We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Part IV - Science and Technology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2023
Lev Tolstoy was not hostile to the natural sciences, although the impression that he was is understandable given his critical remarks about contemporary medicine. Throughout his life, Tolstoy remained consistently aware of developments in the natural sciences, and if some of his polemical representations about them are taken out of context, it is possible to misinterpret his positions. This chapter places three of his more prominent negative engagements with the sciences in context to show how those views emerged from specific local circumstances. First, his dismissal of university education in the sciences is juxtaposed with his own education in Kazan. Second, his very prominent rejection in Anna Karenina of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection adopted a specific ethical stance in the context of a vibrant Russian debate about the biological and philosophical limitations of Darwinism. And, finally, his satirizing of séances and “spiritualism” in his play The Fruits of Enlightenment is examined as emerging from his domestic surroundings.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
