REL 2000 M2 The Brothers Karamazov

In his great novel The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky famously said, “Without God, everything is permissible.”  The line comes up in the context of whether it is permissible for one of the brothers to kill their father, an evil man.  Do you agree with Dostoyevsky or not, and why or why not.  

Yes, I agree with Dostoyevsky. A society without God or reference to some supernatural power demands revenge for evil deeds. There is no forgiveness which is practiced in such communities. The absence of God in the community means that Satan is in control. Barker stated that God represents good things while Satan represents bad things in the community. Commonly said an idle mind is the devil’s workshop the community members will think it is right to commit murder for a person who is a thorn in the society. The person committing the killings will be considered a hero for he has eliminated a problem in the community. Dostoyevsky brother will be hailed in the community for having eliminated the bad man from disturbing the society.

However, if the action of revenge is encouraged in the society, there will be no one left in the society at the end of the day. According to Shaha, a person who kills another will have committed an evil deed and will be labelled as the next target of death squad. A vicious cycle will be created where all those who kill are labeled as evil doers and necessitate them being killed. The killing will spiral in the community to reduce the number of persons in the society. At the end of the day, there will be only one person remaining after all people have been executed. The one person remaining will feel they are too lonely to live in the world alone and will opt to commit suicide than stay alone.

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