Exploring Determinism and Freedom in 'Notes from Underground'

We’re sick men. We’re spiteful men. We’re unpleasant men. We think our livers are diseased (especially Tamler’s). So we talk about Dostoevsky’s wild, complex, stream of consciousness masterpiece Notes From Underground. For this episode we focus on part 1 of the novella, and the philosophy behind it. Is the underground man an existentialist hero affirming his freedom in the face of a deterministic hyper-rationalist worldview? Or is he a lonely man consumed with guilt and self-loathing, constructing a pretentious post-hoc rationalization of his character and behavior? Plus, the American Psychological Association just issued guidelines for how to treat men who embrace traditional masculine ideologies. Is the backlash justified?

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Links:

• 'Traditional Masculinity' Can Be Harmful, Psychologists Find - The Atlantic
• APA ‘Masculinity’ Guidelines Face a Title IX Challenge at Harvard University, for Discriminating Against Men in Psychology
• Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (trans. by Constance Garnett) [amazon.com affiliate link]
• Notes from Underground - Wikipedia