Love life more than the meaning of it?
Fyodor Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov, Book V, Chapter III (1880) Translated by Constance Garnett
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When and why it was written
- When
- From The Brothers Karamazov, 1880.
- Why
- Ivan asks this of his brother Alyosha in their long conversation in the tavern.
What it means
Alyosha's answer is yes: love life first, before logic, and the meaning will follow.
It reverses the usual order, in which we want reasons before we let ourselves love anything.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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The Brothers Karamazov, 1880
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