The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Tolstoy, Leo

doi:10.1093/owc/9780199669882.003.0007

Cited by 11 publications

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“…Tolstoy's (2008) [1886] The Death of Ivan Ilych presents a paragon account of a special sort of regret, one that can only happen at the end of life – namely, deathbed regret 3 . Yet the story has some unique features.…”

Section: Remorse Amongst the Varieties Of Regretmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Remorse and the Ledger Theory of Meaning

Scripter¹

2022

Philosophy

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A common idea about assessing meaning in life is that one draws up a list of those various positive values that one has achieved and subtracts from it one's negative deeds in life. The resulting balance is the meaningfulness of one's existence. I call this the ledger theory. Drawing on the work of Raimond Gaita and Julian Barnes's novel The Sense of an Ending, I argue for a phenomenology of remorse that gives us reason to reject the ledger theory. Even those agents whose lives have been exceptionally meaningful in some respects may remain haunted by their past. Certain sorts of misdeeds – those that involve significant, irreparable damage – leave life marred in such a way that the negative remains, even in the face of all the meaningful deeds of life.

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Section: Remorse Amongst the Varieties Of Regretmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For this view, see Bittner (1992). Also see the response to Bittner's view in Wallace (2013, ch. 2); also relevant is Nussbaum (2017).…”

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confidence: 99%

Remorse and the Ledger Theory of Meaning

Scripter¹

2022

Philosophy

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“…"Man is behind himself and thus finds himself always in need" (p. 46)especially, perhaps, in those situations in which we imagine otherwise, that is, in those situations in which we believe we "have it all." Tolstoy's (1886Tolstoy's ( /1960 novella The Death of Ivan Ilych is a prime example of exactly this delusional belief and its eventual undoing. Faced with the reality of his imminent death, Ilych looked back upon his life, which had seemed so right and good, only to find wreckage.…”

Section: Evil and Goodmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tolstoy’s (1886/1960) novella The Death of Ivan Ilych is a prime example of exactly this delusional belief and its eventual undoing. Faced with the reality of his imminent death, Ilych looked back upon his life, which had seemed so right and good, only to find wreckage.…”

Section: Evil and Goodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commentary: The theological moment of the life story.

Freeman

2018

Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

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College of the Holy CrossThis article, a commentary on John Manoussakis's (2017) book The Ethics of Time: A Phenomenology and Hermeneutics of Change, has as its primary focus the process by which the reconstruction of the past, via memory and narrative, can lead to the reconstruction of the future, constituting a movement in the direction of the good. Drawing on a variety of literary texts and significant personal experience, it is argued herein that certain relationships frequently thought be either independent of, or even at odds with, one another-notably, the relationships between recollection and development, evil and good, and affliction and beauty-are indissolubly connected. By recognizing these connections, we may be better poised to discern both the centrality of time in understanding the ideas at hand and what might cautiously be considered the theological moment of the life story.

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“…The fact of our vulnerability erupts across all human activity. We are wounded by sarcasm and unkindness, but equally by falling off a ladder (Tolstoy, 2001).…”

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Vulnerability and existence theory in catastrophic times

Turner

2021

Journal of Classical Sociology

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‘Existence theory’ is a bold and imaginative contribution to social theory. Baert, Morgan and Ushiyama (hereafter ‘the authors’) draw on a broad range of existing approaches from Heidegger to Schutz to build a social theory that draws attention to time, the stages of life and the unavoidably precarious nature of human existence. At the same time, they pay careful attention to the social context in which time and existential precariousness combine to form what they call ‘the existential ladder’. Our lives are to some degree measured by the ‘existential milestones’ that we confront over time. These are not invariable stages, but they traditionally included entry into the work force, courtship and marriage, parenthood and maturity, and old age and death. There are in addition norms that attend these transitions. For example, procreation and parenthood are not for the elderly. Old fathers with young children are regarded as foolish if not reprehensible. Failure to pass through the milestones at the appropriate time may result in disappointments, stress and unhappiness.

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The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Abstract: I During an adjournment of the Melvinsky trial in the main chamber of the Law Courts, members of the court and the public prosecutor foregathered in Ivan Egorovich Shebek’s chambers, and the conversation turned to the famous Krasov case. Fedor Vasilievich was arguing heatedly that...

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Remorse and the Ledger Theory of Meaning

Remorse and the Ledger Theory of Meaning

Commentary: The theological moment of the life story.

Vulnerability and existence theory in catastrophic times

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