What Led Dostoevsky to Despise Intellectuals?

[@Fiction_Beast]

My book on Dostoevsky: ko-fi.com/s/d6ca4e2115

[@alexanderwhite298]

Your definition of intellectual and philosopher.are wrong, you can literally look them up.

[@patriciofernandez6500]

​@@alexanderwhite298that's what an intellectual would say...

[@alexanderwhite298]

@@patriciofernandez6500 being called an intellectual is not an insult.

[@patriciofernandez6500]

@@alexanderwhite298 I can't agree more

[@KAZVorpal]

Technically, intellectual is somebody whose profession involves mental activity instead of practical productivity. They don't generate any goods or services, in the classic sense.

[@gaffgarion7049]

The problem with intellectuals is people assume you have to be intelligent to be one.

[@slaw1448]

I mean, why don't we just call them pseudointellectuals lol.

[@LemonThyme1933]

​@@slaw1448I have always called them pseudo intellectuals.

[@gaffgarion7049]

@@slaw1448 Because one of the biggest advocates of the term "Pseudo intellectuals are psuedo intellectuals."

[@joecummings1260]

Now every twit with a two year degree and a two digit IQ thinks they are an intellectual.

[@dmitryisakov8769]

No, the problem is that people don't know the difference between knowledgeable and intelligent 😂

[@edmond0073]

“ don’t consume too many ideas to the deterioration of your mental well being and soul “ thank you brother . I really needed that .

[@postmodernmining]

Hahahaha. James Lindsay is screwed.

[@danielpintard7382]

Needed this lmao

[@untitled2235]

​@@postmodernmining and all goes to your liberal intellects lol. Why are ya'll so obsessed with Marxism when all it had done is the annihilation of hundreds and millions people in order to grasp "true socialism"???

[@untitled2235]

@@novinceinhosic3531 yeah yt had already shadowed my comment, so I can't answer your question

[@richardque4952]

"Reading many books will make you more stupid"-mao tse tung

[@Damascene749]

Always remember it’s important to bring up Dostoyevsky’s Orthodox Faith. The Fathers of the Orthodox Church have always taught that the intellectual man, the man of worldly wisdom, is more susceptible to pride and haughtiness, therefore making it harder for him to humble his heart and even more his intellect.

[@showmeanedge]

Professing themselves to be wise they became fools

[@psyience3213]

As an apostate I can’t help but find an immense amount of truth in religious knowledge

[@jamesdiluzio9906]

Glory to God ☦️ Christ is Risen!

[@kitadams2099]

☦

[@cinnamondan4984]

My island books: Bible, Catechism, works of D.

[@shawnbottom4769]

There is a fine line between seeking truth through introspection and what amounts to pointless mental masturbation.

[@ronaldmcdonald3965]

sounds like some of the papers I'v read

[@stevenyafet]

And we can be one side of the line or the other in quick succession. For all the traps, conflicts, tensions, double meanings in Shakespeare, the dangers for intellectual error do not figure at all. A new and growing problem somewhat later. Tempting to blame the French 18th C of course. Could Shakespeare imagine our time? a Donald Trump? It will get worse Sam Altman notwithstanding.

[@jhl8203]

​@@stevenyafetSorry I don't understand what you're trying to say.

[@holyphainesthai286]

Fine?

[@andreagroves8917]

Yes, it is hard to tell the difference between truth seeking and empty rationalization. Don’t know how others can differentiate, but my observation is that productive thinking sucks energy (as does men…mast……..), but there is also a felt sense of mild expansion, a steady hum of positive energy that endures over time, that sticks in the mind until the thought comes to a close (which also can be detected via felt sense).

[@MrMattirving]

I wonder what he would make of modern day academia. I went back to school late in life to get a degree and was struck by the amount of rampant pseudo-intellectualism throughout the faculties. I was also amazed at how prickly people were when their ideas were challenged. Always good to hear you talk Dostoyevsky!

[@not_emerald]

He'd hate even oldschool academia. Nowadays any person can hate academia since it's so obviously corrupt

[@ludlowaloysius]

maybe you just said obviously stupid things

[@RobSoskop]

Verily, I have probably never seen as many stupid people together as at university. It was disappointing and also rather unsettling.

[@SC-gw8np]

Academics are trained years in sophistry to ignore what is right in front of them...they are stuck in Plato's cave.

[@michaelcondry1493]

there is nothing more pitiable than the state of academia today. no intellectual rigor, no integrity, no interest in new ideas. mostly incapable students and complacent professors

[@yum8666]

I remember when I first read C&P I felt so called out. I had finally found something I was good at, and that was thinking. I ended up riding that skill for my ego and it ended up isolating me from everyone else I was almost convinced I was better than everyone. And then Crime and punishment held up a miror to what i was becoming, and I never felt more alone and sad after that.

[@moralfortitude...2217]

@ you recognized that & it was you not them. some never do recognize & continue blame others...that is the difference. kudos

[@jjr1728]

That book was terrible. Reminded me of Catcher in the Rye. A stupid boy whining about various situations he gets himself in due to his own stupidity. The kind of book you place next to a sleeping hobo addict and plant a knife on him so the police think he's nuts when they search him

[@slaw1448]

A lot really depends on how you define "better than everyone". More valuable in the grand scheme of things? Absolutely not. More valuable to society? Maybe. More valuable to yourself? We're all egotistical on that one. More justified to take another person's life? Depends on a lot of factors if you're a consequentialist.

[@jennifs6868]

I think it comes down to whether you would be willing to kill your pets and eat them in times of famine, or whether you would prefer to die. Just you. Not talking about feeding your children. The thing is, i think almost no one knows until it happens.

[@_tamashii_]

It is admirable that you are self-aware at all. Most would prefer to deny it, as their ego couldn't handle and would rather lie to themselves instead.

[@christopherlees1134]

An intellectual is just a narcissist who is in love with their mind, rather than their looks.

[@jaspernewcombe7502]

Who wrote the books

[@BygoneT]

Modern hubris of the average person in a single comment. Lovely stuff.

[@Rsoqwerty]

I love you, God bless you, this is how I always felt about intellectuals

[@bonafide9931]

Resentment?

[@Ocelot1962]

Well said.

[@roberttimofte791]

“Experience life out in the world not in your head.” The advice that I need to remind myself. Thank you!

[@kevinmccabe33]

Those last words about overthinking to the detriment of your well being gave me shivers. Dostoyevsky is truly the pinnacle representation of the thinking man that goes so deep that he arrives back where he started, and finds love for the simple pure ways of humanity. Great video. ❤

[@johnmartin2017]

Great summatioon in 2 sentences. Thanks.

[@tadroid3858]

There's much truth to this. I experienced this when I was an agricultural inspector for the county over 5.5 years. I learned to listen to the farmers, and I gained a huge respect for what they do, how they do it, and the BS they get from government entities.

[@johnschuh8616]

My Dad had a fourth grade education, Yet when he left the farm and went into the oil business he become the superintendent of a small drilling company and without any sort of degree a petroleum engineer. Drilled hundreds of wells across the Southwest including the East Texas field, A contractor for Shell he trained dozens of college graduates, teaching them how little they had learned in school. At the same time he picked their brains of useable knowledge. At the same time he was working with drillers and roughnecks, men whose great skills were often canceling by bad personal habits. At one time he was employing more than 100 at a time. He himself was the hardest working man I have ever known.

[@tadroid3858]

@@johnschuh8616 Awesome story! Thanks.

[@jeremyj427]

@@johnschuh8616what a great testament to your dad. I’m from Corsicana and grew up there and in Longview. The men in my family were same. They knew how to do EVERYTHING for themselves. Money went in a can just in case you ever needed it. No elec or running water until the 60’s.

[@johnschuh8616]

@@jeremyj427 I can say more about my Dad. He became quite well-to-do but when the company bought some production, his boss, who was the money guy, set up a corporation and entered into partnership with some other men in Dallas. My Dad was excluded but was offered a permanent position as Supereintendent and some royalty instead of a partnership. Then in 1940, he became ill, and he had always been healthy, got blood poisoning from a tick bite suffered in a hunting trip. It then affect his hip and he spent a lot of time off in the hospital. This was before antibiotics and he did thing like go to Hot Springs. Arkansas. But he got word and worse and came very close to death when I was about 9. And at that same time, his boss whom he had know for 20 years suddenly died, leaving half the company to his wife, who was totally ignorant of business. Luckily, his boss had written his will put the rest in the trust of the a Bank. My Dad was left out and despite the gravity of his situation no provision was made for us. in the event of his death. The Bank. however, did and continued his salary because of the implicit gentlemen’s agreement. Trouble came when the Bosses wife, whom was runaway that because of the Boss’.s alcoholic binges which often too him out of the picture for weeks at the item, actually tried to get him fired. A compromise left my dad with a Job but at half pay. plus house and maintence. He was left crippled by a hip fusion but continued full management of the wells and production with the help of just his boss’s, a disabled wwI war veteran and one other employee. Dispitemy Dad’s disability he remained very active through now in his fifties, and always active. When on still on crutches he dig a hole under the house and with my help put in a fruit cellar. and laid a sidewalk in the back yard. Already during the war he started a food garden on the side of the House.He and I worked on the house. He would do everything have to do with a six room house. Gas, electricity and rude carpentry.Replaced the wallpaper on the House. He taught me a lot but I know a tenth of what he had learned to do since his days on the farms and through his many years in the oil, business., If only he had learned the finance end of the thing. and while he was a great saver, his savings were largely savaged by his four years of illness. I could go on. And yes, he belonged to a now large vanished breed of men. Thank you for agreeing with me.

[@cSTEPHEN855]

This was great. Some self criticism I was able to derive with the help of this video is that I myself am a hypocrite, and seek to separate myself from others, not because they are truly less than me but because I fear the parts of myself I see in them, and that I lack their integrity in their ability to live their truth openly.

[@andreagroves8917]

We are all hypocrites! That is the human condition. Such a painful admission. Nothing great is ever born without struggle over time. It is this creative lashing about that eventually births new and better life…May your conflicts be bearable and productive…

[@johnschuh8616]

Amen.

[@ishmaelforester9825]

Dostoyevsky is ultimately more emotionally and aesthetically driven. He is a great artist of profound feeling. Therefore he dislikes modern 'intellectuals' because they have no deep emotion or aesthetic vibe and they confute that skeleton coldness with wisdom or insight.

[@thefourthbrotherkaramazov245]

The Brothers Karamzov take on intellectuals was an amazing wrap up by Dostoevsky. In his final work, he portrays intellectualism as an illness in Ivan. Someone who is suffering from it but nonetheless redeemable.

[@BigBrother04]

Except, intellectuals are NOT redeemable 😂

[@filippians413]

What an amazing book. I plan to read it again one day. After I finish the Bible, but that might be a couple years lmao

[@thefourthbrotherkaramazov245]

@filippians413 That's great, and it will be such an excellent complement to the Bible.

[@mimszanadunstedt441]

Rationalization is a psychological defense mechanism.

[@slaw1448]

It's kind of hilarious that people read about Ivan and Raskolnikov and then try to apply insanity to any man driven by rationality. Dostoevsky's works are a warning about alienation from your own ideas as you try to cross your human nature in the process of achieving them, it's about the weight of the means to accomplish a goal if you overestimate yourself. The analysis in the video is more or less accurate, but none of that is a dogma against rationality - more so it is about the dangers of it if you are a reckless and detached human being. Dostoevsky didn't hate consequentialism, he hated a blind and detached form of consequentialism.

[@FortBaker2011]

“Followed French philosophers on Twitter” 😂 On a serious note, thank you for this! Now I understand the respect people have for D. It’s not the poor who start bloody homicidal revolutions, it’s the oversupply of college educated yet ignorant masses.

[@Kannot2023]

If you read the history of Russia you will see that incompetent leadership mixed with conservatorism that ruined the economy and weakened the leadership and allowed the Bolsheviks to take control over the hungry massed. Peace,bread and land was the slogan of Bolsheviks. The foot soldiers of red Army didn't read Marx, but they needed peace and bread

[@ambermoon719]

Is this Jordan Peterson? You said bloody. 😂

[@olafweyer859]

I wish I remembered the author/study which "found" that civilization's collapse is caused/accompanied by an over production of elites. In this case it's intellectual elites. Watching what's happening around us and who is influental in politics, media, NGOs etc. etc... well the study seems accurate.

[@Sos_tenuto]

I'm glad he didn't say "X" instead of the period correct "Twitter."

[@erelian_sardonic]

Only that the soviet revolution was not a collapse. It collapsed a previous anachronistic system. The soviet system lasted for years, driven not by intellectuals mind you. Intellectuals were persecuted under the soviet regime. So your comment does not make much sense aside sounding cool and profound.

[@lucasley20]

A great presentation and reminder that NOTHING has changed!

[@IvanIvanoff-d4p]

“Why did he hate intellectuals?!?!” Have you looked at them?

[@PierreLucSex]

Have you ?

[@Ymirson999]

This clip reminded me of Eric Hoffer's maxim "Scratch an intellectual and underneath you'll find an aristocrat who despises the sight and sound of the common man." But while a very good exposition, there are more than a few reasons that people retreat from the world. There's a lot of hostility in human company, a lot of maliciousness, for largely no reason at all. People are often just unkind, especially to people who are not confident in themselves and even those with strong personalities often weary of dealing with others. I do advocate not spending too much time in front of a computer, but I'm not sure other people are the answer to our problems. As often as not, they're the source.

[@carlosminotaur]

The hostility in human company is almost always misunderstandings, misconceptions or they are simply caught in their own movie , so that no real conversation can occur…

[@Ymirson999]

Certainly, and sometimes you can work your way through them, but that itself can be overly laborious and often not worth the effort. So while some human company is necessary, it's for good reason that real friends are few and far between.@@carlosminotaur

[@alwaysgreatusa223]

If one sees only a principle of fraternity, and not also a principle of individuality, he is looking only out his left eye. If one sees only a principle of individuality, and not also a principle of fraternity, he is looking only out his right eye. But the clearest vision of reality is only attained by one keeping both eyes open. So, open both your eyes, and then you will see both principles everywhere in constant operation and incessant competition -- it's called the human condition. This is because neither principle on its own suffices for human progress and survival.

[@johndavis2399]

Good job! It was especially interesting (at 5:44) to learn that the Russian intellectuals followed European philosophers on Twitter.

[@PS-ic4bp]

I think he throws these in there to distinguish listeners from commenters 😂 or to get people to go back and listen to the video again.

[@bodhisoha]

Hysterical "are you paying attention" moment. Love the sense of humor.

[@loriedmundson782]

Thank you for the consistently interesting, thought provoking and many times inspirational content. Love your channel. Always been a fan of Russian literature too.

[@giulianademedici691]

Thank you so much for your work''s good quality.I admire the commitment you put in it. As an addicted Dostoevsky's reader I find your contributes useful and sometimes lightening the shadowed sides in some Dostoevsky novels .Keep up the good work

[@imadivergentandantinormiep7877]

Arthur Schopenhauer didn't like people in general, but if he had to choose between the company of an intellectual man and an ordinary peasant, Schopenhauer would have chosen the intellectual man

[@majidbineshgar7156]

Schopenhauer one of the greatest philosophers of all times , loved genuine intellectuals he liked intellectuals whom hardly anyone ( specially those who claim to admire Schopenhauer )has heard of ( e.g marquis de Vauvenargues, Chamfort , Baltasar Gracián ,... ) however he loathed the " pseudo-intellectual charlatans regardless of their being famous and adored by the masses (e.g. Hegel in his time ) .

[@imadivergentandantinormiep7877]

@@lancejohnson127 The thing is that once "the extraordinary peasant" becomes famous, he stopped being peasant and poor and stay away from ordinary peasants, that's the truth

[@Prophecynut]

​@@imadivergentandantinormiep7877was Jesus Christ extraordinary?

[@michaelcondry1493]

@@majidbineshgar7156hegel was a pseudo intellectual?

[@majidbineshgar7156]

@@michaelcondry1493 According to Schopenhauer he was .

[@not_emerald]

The House of the Dead/The Dead House kind of reads like Johnny Cash's prison albums in prose. And in Russia.

[@ElonMuskrat-my8jy]

That's motivation to read it.

[@carlorizzo827]

Oh yes amazing. Do you recall towards the end, the "theatricals", the prisoners were allowed to put on variety shows. OMG drama queens the same in all cultures

[@SKMikeMurphySJ]

Hello, I'm Fydor Dostoyevsky!

[@not_emerald]

@@carlorizzo827 "inside the walls of prison my body may be, but the Lord has set my soul free"

[@cooperstephens147]

TLDR: “Touch grass, bro.”

[@Cruxnugget]

I really enjoyed this, thank you for putting out content that grows the mind on a macro level.

[@Batosai11489]

It sounds like he disliked the left wing intellectuals of the late enlightenment era to me, not intellectuals in general. He definitely did pick the most loathsome and contemptible ones. The ones who pretend to ally with the poor but really just say it to appear magnanimous or because it was popular. I think we all can understand that loathing right now (except poor has been replaced with other pretend victims like racial minorities, gays, and women).

[@robfromvan]

Left wing intellectuals are pseudo-intellectuals and cause vast amounts of harm to millions of people. For example, Karl Marx’s ideas caused over 100 million people to die because of Communism, and even today pseudo-intellectuals like Noam Chomsky keep vouching for these ideas and are apologists for left-wingers like Pol Pot just because they meant well and had good intentions. Meanwhile true intellectuals like Milton Friedman or Thomas Sowell whose ideas are based on empiricism and are results-driven are not even well-known and are derided by mass media, even though the net result of their ideas are that millions of people all over the world have escaped and are continuing to escape grinding poverty, the same type that Karl Marx’s ideas produce.

[@brianmeen2158]

Good post and I have a special type of hatred for the race hustlers . The folks that have lined their pockets for decades while making the group they supposedly care about worse

[@robfromvan]

@@novinceinhosic3531 Pol Pot went to the Sarbong, one of the finest schools in France, to get all his high-minded ideas. Then he went back to Cambodia, became the leader, put all those ideas into practice and killed off 1/3 of the population in the name of income equality and socials justice. Similarly Karl Marx’s ideas killed off over 100 million people in USSR, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and practically every country in Africa, and also Cuba. This is because his ideas were not empirical, they were emotional.

[@robfromvan]

@@novinceinhosic3531the Sarbong is one of the most prestigious schools in France even now. It is well known Pol Pot went there. The amount of people he killed number in the millions not 100’s of thousands. Karl Marx wrote books about economics without understanding the subject. He can be forgiven for that because economics wasn’t as developed back then. Since then there are many graphs and mathematical equations in economics. His books basically lumped people into different social classes and said that one would rise up and destroy the other. This has nothing to do with economics and is more like fairy-take thinking. He personally didn’t kill anyone, but when his ideas were put into practice 100 million people got killed. So when you’re asking what world I live in, that world is reality. And yes I’m good at math. I’m a finance major and took a lot of economics courses so I understand all the ins and outs of how the economy works and as such can write a whole book on why Karl Marx’s ideas failed.

[@robfromvan]

@@novinceinhosic3531you are talking about Thomas Sowell. He’s one of the greatest thinkers of our time and makes Noam Chomsky look like a chimpanzee. He is not just a world-renowned economist but he uses his knowledge of economics to explain all kinds of phenomena and breaks down a lot of the mystery behind how the world of financial affairs works. As well everyone knows Pol Pot was educated in France. He also knew it and was able to speak French. Karl Marx’s books were written before there was a proper field called economics so no he’s not one of the greatest economists of all time. For that you would have to look at Fredrick Von Hayek, Ludwig Von Mises, Milton Friedman, even the founder of modern economics Adam Smith, as well as Stiglitz, Henry Hazlitt, and many others. Karl Marx is not even talked about in economics classes. My degree is from Douglas College and I have worked in the field of finance yes, but in almost every job I’ve ever been in I’ve used mathematics. Pol Pot is known as one of the mass murderers of all time and the reason why is because per capita he actually killed the most people. Even though Hitler killed more people, Pol Pot killed the greatest percentage of his own country: 1/3, it is well known and is in every video about Pol Pot here on KZbin. As well the philosophies of Marxism, Communism, & Socialism killed minimum 6 million people during the Holomodor alone but then if you count all the people killed by Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung and all the socialist African and South American countries as well as Cuba and Vietnam combined the body count reaches 100 million. The underlying philosophy behind these mass deaths is socialism, propagated first by Karl Marx.

[@elforeigner3260]

You don’t have to be a Dostoevsky to despise intellectuals

[@HusseinAli-jc5pc]

I am falling in love more with Dostoevsky and your channel, thank you so much for this brilliant and comprehensive content 🙏🏾. One of the best on youtube 🕵️‍♂️👌

[@spookyscaryskeleton9876]

Great work. Thank You very much Fiction Beast!

[@JimmyDThing]

This is a fantastic video my friend.

[@furtherdefinitions1]

“[beware that] “many of what are called social problems are differences between the theories of intellectuals and the realities of the world-differences which many intellectuals interpret to mean that it is the real world that is wrong and needs changing.” ― Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society

[@nektulosnewbie]

I remember having to critque an essay about anti-intellectualism from an American university student in college once. After a good opening, the essay degenerated into a rant at common people for looking up to celebrities and football players and not their real betters: intellectuals - intellectuals like HIM. I summed up my critique by saying that anti-intellectualism was rife mainly because of the attitude shown in that very essay.

[@wrath908]

Did you get any reaction out of him? Because I imagine he wouldn't have taken it well.

[@nektulosnewbie]

@@wrath908 it was a topic essay for the course. I didn't go to his uni.

[@cheri238]

Fiction Beast, you are the best. I never can disagree with your ability to thoroughly inspire more people to read books of literature of great depth. 🙏❤️🌏🌿🕊🎵🎶🎵

[@thatdberad]

I’ve slowly absorbed many ideas ideas the last few years. mostly following writers and not any -isms. always tell myself, it’s okay to get lost in one, maybe feel down for a few days, but always come back up for air and see it in context of real life not ideal life. Through this you can listen and take what you like out of anything and still come out clear minded and yourself. Great video, definitely subscribing 😁

[@hell-hollowfarmer41]

Incredibly thought-provoking video as always; but I must say the paintings you showed during the video depicting Russian life spoke so deeply to this simple farmer that I will doubtless learn how to do an image search so as to find prints. And will of course continue listening to audiobooks of Dostoevsky's work while farming my land without equipment and staying strong by eating the Lamb. Eat the lamb!

[@asielnorton345]

i dont think the main idea of dostoyevsky is taking responsibility. one could potentially make that argument about sartre. you cannot divorce dostoyevsky from christianity. his main focus is redemption through faith. his intellectual characters tie themselves in knots, whereas his simple good characters are universally religious in nature.

[@Trifixion22]

Very true. People who try to separate Dostoevsky's work from his Christianity will forever miss the point.

[@PEDROGARCIA-qj3gr]

The faith part my god, the guy wrote how people in the churches were also a bunch of a**holes divorce from reality... That's the thing with Fydor he is not as black and white as people expect and then they start to oversimplifying his books... It's not Christianity is gonna save us, it's the basic values in it "as helping people just because is a good thing to do" that make our lives better, BUT this values are not exclusive from Christianity... Or even faith.

[@tearsinpain]

This was my understanding from reading his novels .

[@MrMarktrumble]

that was an entertaining explanation that made sense. Thank you

[@routaboss3824]

you're the best my guy really love your contents!

[@uncleusuh]

Thanks for this beautiful content.

[@KAZVorpal]

Hold on, the fact that he made most of his villains intellectuals does not mean that he hated intellectuals. Obviously, it can simply mean that he felt that many of the worst people are intellectuals. This doesn't mean he thought all intellectuals were bad. In real life, for example, most politicians are among the very worst dregs of humanity, but there are still good politicians.

[@antont229]

Thank you man. The economic philosopher Nassim Taleb thinks similarly about intellectuals. He criticises that they don’t „own“ the ideas that they preach. In essence they don’t have to take risks for their living, which is just inherently wrong. Which reflects the points of lacking Accountability and Dishonesty

[@Joeonline26]

Please never compare Dostoesvky with that hack Taleb ever again...

[@antont229]

@@Joeonline26 why do you think Taleb is a hack?

[@cardiox5051]

Cause he is a hypocrite for stating something he is a victim of himself. All ideas are based upon other ideas.

[@marianhunt8899]

Sadly, neither do other business or religious people 'own' their mistakes. It's part of human nature I think. Taking responsibility is difficult for all humans.

[@JuanRamónSilva-Piano]

@@cardiox5051And that’s why just because someone says something that is good, doesn’t mean that the person saying it is good.

[@eileenoconnor391]

Thank you so much. Love your work. Have been away for a while. Nice to be back.

[@TheRealSteveMay]

Its a mistake to assert that being a low status peasant precludes one from also being an intellectual. Plenty of no status poors are highly intelligent and exercise their intelligence regularly. Many of them are far more concerned with ideas and abstractions than they are with the tasks of daily life or their jobs, which imo qualifies them as intellectuals. Many of these people do the labor intensive jobs most people associate with low status employment, and are not strangers to the stark realities that come with their lifestyle/position. I'm just pointing it out because i think its worth bearing in mind. It often seems like we assume that highly intelligent people will almost certainly achieve status and economic success that reflects their abilities, but i think that more often than not they achieve nothing more than the common man does.

[@Bleilock1]

Shhhh bro, you are ruining their ideology, hell maybe they'll even figure lut that dostoyevski was an intellectual himself

[@jennifs6868]

@@Bleilock1i am so having buyer’s remorse about brothers K after reading these comments. Not sure whether to start reading, or gift it….

[@Lea-ns3ef]

Liked it very much. I am reading his Diaries and I am amazed to see how relevant his ideas are today .

[@Mnnwer]

He didn't dislike intellectuals, he just disliked the wrong kinds of intellectuals. He disliked the Russian intelligentsia who espoused western liberal ideas. I mean he himself and everyone he knew were also intellectuals, so he clearly thought that there were some value in being part of that class.

[@teddyvabson]

Thank you, at last, someone with a little nuance and sense. I’m not sure how this guy can read Dostoevsky and come to that conclusion with hardly any proof. Someone can easily cherry pick parts of Dostoevsky’s work and prove the opposite.

[@deselby260]

Note the distinction between intellectuals and philosophers. Intellectuals trade in other people's ideas but act as if they are their own.

[@lilyghassemzadeh]

Thank you very much for the precious content.

[@alwaysgreatusa223]

Did he really believe that ordinary criminals took responsibility for their crimes ? I've spent some time in jail myself, and I never met even one inmate who confessed his crime. To a man, they are all completely innocent. Lol

[@salami155]

Did you really believe that ordinary criminals of today would have the same upbringing and culture of 19th century Russian citizens?

[@alwaysgreatusa223]

@@salami155 Criminals are criminals

[@ivanarredondo8481]

that final part is really helpful. thanks fiction beast

[@AhmadKhan-lh3vu]

The only KZbin channel I commented on! Really love you dear.. ❤

[@fbcpraise]

Very well done. I see a little of why his work is so respected. Thank you!

[@dijonstreak]

Awesome dude !! GREAT Presentaion on one of my Favorite Wroters of all time .just happened to come across his Novel Crime and Punishment when i was 18 and had a great everlasting impat on me..i STILL haven;t finshed The Brothers Karamazov. !!!!

[@MrBallynally2]

Congrats on finding 'crime and punishment' at such young age. Same w me. It is his best novel. Bros K is rather convoluted. Too many ideas spun out.

[@TheTricksterCoyote]

Great vid! Thanks for making this. Brothers Karamazov is my favorite novel and I love hearing more about Dostoevsky and the context of his writings. Take care!

[@nicholaskostopulos8631]

Excellent documentary that will lead me to read his novels, especially “Notes from Underground “. Thank you

[@philtheo]

The problem with intellectuals is they care more about ideas than about people. Especially the people who would be most affected by their ideas, for ideas have consequences.

[@oligreen1192]

He was above them all in his truthful literary tales and faith in God.

[@normancherry8732]

Anyone who calls himself an intellectual is effectively proving himself to not be intellectual.

[@kingofthorns203]

What a coincidence to have come across this video as I'm in the middle of Crime and Punishment! Darrick Taylor also just published a series on Dostoevsky in Crisis magazine that I highly recommend.

[@Talpiot8200]

At the risk of sounding pedantic…it’s always wild so see the similarities between the Russian intellectual class of his time, and the intellectuals today. Same critique, same issues. Brilliant man.

[@davidronin1536]

II just ordered the book this video is based on. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

[@richardfox2865]

Your channel is superb. Thanks for your effort. I definitely appreciate the amount of work you put into your topics... good job!

[@vdanger7669]

This is eerily similar to the situation in America today. One party champions the "underclass" but lives in its gated community, progressive Tech bubble."

[@daebong50]

Yes, and the other party tricks the underclass and uses them to support the party leaders and their friends in their elite power and money bubbles and that includes more than anyone else the "leader" of that party.

[@BruvvaJosh]

@@daebong50 let me guess, oRanGe mAn bAD.

[@daebong50]

@@BruvvaJosh Just balancing out what vdanger wrote. Bad/good not the point. You and I aren’t starving. Maybe we’re in a bubble compared to those that are. Really. Best wishes to you.

[@wtice4632]

​@@daebong50thats also the left

[@daebong50]

@@wtice4632 I agree; it's both left and right.

[@ChristianStout]

"An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded." -Brother Dostoevsky, probably

[@JB-gj8pu]

It's the balance between induction and deduction, theory and experimentation. You need both to progress. The worst academics are those who work in fields where ideas are difficult to prove, or can't be disproven at all. I only ever had a single good literature professor and that is because they included 5 centuries of history, culture, language, philosophy, and religion into the curriculum.

[@victorvick1076]

Great intro to Mr. D. You've convinced me to start reading his works, thanks!

[@MaitlandJones]

It's after I spent a couple years working retail after college that helped me to understand how removed from reality intellectuals are. Funny enough I'm still trying to break into academia, I find a good habit of grass touching keeps me rooted in the real. The internet is not the real world, the longer one wastes time on it, the more rotted and weak the mind becomes. I developed the poor habit of listening to KZbin videos while gaming. I consumed too many ideas, as a result it hurt my mental faculties. My mind was stronger when I gamed with only the company of my thoughts, some music, or the still small voice of God.

[@ChefSpinney]

“Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.” ― Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune

[@janedawson1398]

The intellectuals “followed European philosophers on Twitter?” (5:42) I had to rewind it and put on the captions to make sure I heard that correctly. Hilarious that you slipped that in there. 😂

[@meikala2114]

i thought elon had renamed it X so it fitted in with the z zombie meat waves in Ukraine

[@MarioLanzas.]

so basically he didn't hate intellectuals. he hated the posh, classist and detached-from-reality people

[@ShadowMantis702]

Everyone calls others out for being too dumb. NO ONE calls others out for being too smart

[@meikala2114]

that is too smart

[@jeannovacco5136]

This explanation reminds me that elevating mere ideas can lead to a narrowly derived idealism -- which is not as virtuous as we would like to imagine when we fail to maintain reference and living connections to the real experiences of others as well as of ourselves.

[@BC-wo5sc]

That was amazing. Thank you! I couldn't help but think the entire time about the modern left, of which I once smugly identified with. That was until a few years ago when I got out of my echo chamber in the city and away from my fellow pretentious metropolitan elites, and moved a couple of thousand kilometres away to the countryside. Basically all of my beliefs were swiftly challenged and easily dissolved after being exposed to more 'real people' and the real world outside of my bubble. It was humbling and so necessary.

[@rorymosley9356]

What necessarily makes one group of people more “real” than another though? Simply because certain people live a certain way does not make their existence false. And don’t we all live in bubbles? We perceive the world which we interact with. A person living on a farm in Iowa will see the world differently than a person living in the South Bronx. One lives in a bubble surrounded by rural and agricultural life while the other lives in a bubble surrounded by an urban environment. Is one of their lives more worthwhile than the other? Just some food for thought.

[@Hermeneus778]

​@@rorymosley9356yes.

[@JesusIsKingAndSavior]

Simple answer. Iowa rural landscape is the God bestowed reflection of work planted in the earth and nurtured by the miracle of the spark of life in combination with the care taking of humanity to produce abundance and sustain life. There's not the confusion of the ultimately baseless opinions of a scab like concrete social environment keeping one closed in between the earth and sky. One is more or less left alone with their thoughts and God's creation. After high school I lived in a college town-intellectual small city, until my early 30s, and in that span of 12 years observed everyone I knew and myself become more debased and literally crazy. At 30-31 I moved to a rural community and the last ten years have reverted back to sanity and peace, while finding everyone I knew who moved to even larger cities become unglued and hateful and increasingly debased. I'd move to a city in a second if it were 100 yrs ago. Now- No way. Zero benfits and everything I don't want in society

[@Sweeptheleg83]

I think Cities by nature bring out the worst in ppl. Some of my worst experiences have been in cities. As soon as I get into a city there's this claustrophobic feeling that overtakes me. Just the overwhelming feeling of flesh everywhere I look surrounded by concrete and steel. The ppl are nasty and spiteful. Contrast that to country life, where ppl are more spread out, calmer and (to my experience anyway) friendlier. I think it's that closed-in feeling in a city that brings out the worst in ppl. I honestly don't understand anybody who prefers city life to country life. I enjoy the freedom of living in the country.

[@onliwankannoli]

I like smart people, but I do rather dislike people that think they are smart - wrongly or rightly.

[@SCREEVER333]

That was great man, much appreciated.

[@joeblow9657]

As a westerner, I can confirm that we've been blaming others regardless of who is actually at fault since the ancient Romans. We're quite good at it.

[@paulwolstenholme1673]

I found this to be very helpful...so thanks.

[@KarlButIWishIWasntMarx]

Consuming too many ideas is a sin that most of us commit and I had not clue I was doing it. Rest your mind just as you would rest your body. It good to do and think of nothing sometimes.

[@jack-q8y8b]

"Touch grass." - Dostoevsky

[@Ashergbonl]

This is brilliant thank you The poor intellectuals are trapped in their mind, I know as I wrote a book and the more I discovered and wrote the more isolated and self righteous I became. The mind is only 1 of 5 bodies that all need to be aligned to fully operate as a person.

[@rickywinthrop]

I'm a plumber and a self identified intellectual. I spend my days building and designing and toiling with my hands in the filth and dirt to stay gounded (and generate income)and use my brain by night to explore, create and research in an attempt to elevate above all that and breathe the rarified air of thought, reason and theory. That is the frequency of my life, what keeps me balanced and gives me meaning. It has also made me better at both things and I am slowly becoming a force to be reckoned with. People who dont like intellectuals seem to be people without a complex interior life and I find it very hard to relate to them. It must be nice though and I often wish it was in my nature as a skeptical and curious mind can never be turned off, regardless how much dirt gets under my fingernails. Great video!

[@andreagroves8917]

I relate to your description of inner thought exploration vs. outer work, each dimension bootstrapping the other. Over time the two very different realities permeate each other somewhat but not completely. My goal is to facilitate the integration to the degree that thinking facilitates my working (in the real world), and working incites my thinking. With a good bit of extra time left for people. I imagine that eventually I will be able to behave in the world instinctually while feeling integrated much of the time. My path began as a child too young for school, walking around the block out of boredom, waiting for the older neighborhood kids to get back. I recall imagining my view of experience as a limited porthole. Why THIS body, THIS limited view of space and time?

[@didjeikdjdjdjdj137]

It's not that others lack a complex interior, It's that you have an inferiority complex.

[@thehighlightsreel953]

Everyone has a complex interior life.

[@rickywinthrop]

@thehighlightsreel953 Everyone has an interior life of some depth I would assume but as someone who meets a vast number of new people for work and spends enough time with most of them to develop a sense of where they are at and how they think...I would say a complex interior life is certainly not universal or a given in the human species. At least 30% of people I meet seem to be running on their amygdala alone about 90% of the time lol. And for the record I don't place myself at the top of the internal complexity list by any means but clearly have enough going on inside to tell the difference when I meet an NPC type out in the world. My experience training apprentices also exposes me to a wide variety of learning and communication styles which gives me an even greater understanding of the way different minds work and how best to approach them in a teaching capacity. Complexity can also be learned in my experience but does not come as standard equipment right out of the womb.

[@wtice4632]

​@@rickywinthropA plumber whos full of sh*t, ironic.

[@kevinwhelan9607]

This was excellent- thanks for posting.

[@DmitryKoleev]

I love Fedor Mikhailovich. He changed my mind and my life. I'm so happy that I met him and I'm so glad than I'm Russian because I can read him in original. And thank you too much for your vidios. There is a special place for you in heaven

[@kulturzivilisation548]

Дорогой Дмитрий, Достоевский - главная причина моей любви к России, её языку, её культуре и её истории. Кто знает, когда - нибудь я тоже смогу читать его книги прямо на русском языке... Привет из Южного полушария, дорогой брат!

[@DmitryKoleev]

Очень приятно это слышать мой друг❤

[@BigBrother04]

Jealous of the Russian part, I wish I could read Dostoevsky in original. But the French translations are better than English so I read or listened to those.

[@1The1Sun1Teacher1]

An honest evaluation of intellectuals. Thanks for posting. Again, refreshing.

[@WilliamDoyle-rb6lt]

Excellent presentation.

[@brownvoltaire2722]

i never realized i needed this,thanks for sharing❤

[@bodhisoha]

Brilliant. This is the reason why Dostoevsky is a giant in a world of midgets (the world of "letters").

[@ClassicJukeboxBand]

Personally, I find the smartest people I know have certain qualities in common: 1. They assume they are wrong 2. They question most everything 3. They master critical thinking skills 4. They are extremely humble, and assume they know nothing 5. They are extremely curious 6. They are never satisfied with what they know, and practice life-long learning One the other hand, some of the dumbest people I know also have certain personality traits in common: 1. They assume they are always right 2. They believe they are mentally superior to others 3. They are morally certain about what they believe 4. They are arrogant and ignore any facts or opinions that don't align with their views 5. They don't seek the truth, but just believe what confirms their ideas 6. They believe their education or certification makes them automatically correct 7. They have an inability so separate emotional thought from logical thought Just a few things I noticed between what I believe to be smart people and dumb people...

[@jaspernewcombe7502]

How is the average person supposed to feel as though they have any ability to be important to the world if they have no means to engage in a discussion outside of their incedibly restricted sphere of immediate concerns. Peoples immediate concerns in the west mostly consist of going to work and then having to survive outside of that in a social desert. Peoples contribution to the community no longer buys them social security, or belonging, unless you count being able to match your peers in terms of material wealth and see that as a good measure of belonging, as the same. People want to feel important to the world in some way and i don't know about telling them to only be concerned about things which directly impact them

[@strummercash5601]

Dostoevsky was my “major author” when earning a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. (Students were required to choose one “major” and two “minor” authors in both prose and poetry. The designators of major and minor were not meant to distinguish a hierarchy of writers, but designated those we would read, research, and study primarily. Ergo, my poetic Major Author was Pablo Neruda, as I had translated several of his poems from Spanish to English then compared mine to other translations. James Wright was a Minor Author as I had not committed the same amount of research, even though James Wright is my favorite poet.)

[@_pawter]

That was a really interesting, coherent analysis. Subscribed. Though a quick scan of the comments confirms your assessment: "now everyone is an intellectual". Often due to possesion of recently devalued undegraduate degrees (I know as I used to grant passes for them) modern people have grotesquely elevated notions of their paltry intellect. How deeply and condignly Dostoevsky would've depised them: the idea of stopping at a building site to talk to dirty people who work with their hands would cause them Woke hysteria. Большое спасибо. Вы побудили меня перечитать немного Достоевского перед тем, как я приеду в гости этим летом.

[@manduvaprasadrao5391]

Intellectuality verified by reality is the need of the hour

[@swami15]

"Often due to possesion of recently devalued undegraduate degrees (I know as I used to grant passes for them) modern people have grotesquely elevated notions of their paltry intellect." Sounds like Dunning/Kruger Syndrome.

[@adeleinetheartist8267]

​@@swami15 Society as a whole is suffering from the Dunning-Krueger effect on a global scale.

[@leemionis9241]

I appreciate this video quite a lot. It crystallized my thoughts about intellectualism. I’ve always thought these things and now I get to see that other folks do as as well. Dostoyevsky was a genius using his characters to point out aspects of human nature that can collectively get us nowhere and in doing so lead to an amazing amount of pain.

[@sayantandas1164]

Absolutely amazing

[@MrSvinkoyaschMrSvinkoyasch]

We think too much, we feel too little. More than cleverness we need kindness...

[@chipbutty3645]

Everyone I’ve met who invests themselves in their emotions has been extremely selfish. Kindness is thinking, thinking about how ur action have consequence beyond yourself

[@gingerbreadzak]

00:13 📚 Fyodor Dostoevsky disliked intellectuals because he believed they lacked a connection to reality. 01:47 💡 Dostoevsky saw intellectuals as merchants of ideas, while philosophers were inventors of original ideas. 03:11 📖 Dostoevsky's own experience in Siberia revealed the disconnect between intellectuals and the common Russian people. 05:02 🤝 Intellectuals were hypocritical, pretending to be allies of the poor but having little in common with them. 06:30 💼 Intellectuals often lacked accountability and tried to rationalize their actions, avoiding responsibility. 08:48 🧠 Intellectuals relied too heavily on rationality, neglecting the importance of emotional and cultural connections. 11:06 🌍 Dostoevsky believed that intellectuals lived in their heads and lacked a true connection to reality. 12:14 🤖 Dostoevsky thought that an excessive focus on reason alone turned people into selfish robots and nihilists. 14:33 🌱 Dostoevsky's message today is to balance intellectual consumption with real-world experiences, take responsibility, and maintain clarity of mind.

[@schurlbirkenbach1995]

Alltogether a wise man.

[@bdfunke]

I need to read Dostoyevsky. His work sounds prescient to this day of age.

[@reuvenpolonskiy2544]

Boy was he right

[@arindambanerjee5030]

I deeply enjoyed the video! Thanks!

[@everlinkd]

I wonder what he would think about the current Russian opposition. Because looking at them now, it seems like not much has changed since 19th century... Your words about intellectuals being merchants of ideas also resonate strong with the current state. I always thought that in the late 20th century, with the advent of global planetary scale marketing, what was previously known as noosphere became discourse in which any transformation of ideas is possible, for a price. But it looks like this process had started long before that.

[@justanothermortal1373]

So much for communism

[@orrorsaness5942]

Everyone with an iPhone is an intellectual now, even in Siberia!!!

[@adeleinetheartist8267]

​@@orrorsaness5942 Gotta admit that the Internet turned people into pseudo-intellectuals.

[@KageMinowara]

I like the idea of going out and talking to people but I have no idea how to go about it. The city I live in is an emotionally cold one, and the culture is one where no one talks to someone that they do not already know. If you walk up to someone you do not know and try to talk to them they will think you are either insane or trying to scam them.

[@AbbyWulf-bw1kg]

Could it be said he equated intellectuals with elites?

[@meikala2114]

only if they have no power, elites with power are the tsar and the generals and the oligarchs that support them