The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast Episode 164: Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot" on Perfection (Part One)
8 snips
May 15, 2017 AI Snips
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Episode notes
Perfect Beauty As A Social Test
- Dostoevsky aimed to create a realistically 'perfectly beautiful' human combining Jesus and Don Quixote.
- Prince Myshkin's naive, truthful love exposes modern society's inability to handle moral perfection.
Modern Movie Analogies
- Corey compares The Idiot to the movie Being There and Blast From The Past as helpful modern analogies.
- He warns not to press the analogy too far because Myshkin differs in realism and context.
Truth Disrupts Social Games
- Myshkin always tells the truth and only the truth, which unsettles others who rely on social games.
- His honesty disarms and ruins the social performance rituals of St. Petersburg society.