Liberty and Authority

Social and Political Philosophy: What is Liberty? 

Philosophical Category:

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1822-1881)

This a chapter in Dostoevsky's book titled The Brothers Karamazov. The brothers one named Ivan(an intellectual who has grown skeptical of traditional beliefs) and the other Alyosha (a man of faith, training to become a future Christian priest).
Ivan is telling Alyosha about a story he has written about a Spanish Cardinal called The Grand Inquisitor. Ivan imagines Christ returning to earth and meeting this Cardinal who has been responsible for burning a hundred heretics (def: heretics are people who hold unorthodox religious beliefs) the day before.
The Grand Inquisitor recognizes Christ and imprisons him. Then, Ivan explains why Christ must also be sentenced to death by fire.
In the eyes of this Grand Inquisitor, Christ's heresy consists of the value he placed on one's freedom of choice and conscience.
The Grand Inquisitor  reviews Christ's three temptations and notes that in each case he could have chosen to enslave people and thereby make them happy, but he did not do so for the sake of leaving them free:
 

In the first temptation; Christ would not turn stones into bread, he thwarted our desire to have someone to worship.
When Christ refused to fling himself from the top of a temple and being saved by angels, he rejected the needs for "miracles, mystery, and authority."
 

Finally, when Christ would not take the kingdoms of the world, he turned down the opportunity to give people unity and peace on earth For the Grand Inquisitor, people are weak by nature. He believes that all that man seeks on earth is "someone to worship, some one to keep his conscience, and some means of uniting all in one unanimous and harmonious ant-heap." One freedom Christ championed was different from the negative freedom from constraint.

Liberty and Authority

• The attitude of Roman Catholicism (Jesuits: The Society of Jesus): "All has been given by Thee to the Pope," they say, "and all, therefore, is still in the Pope's hands, and there is no need for Thee to come now at all. Thou must not meddle for the time, at lest". (p 412)
• The Cardinal claims it as a merit for himself and his Church that at last they have vanquished freedom and have done so to make men happy (note that the Cardinal is talking about burning people to death, the act of auto da fe;to understand the full scope of the Inquisition, look up: The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition)

• The Cardinal begins to explain to the imprisoned Christ why he is imprisoned. As you shall read in the introduction of this reading, also found above, the Cardinal finds that Christ's denial of the three temptations has lead humanity to freedom . And His denial of the three temptations have lead humans astray from the Church and has lead humanity to disobedience.  These three temptations are as followed:
1. The Cardinal has paraphrased: "Turn them into bread, and mankind will run after Thee like a flock of sheep, grateful and obedient, Thou forever trembling, lest Thou withdraw Thy hand and deny them Thy bread." (p 414). Christ's intention in this instance was not to deprive people from their freedom. He found that that bread was not worthy if it brought obedience along with it. The Cardinal is convinced that men can never be free because they are weak, and vicious, worthless and rebellious.
2. The Cardinal goes on: "Choosing 'bread', Thou wouldst have satisfied the universal and everlasting craving of humanity-to find someone to worship". In denying to grant bread, Christ had allowed people to keep their conscience and not take their freedom. "for the secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for...Instead of taking possession of men's freedom, Thou didst increase it, and burdened the spiritual kingdom of mankind with its sufferings for ever."
3. When the "wise and dread spirit" asks Christ to fling himself from the top of the temple to prove that he is son of God, because, the Son of God would be carried by angles protecting him, He denies.

•  The Cardinal establishes "three powers, three powers alone, able to conquer and to hold captive forever the conscience of these impotent rebels for their happiness--these forces are miracle, mystery and authority."