From Kant to Schiller to Dostoevsky: Morality and Aesthetics in The Brothers Karamazov

The aim of this article is to trace a specific influence from Immanuel Kant to Fyodor Dostoevsky, through Friedrich Schiller. I do so by utilizing Anton Barba-Kay’s arguments about Schiller’s philosophical reactions to Kant’s moral and aesthetic philosophies. Barba-Kay argues that Kant’s moral maxim of duty raises a problem of “aesthetic visibility,” opening an epistemic gap between external action and internal intention. In response to this widening gap between the external and the internal, Schiller does what Kant refused to do and combines the moral with the aesthetic. In reaction to Kant, Schiller posits two moral/aesthetic types: “Grace” and “Dignity.” After showing the general influence Schiller had on Dostoevsky, I show how these two Schillerian moral/aesthetic types play central roles in The Brothers Karamazov. I close by showing one literary technique Dostoevsky uses to overcome the problem of aesthetic visibility which Barba-Kay fears.