A sense of self: Locke, Kierkegaard and the Dostoevskean subject

Abstract

This thesis aims to uncover the Dostoevskean subject as presented in The Brothers Karamazov. By bringing two philosophical approaches together, the question of selfhood and personal identity in the novel in question will be dealt with. Firstly, John Locke’s ideas about the self, as he stated them in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, will be analyzed. Central to his philosophy is the question to what extent experience constitutes an idea of self. The second approach is the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard. The existentialist notions that he brings forth are clearly visible in The Brothers Karamazov. The importance that is ascribed to experience in the forming of an identity is what unites Locke and Kierkegaard. Their philosophy shows that the characters in The Brothers Karamazov are not determined by their heritage: although they live in a world of decay and disorder, the possibility of moral and spiritual recovery is omnipresent.