Argument Against Philosophies In The Petrashevsky Circle

Meghan Gragg

Dekraii

English IV honors, period 2

9/27/15

Question: To what extent was Crime and Punishment an argument against the philosophies in the Petrashevsky circle?

Research:

o Philosophy group Weekly meetings-1840s o Opposed Idealism-for Materialism

• Defn. of Idealism-according to Petrashevsky: “a system of philosophy which subjects the external world, or nature, to the rule of the internal spirit, and which is based, not on the observation of the phenomena of life, but on the ideas innate in the human mind.”

• Defn of Materialism-according to Merriam Webster-a theory that physical matter is the only or fundamental reality and that all being and processes and phenomena can be explained as manifestations or results of matter

• Crime

• Other Hegelian ideals:

• Believed that religion was irrational o This is in contrast with Crime and Punishment where Sonya, a very religious person is the redeeming