Comments on: Part I: Alyosha and Zarathustra on Com-passion and a Genuine Embodied Life http://percaritatem.com/2008/11/23/part-i-alyosha-and-zarathustra-on-com-passion-and-a-genuine-embodied-life/ Non intratur in veritatem nisi per caritatem. St. Augustine Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:27:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Cynthia R. Nielsen http://percaritatem.com/2008/11/23/part-i-alyosha-and-zarathustra-on-com-passion-and-a-genuine-embodied-life/comment-page-1/#comment-3798 Cynthia R. Nielsen Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:32:35 +0000 http://percaritatem.com/?p=823#comment-3798 Hi Amos, Thanks for your comment. I have a couple of clarifying questions for you: (1) what exactly do you mean by "nausea" here? Does nausea more or less = disgust or is dissatisfaction and offense involved as well and perhaps even something broader than these suggestions? (2) If nausea is more or less disgust, offense and dissatisfaction, it is not clear to me why Z wouldn't also have difficulties seeing the "true" person, as hypocrisy and other masks do not require that "one serve a great Idea"--couldn't atheists still be hypocrites in some aspects of their lives? Best wishes, Cynthia Hi Amos,

Thanks for your comment. I have a couple of clarifying questions for you: (1) what exactly do you mean by “nausea” here? Does nausea more or less = disgust or is dissatisfaction and offense involved as well and perhaps even something broader than these suggestions? (2) If nausea is more or less disgust, offense and dissatisfaction, it is not clear to me why Z wouldn’t also have difficulties seeing the “true” person, as hypocrisy and other masks do not require that “one serve a great Idea”–couldn’t atheists still be hypocrites in some aspects of their lives?

Best wishes,
Cynthia

]]> By: Amos Johannes Hunt http://percaritatem.com/2008/11/23/part-i-alyosha-and-zarathustra-on-com-passion-and-a-genuine-embodied-life/comment-page-1/#comment-3797 Amos Johannes Hunt Sun, 07 Dec 2008 05:03:51 +0000 http://percaritatem.com/?p=823#comment-3797 Haven't read the whole thing yet, but while I'm here looking at this part, I want to throw out one remark: it doesn't seem to me that in the practice of active love as described by Zosima that evil in the people one confronts is what provokes the nausea which love has to overcome (and which, as I think you are on the whole right to say, Alyosha does in each case overcome, or perhaps rather overleaps, since it almost seems not to occur to him to be disgusted) . This nausea is rather motivated by a disgust at the discord between appearance and ideal. I'd be tempted to say that Alyosha and Zarathustra embody two evaluations of the same nausea, except that the latter's nausea seems to rest on an insight into the soul which doesn't get tangled in the problem of appearances, as in the case of the man "who doesn't have the face of one who serves a great Idea" or however that bit goes. What do you think? Are these two kinds of nausea? Is there any way to compare them? Haven’t read the whole thing yet, but while I’m here looking at this part, I want to throw out one remark: it doesn’t seem to me that in the practice of active love as described by Zosima that evil in the people one confronts is what provokes the nausea which love has to overcome (and which, as I think you are on the whole right to say, Alyosha does in each case overcome, or perhaps rather overleaps, since it almost seems not to occur to him to be disgusted) . This nausea is rather motivated by a disgust at the discord between appearance and ideal. I’d be tempted to say that Alyosha and Zarathustra embody two evaluations of the same nausea, except that the latter’s nausea seems to rest on an insight into the soul which doesn’t get tangled in the problem of appearances, as in the case of the man “who doesn’t have the face of one who serves a great Idea” or however that bit goes.

What do you think? Are these two kinds of nausea? Is there any way to compare them?

]]> By: Eric M. http://percaritatem.com/2008/11/23/part-i-alyosha-and-zarathustra-on-com-passion-and-a-genuine-embodied-life/comment-page-1/#comment-3786 Eric M. Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:26:40 +0000 http://percaritatem.com/?p=823#comment-3786 Cynthia, I enjoyed your post and do hope more on Dostoevsky’s works follow in the future (the Grand Inquisitor chapter seems especially ripe for analysis). In fact, you've inspired me to pick up a copy of “Brothers Karamazov,” as I haven't read the book in years. I'll also look into the Rowan Williams' book you recommended. “The Brothers Karamazov” was my first introduction to Nietzsche, whose assessment of man's situation after “the death of God” I disagreed with mightily but found inescapable given atheism. Take care, Eric Cynthia,

I enjoyed your post and do hope more on Dostoevsky’s works follow in the future (the Grand Inquisitor chapter seems especially ripe for analysis). In fact, you’ve inspired me to pick up a copy of “Brothers Karamazov,” as I haven’t read the book in years. I’ll also look into the Rowan Williams’ book you recommended.

“The Brothers Karamazov” was my first introduction to Nietzsche, whose assessment of man’s situation after “the death of God” I disagreed with mightily but found inescapable given atheism.

Take care,
Eric

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