The Accursed Questions - Fyodor Dostoevsky on Suffering, Freedom, and Love: Gary S. Morson (Prof. of Russian literature @ Northwestern University | Author of "Wonder Confronts Certainty")(Ep. 128)
Prof. Gary Saul Morson
What's the meaning of life? Why is there pain and suffering? How do you balance justice and love? These "accursed questions" have haunted humanity for centuries. Fyodor Dostoevsky sought to answer these questions through his characters' lives. His answers are prophetic for our time.
In this episode, I sit down with Northwestern University professor of Russian literature Gary Saul Morson. We discuss what Dostoevsky reveals about developing intellectual honesty, how to deal with suffering and brokenness, as well as his arguments for and against God.
His latest book, Wonder Confronts Certainty: Russian Writers on the Timeless Questions and Why Their Answers Matter, sets the stage for this interview sets the stage for this interview.
Topics:
The "Accursed Questions" of Russian Literature
Dostoevsky's Intellectual Honesty with Faith
Battle-Testing Worldviews through Fiction
The Dangers of Abstracting Individuals
Notes from Underground: Human Freedom vs Determinism
The Core of Ethics: Human Surprisingness
"What books have had an impact on you?"
"What advice do you have for teenagers?
Bio:
Gary Saul Morson is Lawrence B. Dumas Professor of the Arts and Humanities and Professor of Russian Literature at Northwestern University. His 21 authored or edited volumes and 300 shorter publications have examined major Russian writers, the philosophy of time, the role of quotations in culture, great aphorisms, and the ultimate questions about life taken seriously in Russian literature. His classes on Russian writers in translation have enrolled over 500 students, and he is the recipient of numerous teaching and research awards. Morson writes regularly for numerous national publications, including The New York Review of Books, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, First Things, Mosaic, and several others. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1995