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Dostoevsky and Kant: Two Paths to God

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    Krinitsyn, A. B. “Dostoevsky and Kant: Two Paths to God.” Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 7, no. 4, 2025, pp. 184–213. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2025-7-4-184-213
  • Abstract:

    This article compares the philosophical perspectives of I. Kant and F. M. Dostoevsky in their religious aspects. It examines Dostoevsky’s attitude toward Kant’s a priori categories, the two thinkers’ discussions of the possibility of proving the existence of God and immortality, and questions of anthropology, the existence of free will, and the interrelationship of faith and morality. It demonstrates how Dostoevsky’s characters “rebel” against the boundaries of reason and knowledge established by Kant, and strive to transcend a priori categories in their search for God. This is reflected both in the novels’ themes and in their poetics. Dostoevsky’s characters seem to “deny” space and time in order to transcend the limits of human cognition. Kant’s moral law calls for conscious adherence to rules, duty, and the categorical imperative. Dostoevsky understands human freedom as voluntarism, a violation of rational laws. The justification for this for Dostoevsky’s characters is the higher idea they attain. If, for Kant, God and immortality are justified by the presence of moral law in man, for Dostoevsky, it is important to love Christ not only as “good,” but also as a person.
  • Keywords: F. M. Dostoevsky, I. Kant, moral laws, faith, free will, a priori causal categories, Criticism of Pure Reason, The Brothers Karamazov.
  • Author: Alexander B. Krinitsyn
  • Information about the author:

    Alexander B. Krinitsyn, DSc in Philology, Professor, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, GSP-1, 119991 Moscow, Russia.

    ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0262-5058

    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Received: June 10, 2025
  • Approved after reviewing: August 23, 2025
  • Published: December 25, 2025
  • Issue: 2025 Volume 7 No. 4
  • Department: Russian Literature of the 18th–19th Centuries
  • Pages: 184-213
  • DOI: Visit Website
  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/PFGESM
  • UDK: 821.161.1.09"/19"
  • Publication Type: Research Article

References

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