Socio-Philosophical Understanding of the Theme of Justice in Plato’s Dialogue The Republic and in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

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Author: Aleksandr B. Krinitsyn
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DSc in Philology, Associated Professor, Department of the History of Russian Literature, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 1/51, 119991 Moscow, Russia.

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

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Krinitsyn, A.B. “Socio-Philosophical Understanding of the Theme of Justice in Plato’s Dialogue The Republic and in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 3 (27), 2024, pp. 139–158. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2024-3-139-158
Received: 08 May 2024
Published: 25 Sept. 2024
Issue: 2024 no. 3 (27)
Department: POETICS. CONTEXT
Pages: 139-158
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2024-3-139-158
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/LROABO
UDK: 821.161.1.0+1
BBK: 83.3(2=411.2)+87
Keywords: Plato, The Republic (dialogue), idea, politeness, hero-ideologue, criticism of socialism, God-bearing people, Crime and Punishment (novel).
Abstract: The article examines the influence of Plato’s Republic on Dostoevsky’s late novels. The role of the dialogue in the ideological discourse of Europe and Russia in the mid-nineteenth century is noted, and references to the work in Dostoevsky’s f ive major novels and draft notes are traced, indicating the writer’s acquaintance with it. The main part of the article draws parallels between the socio-philosophical presentation of the concept of justice in the dialogue The Republic and Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. Thus, at the beginning of the dialogue, Socrates’ opponent Frasimachus puts forward the thesis of the harm and uselessness of justice for ordinary citizens, and in the process of substantiating it almost completely anticipates the main provisions of Raskolnikov’s theory. Socrates, in turn, refutes Frasimachus with arguments like those addressed to Raskolnikov. The common vector of Dostoevsky’s and Plato’s interpretation of the theme of justice is revealed. However, there is also an important difference: for Dostoevsky, there is a higher, divine standard of justice by which social justice is also understood. Dostoevsky’s characters seem to be constantly arguing with God, who admits actual injustice and can draw different conclusions from this situation, including fighting with God. For Plato, justice is the harmony of good human will that everyone should strive for in the real world, building a good society with their own hands: it is perfectly intellectually comprehensible and reasonable.

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