Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes From Underground | Intellectuals Inertia and Negativity | Core Concepts

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 พ.ย. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 117

  • @adalke7520
    @adalke7520 5 ปีที่แล้ว +50

    Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment is the best novel I have ever read. Truly changed my life. Dostoyevsky has a powerful message and should be mandatory in universities everywhere. Great video, keep it up!

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      I'm more partial to The Demons/The Possessed myself.
      Glad you enjoyed the video

    • @Ludwig.-.Wittgenstein
      @Ludwig.-.Wittgenstein 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      As a man of uncertainty and intellect, I wrote and deleted this comment over and over time again : ) , anyway, what I want to say is that I am too one of those whose lives are truly changed by crime and punishment.

    • @zacharypayne4080
      @zacharypayne4080 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      How did it change your life?

    • @goofyahhh254
      @goofyahhh254 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@zacharypayne4080 if he were to attempt to lay it out, he would not do it justice as he would have to make conscious all the things, and even then fall short. Though perhaps not knowing this, he would assume the simpler explanation is the whole picture and therefore become underwhelmed. The explanation/simplification will take away from the work. I don't think it can be done justice in the TH-cam comments-

    • @ABB14-11
      @ABB14-11 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@goofyahhh254 can you give a few examples just to give the rest of us an idea. Don’t worry about falling short or giving an incomplete answer, I think I can speak for most in saying we only expect a short, simple, even incompetent idea. Nobody goes to TH-cam comment sections expecting some overwhelming perfect epiphany.

  • @kollere1
    @kollere1 5 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    Ecclesiastes 1:18
    For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

  • @jackdomanski6758
    @jackdomanski6758 5 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    Dostoevsky is the best. Thanks for the brief lesson.

  • @jamesbryant8133
    @jamesbryant8133 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    It's soul shaking to find yourself described accurately in one of the great works.....
    You can't even claim uniqueness....
    I'm type cast as the underground man and I can't get out.....

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      Maybe don't assume that where you are in the present is the only possibility, and find another work to model yourself atfer

  • @DiegishT
    @DiegishT 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    One of my favorite TH-cam channels talking about my favourite author, what a treat! Thanks Dr.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      You're welcome!

    • @DiegishT
      @DiegishT 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@GregoryBSadler Out of curiosity, have you read his short story "The dream of a Ridiculous Man"? I think it touches a lot of themes that he discusses in Notes from the Underground.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@DiegishT I have indeed. Went through a "read the Russians" phase back in undergrad

  • @PJ-ns6um
    @PJ-ns6um 4 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    "I repeat with emphasis, all direct persons and men of action are active precisely because they are stupid and limited." -Notes from the Underground

  • @jancoil4886
    @jancoil4886 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Well done. He wrote this work not long back from penal servitude and one wonders how much of the
    "mouse" applies to Dostoevsky and how much he saw in others. The man had resilience. He does not seem to be much like the "underground man" in the book. Dostoevsky survived prison, exile, poverty and the early death of spouse, child and sibling. He had epilepsy, a gambling addiction and
    a love/hate relationship with the city of St. Petersburg. He also had a Hall of Fame work ethic to write so many fabulous books and to do so under conditions that had little in the way of domestic tranquility.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Hahaha! Well, he did work hard, but he also got his family into those debts that required him to work hard, so I think some of the blame for the chaos of his household rests on his shoulders

  • @Technolgy2
    @Technolgy2 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I think this new series of shorter videos could be very successful, since the longer series take more effort to get into and stick with. Satisfying analysis of this amazing little book.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      You do realize I've got over 500 of these at this point. . .

  • @albertakesson3164
    @albertakesson3164 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Now this is really good! Feels like I've actually learnt something about my self from this lecture. I think. That's the problem with doubt.

  • @avasilachi
    @avasilachi 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Great analysis, this is one of my favorite works of literature. Glad I found your channel, thank you for your work :)
    Currently reading Crime & Punishment, will come back and watch your analysis of that later if you have it on your channel.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      The next Dostoevsky work I'd tackle would be a better one than C&P, The Possessed/The Demons - really his best work, I think

  • @lindontilson471
    @lindontilson471 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thankyou, this filled in a few gaps for me. Dostoevsky is my introduction to philosophy

  • @Philopantheon82
    @Philopantheon82 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great commentary Dr Sadler, I would gladly say i have read the "notes from underground" exactly 11 years ago, and I must say it was quite revolutionary in term of changing something in me paradigmatically, and your late comments on this short novel just proves it more. Thanks sir

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว

      You can see the connections between this work, Kierkegaard's own discussions of leveling and the crowd, and Nietzsche's discussions of ressentiment

  • @Second247
    @Second247 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I wonder how demanding the creation of this character has been for Dostoevksy, time after time i read and listen to this book i'm amazed how void this character is, yet filled with so many things. When i try to conceptualize such a person it seems to be filled with so many contradictions that i couldn't do it (not that i'm very good at creative arts).

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      We all have contradictions to one degree or another - the question is whether we can make sense of them or not

  • @448ajay4
    @448ajay4 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Respect and love from India🇮🇳 💕❤

  • @udasu
    @udasu 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great lecture. I remember the passage about someone vacillating about his life's pain, but not actually experiencing true pain. He was probably talking about the nobles/intellectuals..

  • @curberybible3823
    @curberybible3823 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you!
    Of the person of whom all things are possible, nothing is probable.

  • @therightman954
    @therightman954 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thanks for this, took me a long time to understand this book and you helped

  • @alexanderk.5474
    @alexanderk.5474 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Sometimes accepting that just good enough is enough, but not really enough, or good.

  • @gamer-sama7769
    @gamer-sama7769 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The intellectual paralysis somewhat similar in concept to Kierkegaard's dizziness of freedom or as Nietzsche's staring void.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I'm glad you said "similar" rather than equating them. I think you're right

  • @bluesmanshoes
    @bluesmanshoes ปีที่แล้ว

    After finishing the book, I looked up some interpretation and most paint the underground man as a horrible character who is all wrong about the world. So happy I found this one. Much closer to how I percieved it. There is a lot more sutlety in the dualism of intellectual vs. person of action than most interpretations give credit for.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  ปีที่แล้ว

      Well, now you know you can basically disregard the sources that have such black and white interpretations

  • @elysianclouds4751
    @elysianclouds4751 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    great video! would you say there’s a similarity in the underground man’s feelings of inertia to esther greenwood’s fig tree analogy in sylvia plath’s the bell jar? since she’s basically showing fear of making decisions, fear of missed opportunities, struggle to find self-realization, it reminded me of the paralyzation given to intellectuals. this could however just be me grasping at straws with the little bit of exposure i have to literature lol but yeah the bell jar is one of my favorite books so i couldn’t help but think of chapter 7 there

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Haven’t read Bell Jar since high school

  • @rythmicwarrior
    @rythmicwarrior 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Wow...this lecture really clarifies some things for me. Thank you Dr. Sadler! Your lectures are a breath of fresh air.

  • @anorderedhole2197
    @anorderedhole2197 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Sloterdijk had some interesting comparisons to the intellectual defined by Dostoevsky. Basically an angel who does not have a message. Also the turning of the Siren tempting us to disaster into just a general feeling the world is terrible and about to end. All abandoning the notion of being in the presence of something grand or meaningful.

  • @garrettlemieux4620
    @garrettlemieux4620 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Yessssssssssss
    Thank you Greg! You're the best!

  • @klesox7964
    @klesox7964 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    I seriously love your videos so much thank you for posting them !!!!

  • @lisahogholt9713
    @lisahogholt9713 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    I saw this right after the other video on the same work, focusing on pleasure. It's very interesting to me how these themes were explored, albeit from a different perspective, by Hesse in his work "Narziß und Goldmund".
    There are certainly more differences than analogies in the way the two authors perceive these concepts. I was wondering though, how much of it is due to the times in which they wrote (65 years apart), and how much of it is due to different life experiences?

  • @hildaasabeatenkorang1889
    @hildaasabeatenkorang1889 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks for the lesson Dr. but can you please elaborate more on the significance of the title to the entire novel….Thanks

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      It's discussed in the text itself, so you'll want to reread it

  • @1872959
    @1872959 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Hopefully more videos on literary fiction that is philosophical in the future. Great vid professor!

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      You mean like this entire series? th-cam.com/play/PL4gvlOxpKKIiuo3yYSBeOsrT-iSHvDRUb.html

    • @1872959
      @1872959 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@GregoryBSadler I'm sure there's great appreciation for those. I can't really say that most of those writers but a few are in the same category as Dostoevsky, but nonetheless I hope to see more of the classics delved into in the future. Thank you for the recommendation though.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@1872959 Well, at least from my perspective, I'd say that Tolkien, Dick, LeGuin, Lovecraft - they're all equals to Dostoevsky

  • @phille4880
    @phille4880 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    So does Camus borrow this idea in his book "The Rebel"? Isn't the rebel described by Camus just the intellectual described by Dostoevsky?

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      When you read The Rebel, you'll see that there is no one single type of "the rebel" - there's a number of different types

  • @foreverseethe
    @foreverseethe 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wow i started reading this in a different language (that i happen to speak) and found it to be rambling bunk. Apparently, It went over my head I guess.

  • @rogerevans9666
    @rogerevans9666 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Othello in Hamlet's situation would not have made the same mistakes Hamlet made, and Hamlet in Othello's situation would not have made the mistakes Othello made. To reply or not to reply, that is the question.

  • @stino9635
    @stino9635 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    What are your thoughts on the brothers karamazov?

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      You mean on an entire novel?
      You might use the search function in TH-cam

  • @alexandrarugea4773
    @alexandrarugea4773 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Hello! I have just found your channel and I am so happy for that! I am a student at the faculty of letters, but I want to initiate myself into philosophy. Which books would you recommend for beginners? :)

    • @jimmykosman
      @jimmykosman 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      If you're interested in Dostoevsky I would recommend starting with a more structured work like crime & punishment. It's fantastic, one if the best books I've read.

    • @alexandrarugea4773
      @alexandrarugea4773 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@jimmykosman, I read most of the works of Dostoevsky. I am referring particular to the domain of philosophy :D

    • @jimmykosman
      @jimmykosman 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@alexandrarugea4773 Oh alright, I'm still making my way though them. I'm reading some of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism at the moment. It's quite drastic and extreme in some ways and a lot of people condone it for that, but I think there are quite a few interesting and important concepts in her theories. But I'm still only 18 years old and I've heard that it's very attractive for people my age, so I don't know if my judgement is really all that realistic, I still have a lot to learn myself ofcourse

    • @alexandrarugea4773
      @alexandrarugea4773 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Thank you for the title and keep up with the good work! I really appreciate that at your age, you display such interest in art and knowledge! Best regards!

    • @jimmykosman
      @jimmykosman 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@alexandrarugea4773 Thanks, I will. Maybe you have some recommendations for some great literary works?

  • @blondthought5175
    @blondthought5175 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    "Sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." Something like that. It has certainly made me sick. (Oh, the nausea.) Perhaps I don't think well enough. Maybe that's the problem. I'm not sure. Nor am I sure that it matters.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Give it a bit more thought, and see if it sorts itself out

  • @KushKussh
    @KushKussh 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    This was great 100%, thankyou

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว

      You're welcome - glad you enjoyed it

  • @OscarMedina-xi8fd
    @OscarMedina-xi8fd 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Good stuff. Thanks

  • @christianpatten4758
    @christianpatten4758 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Which English translation are you reading from in the video? I have the Michael Katz translation and I can tell it's quite different than yours.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      MacAndrew. Should be "different" in terms of word choice and phrasing, not in terms of ideas

    • @christianpatten4758
      @christianpatten4758 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@GregoryBSadler thank you

  • @burtmantooth8913
    @burtmantooth8913 ปีที่แล้ว

    There seems to be some similarities between notes from the underground and Bukowski’s “Barfly”

  • @Lucifermorningstar21
    @Lucifermorningstar21 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you

  • @christopherjon3050
    @christopherjon3050 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    интеллигенции!

  • @guineapig55555
    @guineapig55555 5 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    "too great lucidity is a disease"
    too woke

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Wokeness would only be one form of that

  • @UnconsciousQualms
    @UnconsciousQualms 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Sorry I have another question:
    Is Dostoevsky using the word "intellectual" in a condemnatory fashion, given the main character's intertia and his spitefulness?

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว

      More descriptive, I'd say. Intellectuals, broadly speaking, are going to be people who engage in reflection more than others. That is going to lead to some bad effects, in the current age, in the view of the narrator

  • @Moreoverover
    @Moreoverover 5 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    NEETs vs Normies

  • @pallmall7385
    @pallmall7385 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    I don't understand the context or the scope of this work, but do you think this was a serious commentary on modern society or was he being sarcastic when he broke everyone into two groups of people?

  • @isaac-qe1wu
    @isaac-qe1wu 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Video just ends

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      It ends when its done

    • @isaac-qe1wu
      @isaac-qe1wu 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@GregoryBSadler can't get enough♡

  • @UnconsciousQualms
    @UnconsciousQualms 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    is "intelctual" supposed to be a tongue in cheek term here?

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      No

    • @UnconsciousQualms
      @UnconsciousQualms 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      hmmm... that's so strange given the long history of poltically active intelectuals. I might have to watch the video again then.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@UnconsciousQualms No idea why "politically active" and "tongue in cheek" would be connected here

    • @UnconsciousQualms
      @UnconsciousQualms 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Because my understanding was that he's saying that a true intelectual can't do anything, but sit on the sideline and think and overthink. I will just watch the video again.

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@UnconsciousQualms He's not working with the notion or distinction of a "true intellectual"

  • @rgaleny
    @rgaleny 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    KIRKAGAARD'S ANGST PERSONIFIED

  • @zacharypayne4080
    @zacharypayne4080 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Jordan peterson

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Is superficial garbage. There, finished your elliptical post

    • @ljph_1995
      @ljph_1995 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@GregoryBSadler you don't like his philosophical takes?

    • @GregoryBSadler
      @GregoryBSadler  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@ljph_1995 I think I've been pretty clear about that in AMA after AMA

    • @ljph_1995
      @ljph_1995 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@GregoryBSadler sorry I haven't seen any of those yet

  • @johnbutcher2587
    @johnbutcher2587 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    how sweet to be idiot - neil innes