Siegel on Felt Reasons, Dostoevsky, and The Brothers Karamazov
David Bakhurst (Queen’s University, Ontario)

In a striking article on the pedagogical significance of The Brothers Karamazov, Harvey Siegel argues that, in its treatment of ‘the problem of evil’, Dostoevsky’s novel presents reasons to us in a way that has a ‘visceral quality’. Theories of rationality and critical thinking must countenance such ‘felt reasons’, which engage and excite us in ways dry philosophical argument does not. Felt reasons thus bring philosophical questions to life and show that reasons matter. My paper explores the merits and shortcomings of Siegel’s position and concludes that we need a still more radical conception of apprehending reasons than Siegel countenances.

David Bakhurst is George Whalley Distinguished University Professor at Queen’s University, Ontario, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His book, Consciousness and Revolution in Soviet Philosophy (Cambridge, 1991), represents the first critical history of Soviet philosophical culture. Since then, in addition to continuing his work on Russian thought, Bakhurst has written on epistemology, metaphysics, Wittgenstein, ethics, and philosophy of education. Recent books include The Formation of Reason (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011) and The Heart of the Matter: Ilyenkov, Vygotsky and the Courage of Thought (Brill, 2023). Bakhurst is Executive Editor of the Journal of Philosophy of Education.

For further inquiries: Yuxin Su (yuxin.su.16@ucl.ac.uk).

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