Irrational Underground Man
4 pages
published 10/05/2007
 
 
section Table of Contents
 
 
  1. Introduction
  2. The numerous ways of interpreting Notes from Underground
  3. The Oxford English Dictionary's definition of arbitrary
  4. The Underground Man choosing against his best interest
  5. The Underground Man's allusion to Napoleon
  6. Determinism and free will
  7. Conclusion
  8. Bibliography
 
 
section Summary
 
 
"I am a sick man" are the opening words to Fyodor Dostoevsky's novella Notes from Underground. For the narrator, the Underground Man is both figuratively and literally sick - his liver hurts but he will not receive treatment from doctors. Indeed, only a 'sick man' would choose to let his liver rot. Yet there is a strange philosophy embedded within the Underground Man's words: through irrationality, spitefulness and arbitrariness he will pronounce his existence. His purpose for existence is his freewill.
 
 
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