Hello, everyone. I'm Stephen West. This is Philosophies This. So today we're talking about the book

Demons. It's one of the five great novels people say you just have to read if you're going to be

reading some Dostoevsky. And as usual, this podcast is going to be covering the philosophical

themes of this book, you know, what Dostoevsky was going for in the context of the thought of his time. What I mean is this is not intended to be like a book

club where I'm telling you what I think about the book. No, this isn't my opinion about how this

character reminds me of my Uncle Murray or something. And more than that, this episode isn't

intended to be a replacement for actually reading the book. Just feel the need to say that

every time as we get started with one of these. Another thing to say here is that this is now the third book from Dostoevsky that we've covered,

and notes from underground and crime and punishment will be referenced throughout this entire episode,

so just a heads up there. But that said, how do you begin to describe a book like demons?

It's one of the most complex books Dostoevsky ever wrote in his lifetime.

I mean, there's a lot to this book. It's about 750 pages long. It's full of symbolism.

For whatever it's worth, it's the book Nietzsche stumbled upon in a bookstore one day

that made him a fan of Dostoevsky as a thinker. I guess I'll try to start this way.

Remember how I said that crime and punishment may look like one kind of

book on the surface, but that it's actually something deeper than that for Dostoevsky. That crime and

punishment kind of masquerades as a book that's about a guy that murders a couple people,

but that the true drama of the book is in his internal experience and his slow, painful

coming to terms with his relationship to something greater than himself, and then further finding a way to consent to that fact.

Well, if that's what crime and punishment is, then Demons by Dostoevsky is a book that

masquerades as a political novel.

It's a book that seems to be about a group of revolutionaries, a bunch of people upset about

...