Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
7th INTERNATIONAL LATIN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CONGRESS, Lima, Peru, 4 - 05 Haziran 2025, ss.87-92, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
Bu çalışma, Fyodor Dostoyevski’nin Yeraltından Notlar adlı eserini irade vurgusu temelinde incelemeyi ve felsefi anlamını analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. 19. yüzyıl Rus entelijansiyasının pozitivist ve rasyonalist yaklaşımlarına karşı bir düşünsel itiraz olarak okunabilecek olan bu eser, özellikle Nikolay Çernişevski’nin determinizm temelli rasyonel egoizmine yönelik bir eleştiri niteliği taşımaktadır. İnsanın doğasını salt akıl varlığı idealine indirgemeye çalışan ve eylemlerini deterministik bir kabule binaen öngörülebilir sayan bu yaklaşıma karşı Dostoyevski, insanın yalnızca akıl ve çıkar doğrultusunda işleyen mekanik bir yapıda olmadığını savunmaktadır. Ona göre insan kompleks ve kaotiktir; kimi zamanlarda akla veyahut çıkarına aykırı dahi olsa dilediğince eyleme hürriyetine sahip olmayı arzular. Bu arzu, insanın özgür bir özne olarak kendini gerçekleştirme imkânının göstergesidir.
Dostoyevski, söz konusu eleştirisini, kendi düşüncelerini taşıyan Yeraltı Adamı karakterini determinist ve rasyonalist bir toplum tasavvuru içine yerleştirerek ironi yoluyla kurar. Bu çerçevede Yeraltı Adamı’nın varoluşsal buhranı ve akılcı çıkarlara karşı çıkan tavrı bir neticedir. Karakterin acıya ve irrasyonel eylemlere yönelimi, özgür iradenin umutsuz bir savunusu niteliğindedir. Bu bağlamda, rasyonel hesaplara aykırı tercihlerde bulunmak, bireyin kendilik inşası arzusunun ve özgürlük talebinin bir ifadesi olarak anlaşılmalıdır. Eserde özgürlük, bireyin, uğruna refah ve mutluluktan bile feragat etmeyi göze aldığı, tüm diğer çıkar ilkelerinin üzerinde konumlanan bir değer olarak sunulmaktadır. Dolayısıyla, özgür irade bireyin varoluşunun kurucu ilkesi olarak temellendirilir.
This study aims to examine Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground through the lens of the concept of will and to analyze its philosophical implications. The work can be interpreted as an intellectual response to the positivist and rationalist tendencies of 19th-century Russian intelligentsia and, in particular, as a critique of Nikolai Chernyshevsky’s determinism-based rational egoism. Challenging the view that seeks to reduce human nature to the ideal of a purely rational being and considers human actions predictable within a deterministic framework, Dostoevsky argues that the human being is not a mechanical structure driven solely by reason and self-interest. According to him, the human is complex and chaotic; at times, they desire the freedom to act at will—even if such actions contradict reason or personal gain. This desire signifies the possibility of self-realization as a free subject.
Dostoevsky expresses this critique by placing the character of the Underground Man, who reflects his philosophical stance, within a deterministic and rationalist model of society, using irony as a narrative device. Within this framework, the existential crisis of the Underground Man and his rejection of rational interests emerge as natural consequences. His tendency toward suffering and irrational action represents a desperate defense of free will. In this context, choices that oppose rational calculations are to be understood as expressions of the individual's desire for self-construction and demand for freedom. In the novel, freedom is presented as a supreme value—one for which the individual is willing to renounce even comfort and happiness. Accordingly, free will is established as the founding principle of individual existence.
The "piano key" metaphor, expressed by the Underground Man, alludes to a conception of the human being reduced to a subjectless entity governed by determinism. This conception negates the possibility of conscious and authentic existence, relegating the individual to a passive and meaningless component of a system. In this sense, will is not merely the cause of action but the condition of conscious and creative participation in one’s own existence. Will corresponds to the possibility of constructing one’s selfhood, assuming moral responsibility, and being motivated to act. According to Dostoevsky, without will, it becomes difficult to speak of free and authentic existence, moral agency, or the capacity for action. Dostoevsky’s approach, based on individuality and will, can be considered one of the literary and philosophical precursors of existentialist thought later systematized by thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Camus, and Sartre.
Dostoevsky’s philosophical significance lies not only in his foundational contributions to existentialist thought but also in the conceptual depth he developed within the literary form of the novel. At the forefront of these concepts is the “problem of will,” which constitutes the central focus of this study. Notes from Underground may be regarded as a pioneering work in the genre of the philosophical novel, wherein this issue is articulated in its most concentrated form.