Dialogue in Dostoevsky does not mean simple communication, as we generally
understand this notion today. In modern times, we often understand dialogue in the sense
of rhetorical persuasion, which is always based on one or another power and with which
we want to convince others of our right, our truth as the only one correct. When others
do not accept this »absolute truth« possessed by someone or a group, we are a step away
from imposing this truth, which always includes the threat of force and consequently means
a degradation of human dignity and personal freedom. The article presents the meaning and understanding of dialogue in Dostoevsky's works
through the phenomenological-hermeneutic and analytical-synthetic methods. Dostoevsky
opens a new dimension to the understanding of dialogue, which is in constitutive connection
to be by understanding freedom, love, identity, beauty, faith, and meaning. »To be« (lat. existere) in Dostoevsky means »to be in dialogue«. In this sense, dialogue has an anchor at the
ontological level and belongs to order of love (ordo amoris). But love is not some current
mood or some emotional ecstasy, it is the basic principle of existence, action and life. In this
context, love is the culmination of dialogue. The paradigm of dialogue in Dostoevsky thus
represents the modus operandi of universal dialogue. Undoubtedly, the key concept that will
fundamentally mark the common future of humanity and the earth is precisely »dialogue«.
Dostoevsky's attitude towards Jews is markedly ambivalent. This isn’t really surprising, since
ambivalence is written into the very DNA of Dostoevsky and his work. The writer resolves the
ambivalence of the complex »Jewish question« on a genuinely dialogical level, the constitutive
element of which is active love.
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