Tolstoy's Determinism: Where does it originate?

Tolstoy's Determinism: Where does it originate?

Like Tara, I was also struck by Tolstoy's comments in the first chapter of Book Nine. While Tolstoy has tried to diminish the individual's impact on history throughout his novel, this particularly section expresses his historical theories more explicitly and takes them to an even greater extreme. Rather than simply minimizing an individual's ability to influence history, Tolstoy now seeks to establish that individuals are completely incapable of changing the course of history, which is fully determined. While I don't necessarily agree with this view, I think it is interesting to consider the moral implications of such an understanding of history. In fact, this view seems to render human actions somewhat irrelevant from a moral standpoint, and may help explain why most of Tolstoy's characters seem to be morally vague, as we discussed in class on Monday.

As Tolstoy says, "Man...is an unconscious instrument in the attainment of the historic, universal, aims of humanity" (Gibian 537). As Tara does, I wonder exactly how these universal aims of humanity are defined. However, I also wonder where these aims originate. In other words, it would seem that because the actions directed toward these aims are determined, the aims themselves must also be determined. By whom/what are they determined? This seems to be a gaping hole in Tolstoy's system of history that can only be filled with an understanding of his views of religion. I know that Brennan mentioned Tolstoy's religious views on Monday, but could we perhaps discuss them in greater detail?

On a related note, I found it rather interesting that in the sections immediately following Tolstoy's discussion of determined history, Napoleon repeatedly speaks of the reign that Alexander might have had: "And yet what a splendid reign your master might have had!" (Gibian 554). Obviously, Tolstoy has directed a great deal of energy toward attacking Napoleon and his perceived influence on history throughout the novel. This seems to be Tolstoy's latest attack on Napoleon, and rather humorously identifies Napoleon himself as someone who misunderstands the way that history is made.