
reader that the moral world does exist, but not in the brain; the soul
resides in more basic functions of the human body: in our nervous system, in
our guts. (See Macbeth)
How does Ivan introduce his story?
What is its context? At the outset of his story, Ivan
takes pains to place it in a tradition which extends back to the Mystery
Plays of medieval times.
The Inquisitor’s Rebuke of Christ: ·
By giving people freedom, Christ
destroyed any possibility for social justice. ·
You have no right to say a word!
You have no right to add to your ministry of old! ·
“Thou hast no right to add
anything to what Thou hadst said of old. Why, then,
art Thou come to hinder us?” (12) What was Christ’s mistake
according to The Inquisitor? ·
His unwillingness to coerce faith.
People must come to him of his or her own free will. ·
What has been the consequence of
freedom? The Hobbesian world of all vs. all. ·
“But now Thou hast seen these
"free" men,' the old man adds suddenly, with a pensive smile. 'Yes, we've paid dearly for it,' he goes on, looking
sternly at Him, 'but at last we have completed that work in Thy name….For now
for the first time it has become possible to think of the happiness of men.”
(12) How? He is speaking of the
Inquisition, of course. What sort of government has the Catholic Church
exercised? Is Dostoevsky in prophet mode here: is he accurately describing
the type of government that would emerge in Russia during the 20th
century? The Inquisitor reminds Christ that
he had been warned about the dangers of freedom and had not heeded those
warnings. “Thou hast had no lack of admonitions and warnings, but Thou didst
not listen to those warnings.” (12) By whom? ·
“Nothing but the advice of the
great dread spirit could build up any tolerable sort of life for the feeble,
unruly, 'incomplete, empirical creatures created in jest.'” You remember the story from the
Bible- Christ before he began his ministry went into the desert where he
encountered the Devil who gave him three temptations. ·
“'The wise and dread spirit, the
spirit of self-destruction and non-existence” (12) The Three Temptations of the Devil Why not alter the creation so that
there is enough bread for all? ·
For the nihilists (and other
determinists) will argue that crime is the direct result of poverty and
hunger. What possible advantage can there be to a creation which tolerates
the misery and moral degradation which results from hunger? ·
“Dost Thou know that the ages will
pass, and humanity will proclaim by the lips of their sages that there is no
crime, and therefore no sin; there is only hunger? "Feed
men, and then ask of them virtue!"” (13) ·
As for freedom, humans have only
made a botch of it. The Inquisitor argues that the people could never feed
themselves, “Freedom and bread enough for all are inconceivable together, for
never, never will they be able to share between them!” (14) ·
Even the prospect of freedom
intimidates most people. “Without a stable conception of the object of life,
man would not consent to go on living, and would rather destroy himself than
remain on earth, though he had bread in abundance.” (15) ·
People need to be told a reason
for living. Instead of taking possession of men's freedom, Thou didst increase
it, and burdened the spiritual kingdom of mankind with its sufferings forever. ·
But seest
Thou these stones in this parched and barren wilderness? Turn them into
bread, and mankind will run after Thee like a flock of sheep, grateful and
obedient, though for ever trembling, lest Thou
withdraw Thy hand and deny them Thy bread." (13) The Inquisitor already knows
Christ’s answer: “what is that freedom worth if obedience is bought with
bread?” Man does not live by bread alone. Christ offers heavenly bread, not
earthly bread. ·
Thou didst desire man's free love, that he should follow Thee freely, enticed and taken
captive by Thee. In place of the rigid ancient law, man must hereafter with
free heart decide for himself what is good and what
is evil, having only Thy image before him as his guide.” (15) ·
Yet only a few of the many
millions are capable of receiving your gift of freedom; the vast majority are too weak. What of them? Should we condemn
them for their weakness? ·
“Thou art proud of Thine elect, but Thou hast only the elect, while we give
rest to all.” “With us all will be happy and will no more rebel nor destroy
one another as under Thy freedom.” (14) So what sort of government has the
church created to address Christ’s error? ·
Freedom is not worth the price, so
the church, out of compassion for the limitations of people, has built a new
temple, a tower, to which the people will come and be fed their daily bread
and a purpose for living. So the church, recognizing your error, has done
what you should have dome in the first place, provided people with a purpose
to life which they are capable of achieving: obeying: miracle, mystery and
authority. The Second Temptation: Miracle and
Mystery ·
Demonstrate your divinity to all
by casting yourself from a tower. God will not allow you to perish. "If
Thou wouldst know whether Thou art the Son of God then cast Thyself down, for it is written: the angels shall hold him
up lest he fall and bruise himself, and Thou shalt know then whether Thou art
the Son of God and shalt prove then how great is Thy faith in Thy
Father." (15) ·
Tempting God demonstrates your own
loss of faith. And faith cannot be coerced because then the people become
slaves, not free agents. Instead, people must rely on their own resources in
the depths of their doubt and despair. ·
“Thou wouldst not enslave man by a
miracle, and didst crave faith given freely, not based on miracle. Thou didst
crave for free love and not the base raptures of the slave before the might
that has overawed him forever.” ·
But people do not want faith, they
want reassurance. ·
“But Thou didst not know that when
man rejects miracle he rejects God too; for man seeks not so much God as the
miraculous. And as man cannot bear to be without the miraculous, he will
create new miracles of his own for himself, and will worship deeds of sorcery
and witchcraft.” (16) The Third Temptation: Authority ·
The Devil takes Christ to the
mountaintop and shows him the lands he might conquer if he chose a political
course for his ministry. ·
“Hadst
Thou taken the world and Caesar's purple, Thou wouldst have founded the
universal state and have given universal peace. For who can rule men if not
he who holds their conscience and their bread in his hands? We have taken the
sword of Caesar, and in taking it, of course, have
rejected Thee and followed him.” (16) ·
What you would not do, out of
inordinate respect for mankind, the church has done: “Too, too well will they
know the value of complete submission! And until men know that, they will be
unhappy.” “We shall show them that they are weak, that they are only pitiful
children, but that childlike happiness is the sweetest of all.” (17) The Future State:
(17) ·
We shall provide the people with
childlike happiness. We will forgive them of sin, even when you will not—and
so their lives shall be happy even if their souls are damne ·
We shall allow them to sin like
children and they will be grateful when we tell them that every sin will be
expiated if it is committed with our permission. ·
And they will have no secrets from
us. “The most painful secrets of their conscience, all, all they will
bring to us, and we shall have an answer for all.” ·
We will take their sins upon
ourselves and face God alone (as I am doing now) “And we who have taken their
sins upon us for their happiness will stand up before Thee and say:
"Judge us if Thou canst and darest." Know
that I fear Thee not.” (18) Christ’s Response? ·
“When the Inquisitor ceased
speaking he waited some time for his Prisoner to answer him. His silence
weighed down upon him. He saw that the Prisoner had listened intently all the
time, looking gently in his face and evidently not wishing to reply. The old
man longed for him to say something, however bitter and terrible. But He
suddenly approached the old man in silence and softly kissed him on his
bloodless aged lips. That was all his answer. The old man shuddered. His lips
moved. He went to the door, opened it, and said to Him: 'Go, and come no
more... come not at all, never, never!'” (20) ·
"The kiss glows in his heart,
but the old man adheres to his idea." (20) Dostoevsky’s point? Kant’s
Categorical Imperative: He accepts Hume’s challenge to cause and
effect: we can only gauge the probability of events using science. Because of
the puniness of our order of reason, we cannot comprehend the world as it is.
And that is good because if the nihilist dream were true and we could depend
upon science to predict the consequences of our actions with certitude, we
would not then be free to choose. Even in that situation, the Underground Man
would wreck the sublime and beautiful just to be able to say that he is a
free agent But is even that reaction free? To
test our moral choices, Kant recommends that we imagine ourselves as God
despite the radical finitude of our capacity for understanding the
consequences of our actions.
“Act as though the principle of your action were to become by your will a
universal law of nature.” Invent
a universe in which you have the power to define natural law. Test out a
moral, sociological or theological position by pushing it to its logical
extreme and see if it still holds. Would your world be the best of all
possible worlds? Would such a policy be just? For
instance, a man is reduced to complete despair but still possesses his
reason. Should he decide to commit suicide? Kant suggests that we make the consequence
of this choice into a natural law like gravity. Should we shorten life when a
longer life span threatens more evil than satisfaction? That is unimaginable.
The world would quickly self-destruct. A world in which people never
help each other could function, but would it be the best of all possible
worlds a creative God could invent. (Nieman) |
