A Book in the Book: Physiology of Common Life by G. H. Lewes in the Novel Crime and Punishment

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Author: Olga A. Dekhanova

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PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Moscow, Russia.

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Dekhanova, O.A. “A Book in The Book: Physiology of Common Life by G. H. Lewes in the Novel Crime and Punishment.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological Journal, no. 4 (24), 2023, pp. 129–146. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2023-4-129-146

Received: 01 Nov. 2023

Published: 25 Dec. 2023

Issue: 2023 no. 4 (24)

Department: HERMENEUTICS. SLOW READING

Pages: 129-146

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2023-4-129-146

EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/UHZIVJ

UDK: 821.16.1.0+94

BBK: 83+83.3(2=411.2)+63.3

Keywords: Dostoevsky, G.H. Lewes, L. Büchner, science, 1860s.

Abstract: The novel Crime and Punishment, created by Dostoevsky in the era of liberal reforms and scientific discoveries, is an encyclopedia of public life in Russia in the 60s of the 19th century. It was the time of the most furious polemics around the numerous writings and articles of European and, above all, German philosophers and scientists. However, in most cases, scientific discoveries were interpreted very superficially, introducing an exclusively atheistic interpretation of them into the minds of people, creating a confrontation between science and religion. In the novel Crime and Punishment Dostoevsky expresses his position in this dispute, using the book by Henry Lewes Physiology of Common Life as an unspoken interlocutor. The reference to Lewes’ book can be traced throughout the novel. First of all, Dostoevsky projects the symptoms of chronic starvation described by Lewes onto the mental and spiritual state of Raskolnikov. However, speaking about the impact of hunger on human consciousness, Lewes meant the release of primitive instincts. And any crime in this case can be considered as an external or internal influence of the physiological reactions of the organism. Agreeing with Lewes regarding the existence of a connection between the physical and mental state of a person, Dostoevsky categorically argues that the “primitive instinct” can and should not be the need for crime, but the law of morality. Dostoevsky was not worried about scientific progress as such, but about questions of scientific ethics, the widespread, violent and senseless transfer of the laws of organic nature to the field of social and religious-moral relations. Sonya’s religious consciousness, her natural mind, capable of comprehending the scientific realities of the new world, is one of the possibilities for the coexistence of science and religion, this is what Dostoevsky aspired to. These and some other issues are discussed in detail in this article.

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