"Reason and Feelings". Interpretation of concepts

Possible formulations of essay topics

1.Why is it always difficult to choose between your heart and your mind?

3.How do the mind and feelings manifest themselves in extreme situations?

5. When “the mind and heart are not in harmony”? (Griboedov A.S. “Woe from Wit”)

6. Is it possible to achieve some kind of balance (harmony) between reason and feeling?

7. “Reason and feelings are two forces that equally need each other” (V.G. Belinsky).

UNIVERSAL THESIS

Guys, I remind you that you can use the quotes below as epigraphs for an essay or abstracts for a specific topic.

Ferdowsi, Persian poet and philosopher: “Let your mind guide your affairs. He will not allow your soul to be harmed.”

W. Shakespeare, English poet and playwright of the Renaissance: “Seeing and feeling is being, thinking is living.

N. Chamfort, French writer: “Our reason sometimes brings us no less grief than our passions.”

G. Flaubert, French writer: “We can be the master of our actions, but we are not free in our feelings.”

L. Feuerbach, German philosopher: “What are the distinguishing marks of the truly human in man? Mind, will and heart. A perfect person has the power of thinking, the power of will and the power of feeling. The power of thinking is the light of knowledge, the power of will is the energy of character, the power of feeling is love.”

A.S. Pushkin, Russian poet and writer : “I want to live so that I can think and suffer.”

N.V. Gogol, Russian writer: “Reason is undoubtedly the highest ability, but it is acquired only by victory over passions.”

Universal introduction

Life often presents a person with a choice. We must make our decision with our “head” or “heart”. Reason is the ability to think logically, to understand the laws of the development of the world, comprehending the meaning and connection of phenomena. Therefore, reason as the rational component of human consciousness gives us the opportunity to think and act based on logic and facts. Feelings are irrational in nature, since they are based on emotions. Famous psychologist N.I. Kozlov compared the mind to a coachman who sees where a cart drawn by desire horses needs to go. If horses are running on a beaten track, the reins can be loosened. And if there is an intersection ahead, then a strong hand from the coachman is needed. We need will.

Of course, this is an allegory. But its meaning is clear: reason and feeling are the most important components of a person’s inner world, influencing his aspirations and actions. In my opinion, a person should always strive for harmony between the mind and feelings. This is the secret of true happiness. To prove my point, I will turn to works of Russian literature...

SELECTION OF ESSAYS No. 1 on the block “Reason and Feeling”

Rene Descartes, the French philosopher, said: “I think, therefore I exist” (“Cogito, ergo sum”). Does it follow from this that reason is superior to feelings? Probably, on the contrary, a person’s mental activity exists only thanks to his consciousness and ability to think. It only seems to us that a person is divided into parts and is always fighting inside with himself: the mind calls for prudent actions, and the heart resists and acts on a whim. But our thinking is an attribute of the soul, because the soul shapes our thought. Is there any confirmation of this assumption in Russian literature?

In Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's story “Student” we see a rather dreary landscape of a spring evening, gradually turning into a depressing picture of thick night darkness. Theological Academy student Ivan Velikopolsky goes home “with an urge.” The weather, the night, the cold, numb fingers, hunger - everything makes Ivan sad, his thoughts are joyless. He imagines that people were just as unhappy under Rurik, and under Ivan the Terrible, and under Peter: poverty, illness, ignorance, melancholy, darkness and oppression. Having met two simple, village women in the widows' gardens, he suddenly begins to tell (on the eve of Easter) the story of the Apostle Peter. The textbook narrative gives rise to an amazing response in the souls of women. Vasilisa, continuing to smile, suddenly began to cry: tears “…abundantly, flowed down her cheeks, and she shaded her face from the fire with her sleeve, as if ashamed of her tears, and Lukerya, looking motionless at the student, blushed, and her expression became heavy, tense, like a person holding back severe pain.” This reaction to his story again made Ivan think: what caused Vasilisa’s tears? Just his ability to tell stories or his indifference to the fate of the Apostle Peter? “And joy suddenly stirred in his soul, and he even stopped for a minute to catch his breath.” So suddenly thoughts turned into feelings, Ivan walked the rest of the way in a state of inexpressibly sweet expectation of happiness, unknown, mysterious, “and life seemed to him delightful, wonderful and full of high meaning.”

But this doesn't always happen. Sometimes a feeling gives rise to a thought, and a thought gives birth to an action. In Ivan Alekseevich Bunin’s story “Easy Breathing,” the main character Olya Meshcherskaya committed a crime: she succumbed to an unknown feeling of attraction. Whether mischief, a thirst for adventure, or the adoring glances of her father’s friend, Alexei Mikhailovich, led the girl to a wrong, stupid act, and aroused thoughts about her sinfulness and criminality. “I don’t understand how this could happen, I’m crazy, I never thought I was like this! Now I have only one way out... I feel such disgust for him that I can’t get over it!..” - Olya will write in her diary. How and when did her plan for self-destruction mature? The power of feeling led the heroine of the story to a terrible ending. Death took away femininity itself, beauty and that light breath that is so lacking in the world...

Reason and feeling... What comes first... It seems to me that this is a question for specialists. Literature provides reading options and describes the possible development of the relationship between reason and emotion. Everyone chooses for themselves what to be guided by, what to subordinate their behavior to: run on the lead of feelings to the edge of the abyss, or calmly, carefully determine a plan of action and act not to please the feeling, but wisely, without destroying your good life...

WHAT RULES THE WORLD: REASON OR FEELINGS? No. 2

Many fundamental questions that arise again and again in every generation among the majority of thinking people do not and cannot have a concrete answer, and all reasoning and debate on this matter is nothing more than empty polemics. What is a sense of life? What is more important: to love or to be loved? What are feelings, God and man on the scale of the universe? Reasoning of this kind also includes the question of in whose hands is the supremacy over the world - in the cold fingers of reason or in the strong and passionate embrace of feelings? It seems to me that in our world everything is a priori organic, and the mind can have some meaning only in conjunction with feelings - and vice versa. A world in which everything is subject only to reason is utopian, and the complete dominance of human feelings and passions leads to excessive eccentricity, impulsiveness and tragedies, such as those described in romantic works. However, if we approach the question posed directly, omitting all sorts of “buts,” then we can come to the conclusion that, of course, in the world of people, vulnerable beings who need support and emotions, it is feelings that take on a managerial role. It is on love, on friendship, on spiritual connection that a person’s true happiness is built, even if he himself actively denies it.

Russian literature presents many contradictory personalities who unsuccessfully deny the need for feelings and emotions in their lives and proclaim reason as the only true category of existence. This, for example, is the hero of the novel M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time". Pechorin made his choice towards a cynical and cold attitude towards people as a child, when faced with misunderstanding and rejection from the people around him. It was after his feelings were rejected that the hero decided that the “salvation” from such emotional experiences would be the complete denial of love, tenderness, care and friendship. The only true way out, a defensive reaction, Grigory Aleksandrovich chose mental development: he read books, communicated with interesting people, analyzed society and “played” with people’s feelings, thereby compensating for his own lack of emotions, but this still did not help replace simple human happiness. In pursuit of mental activity, the hero completely forgot how to make friends, and the moment when sparks of a warm and tender feeling of love still lit up in his heart, he forcibly suppressed them, forbidding himself to be happy, tried to replace it with travel and beautiful landscapes, but in the end he lost every desire and desire to live. It turns out that without feelings and emotions, any activity of Pechorin reflected on his fate in black and white colors and did not bring him any satisfaction.

The hero of the novel I.S. found himself in a similar situation. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons". The difference between Bazarov and Pechorin is that he defended his position in relation to feelings, creativity, faith in a dispute, formed his own philosophy, built on denial and destruction, and even had a follower. Evgeniy persistently and fruitfully engaged in scientific activities and devoted all his free time to self-development, but the fanatical desire to destroy everything that is not subject to reason turned against him. The entire nihilistic theory of the hero was shattered by his unexpected feelings for a woman, and this love not only cast a shadow of doubt and confusion on all of Eugene’s activities, but also greatly shook his worldview position. It turns out that any, even the most desperate attempts to destroy feelings and emotions in oneself are nothing compared to the seemingly insignificant, but such a strong feeling of love.

Probably, the resistance of reason and feelings has always been and will be in our lives - this is the essence of man, a creature that is “amazingly vain, truly incomprehensible and eternally wavering.” But it seems to me that in this totality, in this confrontation, in this uncertainty lies all the charm of human life, all its excitement and interest.

ESSAY No. 3 on the block “Reason and Feeling”

Reason and feeling...What is it? These are the two most important forces, two

components of the inner world of every person. Both of these forces

equally need each other. The mental organization of a person is very complex. The situations that happen and happen to us are very different. One of them is when our feelings prevail over reason. Another situation is characterized by the predominance of reason over feelings. There is also a third, when a person achieves harmony, this means that the mind and feelings influence the mental organization of a person in exactly the same way.

The topic of reason and feeling is interesting to many writers. Reading works of world fiction, including Russian, we come across many such examples that tell us about the manifestation of different situations in the lives of fiction heroes

works when an internal conflict occurs: feelings oppose reason. Literary heroes very often find themselves faced with a choice between the dictates of feeling and the prompting of reason.

Thus, in Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza” we see how the nobleman Erast falls in love with the poor peasant girl Liza. Lisa is madly in love with Erast. The author observes the change in Liza’s feelings. Confusion, sadness, insane joy, anxiety, despair, shock - these are the feelings that filled the girl’s heart. Erast, weak and flighty, has lost interest in Lisa, he doesn’t think about anything, he’s a reckless person. Satiety sets in and a desire to free oneself from a boring connection sets in. The moment of love is beautiful, but reason gives long life and strength to feelings. Lisa hopes to regain her lost happiness, but it’s all in vain. Deceived in her best hopes and feelings, she forgets her soul and throws herself into the pond near the Simonov Monastery. The girl trusts the movements of her heart and lives only by “tender passions.” For Lisa, the loss of Erast is tantamount to the loss of life. Ardentness and ardor drive her. to death. Reading the story by N. M. Karamzin, we are convinced that “reason and feelings are two forces that equally need each other.”

In the novel by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy you can find several scenes and

episodes related to this topic. L.N. Tolstoy's favorite heroine, Natasha Rostova, met and fell in love with Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. After Prince Andrei left abroad, Natasha was very sad for a long time, without leaving her room. She is very lonely without her loved one. During these difficult days, Anatol Kuragin meets in her life. He looked at Natasha with an “admiring, affectionate gaze.” The girl was recklessly infatuated with Anatole. The love of Natasha and Andrey was put to the test. Unable to keep her promise to wait for her beloved, she betrayed him. The young girl is too young and inexperienced in matters of the heart. But a pure soul tells her that she is doing wrong. Why did Rostova fall in love with Kuragin? She saw in him a person close to her. This love story ended very sadly.

People are guided by different impulses. Sometimes they are controlled by sympathy, a warm attitude, and they forget about the voice of reason. Humanity can be divided into two halves. Some constantly analyze their behavior; they are used to thinking through every step. Such individuals are practically impossible to deceive. However, it is extremely difficult for them to arrange their personal life. Because from the moment they meet a potential soul mate, they begin to look for benefits and try to derive a formula for ideal compatibility. Therefore, noticing such a mentality, those around them move away from them.

Others are completely susceptible to the call of the senses. When falling in love, it is difficult to notice even the most obvious realities. Therefore, they are often deceived and suffer greatly from this.

The complexity of relationships between representatives of different sexes is that at different stages of relationships, men and women use too much a reasonable approach or, on the contrary, trust the choice of behavior to their hearts.

The presence of fiery feelings, of course, distinguishes humanity from the animal world, but without iron logic and some calculation it is impossible to build a cloudless future.

There are many examples of people suffering because of their feelings. They are vividly described in Russian and world literature. As an example, we can choose Leo Tolstoy’s work “Anna Karenina”. If the main character had not fallen in love recklessly, but had trusted the voice of reason, she would have remained alive, and the children would not have had to experience the death of their mother.

Both reason and feelings must be present in consciousness in approximately equal proportions, then there is a chance for absolute happiness. Therefore, in some situations one should not refuse the wise advice of older and more intelligent mentors and relatives. There is a popular wisdom: “A smart person learns from the mistakes of others, and a fool learns from his own.” If you draw the correct conclusion from this expression, you can pacify the impulses of your feelings in some cases, which can have a detrimental effect on your fate.

Although sometimes it is very difficult to make an effort on yourself. Especially if sympathy for a person overwhelms. Some feats and self-sacrifices were performed out of great love for faith, country, and one’s own duty. If the armies used only cold calculation, they would hardly raise their banners above the conquered heights. It is unknown how the Great Patriotic War would have ended if not for the love of the Russian people for their land, family and friends.

Essay option 2

Reason or feelings? Or maybe something else? Can reason be combined with feelings? Every person asks himself this question. When you are faced with two opposites, one side shouts, choose reason, the other shouts that without feelings there is nowhere. And you don’t know where to go and what to choose.

The mind is a necessary thing in life, thanks to it we can think about the future, make our plans and achieve our goals. Thanks to our mind we become more successful, but it is our feelings that make us human. Feelings are not inherent to everyone and they can be different, both positive and negative, but they are the ones that make us do unimaginable things.

Sometimes, thanks to feelings, people perform such unrealistic actions that they had to achieve this with the help of reason for years. So what should you choose? Everyone chooses for themselves; by choosing the mind, a person will follow one path and, perhaps, will be happy; by choosing feelings, a person is promised a completely different path. No one can predict in advance whether the chosen path will be good for him or not; we can only draw conclusions at the end. As for the question whether reason and feelings can cooperate with each other, I think they can. People can love each other, but understand that in order to start a family, they need money, and for this they need to work or study. In this case, reason and feelings work together.

I think the two only start to work together when you grow up. While a person is small, he has to choose between two roads; it is very difficult for a small person to find common ground between reason and feeling. Thus, a person always faces a choice, every day he has to fight with it, because sometimes the mind is able to help in a difficult situation, and sometimes the feelings pull out of a situation where the mind would be powerless.

Short essay

Many people believe that reason and feelings are two things that are completely incompatible with each other. But as for me, these are two parts of one whole. There are no feelings without reason and vice versa. We think about everything we feel, and sometimes when we think, feelings appear. These are two parts that create an idyll. If at least one of the components is missing, then all actions will be in vain.

For example, when people fall in love, they must include their mind, since it is he who can evaluate the entire situation and tell the person whether he made the right choice.

The mind helps not to make mistakes in serious situations, and feelings are sometimes able to intuitively suggest the right path, even if it seems unrealistic. Mastering two components of one whole is not as simple as it sounds. On the path of life you will have to face considerable difficulties until you learn to control and find the right side of these components. Of course, life is not perfect and sometimes you need to turn off one thing.

You can't keep balance all the time. Sometimes you need to trust your feelings and take a leap forward; this will be an opportunity to feel life in all its colors, regardless of whether the choice is the right one or not.

Essay on the topic Reason and feelings with arguments.

Final essay on literature grade 11.

The worst month for birds is fierce February. Winter is at war with the coming spring, having no desire to give in, and our small friends suffer from this.

Essay on the topic “Mind and Feelings”

Reason and feelings are often contradictory. So, a person may feel one thing, but his mind will tell him something completely different. Therefore, it is difficult to somehow combine these two concepts. But at the same time, thoughts regarding the mind and feelings are often encountered. And this is not surprising, since these components are considered the most important elements of the inner world of each of us. Actually, these components have a great influence on a person’s actions and aspirations.
But is it possible to combine reason with feelings? If we talk about love, then, most likely, there can be no talk of reason here, since lovers never pay attention to it when making this or that decision. However, sometimes the mind and feelings can “get along” and at the same time become a harmonious unity. This is rare, but, for example, a feeling of happiness will not drown out the echoes of reason. Therefore, it is not surprising that a happy person is also intelligent.

However, more often a real struggle breaks out between these two components within a person, which actually causes an internal conflict, which is sometimes quite difficult to drown out. It is not for nothing that this topic is considered quite popular among writers and poets. Moreover, this topic is often touched upon by creative people of different nationalities, cultures and even different eras. Thus, quite often the characters of various works are faced with a choice that is dictated to them either by feelings or by reason.

The same thing happened with the hero of “Crime and Punishment” Raskolnikov, who in many of his actions succumbed to feelings rather than reason, and the reader sees where this led him. Therefore, it seems to me that every person, before making a decision, should think about the consequences that their action may lead to. And you don’t always need to be guided only by feelings, especially you shouldn’t, as they say, cut from the shoulder. Because, as experience shows, this does not lead to anything good, and often entails disappointment and pain. It’s hard for impulsive, emotional people, who often simply cannot control themselves, and then regret what they did. But this is often done precisely in adolescence; mature people take the side of reason and are very rarely guided by feelings in order to do something.

Of course, you shouldn’t always do this either, since you can become a cynical, pragmatic person who is unfamiliar with a surge of emotions. The saddest thing here is that such a person will never be able to feel like a child again. Often egoism consumes us and a person can no longer think about anything other than himself and his own benefit. Such people act according to reason. But this rarely brings them joy or at least some emotions. Sometimes it’s worth making mistakes and doing the wrong things, because knowing everything in theory is very boring, so you shouldn’t be afraid to start practicing. You should act even if these actions are driven by feelings and not by reason. If this is not done, then a person will not be able to feel completely happy.

People become reasonable and wise with age, and all thanks to the fact that in their youth they were impulsive and acted as their heart told them. Indeed, it is not always worth giving in to feelings, since they can consume a person, but when this fog clears, it will be difficult to fix anything afterwards. I believe that everything should be in moderation. A person should feel everything, try everything, but at the same time he should not be devoid of reason. There must be a balance inside that will protect against unnecessary emotionality or excessive cynicism.

School essays on this topic, as an option for preparing for the final essay.

Philosophical problems in Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace".

"War and Peace" was written in the 60s of the last century. Alexander's government abolished serfdom, but did not give land to the peasants; they rebelled. Russia and the West, the historical destinies of Russia and its people - these were the most pressing issues of the time. They constantly worried Tolstoy. Tolstoy was always against the revolution, but hoped through enlightenment, reforms, constitutions, that is, in a utopian way, to erect an ideal social system. "War and Peace" is one of the most wonderful works of literature. Years of work on a novel are the time of the writer’s most intense work.

Tolstoy's creative quests were always connected with life. The novel was conceived as a grandiose study of the half-century history of Russia in its acute clashes and comparisons with Europe, as an understanding of the national character of the Russian people and the entire structure of their life. The novel poses psychological, social, historical, moral problems, talks about true and false patriotism, the role of the individual in history, the national dignity of the Russian people, the nobility; over two hundred historical figures act in the novel.

Presenting events from the human, moral side, the writer often penetrated into their true historical essence. Napoleon laid claim to a great role in history and hoped to create history, subordinating it to his own will. Tolstoy says that he is a despot not only by position but also by conviction. He debunks his greatness. “There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth,” wrote Tolstoy. In War and Peace, this novel-research, a huge role was given to the picture of characters and morals. He recreates the spiritual experiences of different people of this time, their spiritual aspirations. The best representatives of the nobility are Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Volkonsky. They both strive for a reasonable structure of society, both tirelessly strive to get to the truth. Ultimately, they reach the point of appealing to the people, to the consciousness of the need to serve them, to merge with them, and they deny all forms of liberalism. It is characteristic that in general the noble culture of that time is represented in the novel mainly by these mental and moral quests of the “educated minority.” The inner world of man, the study of the soul - this is one of the philosophical problems that worries Tolstoy. Tolstoy has his own view of history. Philosophical reasoning in his novel is his thoughts, his thoughts, his worldview, his concept of life. One of the important problems of War and Peace is the relationship between the individual and society, the leader and the masses, private life and historical life. Tolstoy denied the role of personality in history.

He refused to recognize any “idea” as the force guiding the historical development of mankind, as well as the desires or power of individual, even “great” historical figures. He said that everything is decided by the “spirit of the army,” and argued that there are laws that govern events. These laws are unknown to people. One of the philosophical problems of the novel is the question of freedom and necessity. Tolstoy solves this question in his own and original way. He says that the freedom of a person, a historical figure, is apparent; a person is free only in not going against events, not imposing his will on them, but simply corresponding to history, changing, growing and thus influencing its course. Tolstoy’s profound thought is that a person is less free the closer he is to power. In his philosophical and historical views, Tolstoy was close to Herzen. The novel is called "War and Peace".

The meaning of the title: the world denies war. Peace is work and happiness, war is the separation of people, destruction, death and grief. The topic of the essay is very difficult; it is more suitable for graduates of the Institute of Philology or graduate students who are engaged in research into Tolstoy’s works. I did not fully reflect in my essay all the philosophical problems of the 4-volume novel "War and Peace", and this is understandable: it is impossible to fit all the thoughts of Tolstoy, he is a genius, on two pages, but I still reflected the main ones. One could also add about how Tolstoy solves the question of the role of women in society. He had a negative attitude towards the emancipation of women; if Turgenev and Chernyshevsky viewed women in a different aspect, then Tolstoy believes that for a woman the place is the home. Therefore, Natasha Rostova is simply a mother and wife at the end of the novel. It's a pity! After all, she was not just a girl, but a gifted person, radiating warmth and light, and sang well. In this position, I cannot agree with Tolstoy, because for an intelligent woman it is not enough to be just a house goose, she still wants more. And if Natasha had a rich spiritual world, then where did it go, went into home life? In this Tolstoy is a conservative. He wrote little about the plight of the serf peasantry, only a few pages for the entire enormous epic. The scene of the Bogucharov riot is the only striking episode of this plan. I think this would be reflected in his other novel, The Decembrists.

Is wartime violence justified?

Looking through historical literature, you can notice events that happened and are happening almost constantly, and resonate in the hearts of millions of people with fear and sadness. We are accustomed to calling these events wars. It’s scary to even imagine how many people suffered and how many died as a result of protecting other people’s and personal interests. So is cruelty justified in wartime? It is difficult to give a definite answer. I believe that no goals or ideals are worth killing and bloodshed, no matter how good they may be. To prove this, let us turn to examples from classical literature.

You can learn about what kind of cruelty can happen in wartime from A. Zakrutkin’s work “Mother of Man.” The Great Patriotic War began. Maria, like all her neighbors, did not think that the “black streak” of adversity would reach their small farm, consisting of a little more than thirty houses.

However, disaster overtook them too. The Nazis destroyed the farm, used the farmers as slaves, and even killed Maria’s husband and little son in an apple tree. And now the heroine, having escaped from her home, engulfed in fire, sees how the Germans are taking away her relatives, among whom was the former seventh-grader Sanechka. The girl, filled with hatred, shouts insults at the Nazis for which she pays with a fatal wound, which Maria, who made every effort to do this, could not heal. The author shows us a horrifying example of unjustified cruelty, which is only a small drop in the ocean of inhumanity of the Great Patriotic War.

M. Sholokhov tells what cruelty leads to in wartime in his work “The Fate of Man.” The life of Andrei Sokolov was truly difficult. His family died of hunger, he himself went to the front when his family had three children, was captured, and found himself on the brink of death. However, the worst thing awaited him later. As a slave driver for a German major, he attempted to escape and crossed a “no man’s land.” To celebrate, he sends a letter home to his wife and children, telling them how much he misses them. It would seem that what else bad could happen after everything he has experienced? It turns out that maybe two weeks later a reply telegram arrives from his neighbor, saying that a bomb hit the Sokolovs’ house and his wife and two daughters were killed. Moreover, after some time, Andrei’s son, who was found not so long ago, is also killed. What did Sokolov do to deserve such grief? The author gives the answer - nothing. War has no compassion and is ignorant of humanity. Therefore, Andrei’s fate is nothing for her.

To sum up what has been said, we can conclude that war is a terrifying and cold-blooded event. For her, cruelty is in the order of things, just as for us to be able to walk. But is it really possible to justify multiple human sacrifices, torment, suffering, losses, with some good intentions, as if having achieved them a person will be able to make up for the loss of what was dear to him? My answer is no.

The history of the creation of the novel "War and Peace".

Tolstoy's path to "War and Peace" was difficult - however, there were no easy paths in his life.

Tolstoy brilliantly entered literature with his first work - the initial part of the autobiographical trilogy "Childhood" (1852). "Sevastopol Stories" (1855) strengthened the success. The young writer, yesterday's army officer, was joyfully greeted by St. Petersburg writers - especially from among the authors and employees of Sovremennik (Nekrasov was the first to read the manuscript "Childhood", highly appreciated it and published it in the magazine). However, the commonality of views and interests of Tolstoy and the capital’s writers cannot be overestimated. Tolstoy very soon began to distance himself from his fellow writers, moreover, he emphasized in every possible way that the very spirit of literary salons was alien to him.

Tolstoy arrived in St. Petersburg, where the “advanced literary community” opened its arms to him from Sevastopol. During the war, amid blood, fear and pain, there was no time for entertainment, just as there was no time for intellectual conversations. In the capital, he is in a hurry to make up for lost time - he divides his time between carousing with gypsies and conversations with Turgenev, Druzhinin, Botkin, Aksakov. However, if the gypsies did not disappoint expectations, then after two weeks Tolstoy ceased to be interested in “conversations with smart people.” In letters to his sister and brother, he angrily joked that he liked “smart conversation” with writers, but he was “too behind them”, in their company “you want to fall apart, take off your pants and blow your nose in your hand, but in an intelligent conversation you want to lie stupidity." And the point is not that any of the St. Petersburg writers were personally unpleasant to Tolstoy. He does not accept the very atmosphere of literary circles and parties, all this near-literary fuss. The craft of writing is a lonely business: alone with a piece of paper, with your soul and conscience. No extraneous interests should influence what is written or determine the author’s position. And in May 1856, Tolstoy “fled” to Yasnaya Polyana. From that moment on, he only left it for a short time, never trying to return to the world. There was only one way from Yasnaya Polyana - to even greater simplicity: to the asceticism of the wanderer.

Literary affairs are combined with simple and clear activities: organizing a home, farming, peasant labors. At this moment, one of Tolstoy’s most important traits manifests itself: writing seems to him to be a kind of departure from the real business, a substitution. It does not give the right to eat bread grown by peasants with a clear conscience. This torments and depresses the writer, forcing him to spend more and more time away from his desk. And so, in July 1857, he finds an occupation that allows him to constantly work and see the real fruits of this work: Tolstoy opens a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana. The efforts of Tolstoy the teacher were not directed toward elementary educational attainment. He strives to awaken creative forces in children, activate and develop their spiritual and intellectual potential.

While working at school, Tolstoy became more and more immersed in the peasant world, comprehending its laws, psychological and moral foundations. He contrasted this world of simple and clear human relationships with the world of the nobility, the educated world, led away by civilization from eternal foundations. And this opposition was not in favor of the people of his circle.

The purity of thoughts, the freshness and accuracy of perception of his barefoot students, their ability to absorb knowledge and creativity forced Tolstoy to write a sharply polemical article on the nature of artistic creativity with a shocking title: “Who should learn to write from whom, the peasant children from us or us from the peasant children?”

The question of the nationality of literature has always been one of the most important for Tolstoy. And turning to pedagogy, he penetrated even deeper into the essence and laws of artistic creativity, sought and found strong “support points” for his literary “independence.”

Parting with St. Petersburg and the society of metropolitan writers, the search for his own direction in creativity and a sharp refusal to participate in public life, as the revolutionary democrats understood it, to engage in teaching - all these are features of the first crisis in Tolstoy’s creative biography. The brilliant beginning is a thing of the past: everything written by Tolstoy in the second half of the 50s ("Lucerne", "Albert") is not successful; In the novel "Family Happiness" the author himself becomes disappointed and leaves the work unfinished. Experiencing this crisis, Tolstoy strives to completely rethink his worldview in order to live and write differently.

The beginning of a new period is marked by the revised and completed story “Cossacks” (1862). And so, in February 1863, Tolstoy began work on a novel, which would later be called “War and Peace.”

“Thus began a book on which seven years of incessant and exceptional labor under the best living conditions would be spent.” A book that contains years of historical research (“a whole library of books”) and family legends, the tragic experience of the Sevastopol bastions and the little things of Yasnaya Polyana life, the problems raised in “Childhood” and “Lucerne”, “Sevastopol Stories” and “Cossacks” (Roman L.N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” in Russian criticism: Collection of articles - Leningrad University, 1989).

The begun novel becomes an alloy of the highest achievements of Tolstoy's early creativity: the psychological analysis of "Childhood", the truth-seeking and de-romanticization of the war of "Sevastopol Stories", the philosophical understanding of the world of "Lucerne", the nationality of the "Cossacks". On this complex basis, the idea of ​​a moral-psychological and historical-philosophical novel, an epic novel, was formed, in which the author sought to recreate the true historical picture of three eras of Russian history and analyze their moral lessons, comprehend and proclaim the very laws of history.

Tolstoy’s first ideas for a new novel appeared in the late 50s: a novel about a Decembrist who returned with his family from Siberia in 1856: then the main characters were called Pierre and Natasha Lobazov. But this idea was abandoned - and in 1863 the writer returned to it. “As the plan progressed, there was an intense search for the title of the novel. The original, “Three Times,” soon ceased to correspond to the content, because from 1856 to 1825 Tolstoy moved further into the past; the focus was on only one “time” - 1812. So a different date appeared, and the first chapters of the novel were published in the magazine "Russian Bulletin" under the title "1805." In 1866, a new version appeared, no longer concretely historical, but philosophical: "All's well that ends well." finally, in 1867 - another title where the historical and philosophical formed a certain balance - “War and Peace”.

What is the essence of this consistently developing plan, why, starting in 1856, did Tolstoy come to 1805? What is the essence of this time chain: 1856 - 1825 -1812 -1805?

1856 for 1863, when work began on the novel, is modernity, the beginning of a new era in the history of Russia. Nicholas I died in 1855. His successor on the throne, Alexander II, granted amnesty to the Decembrists and allowed them to return to central Russia. The new sovereign was preparing reforms that were supposed to radically transform the life of the country (the main one was the abolition of serfdom). So, a novel is conceived about modernity, about 1856. But this is modernity in a historical aspect, for Decembrism takes us back to 1825, to the uprising on Senate Square on the day of taking the oath to Nicholas I. More than 30 years have passed since that day - and now the aspirations of the Decembrists, although partially, are beginning to come true, Their work, during which they spent three decades in prisons, “convict holes” and in settlements, is alive. With what eyes will the Decembrist see the renewing Fatherland, having parted with it for more than thirty years, withdrawn from active public life, and knowing the real life of Nikolaev Russia only from afar? Who will the current reformers seem to him like - sons? followers? strangers?

Any historical works - if it is not an elementary illustration and not the desire to fantasize with impunity on historical material - are written in order to better understand modernity, to find and understand the origins of today. That is why Tolstoy, pondering the essence of the changes taking place before his eyes, into the future, looks for their origins, because he understands that truly these new times did not begin yesterday, but much earlier.

So, from 1856 to 1825. But the uprising of December 14, 1825 was not the beginning either: it was only an outcome - and a tragic outcome! - Decembrism. As is known, the formation of the first Decembrist organization, the Union of Salvation, dates back to 1816. In order to create a secret society, its future members needed to endure and formulate common “protests and hopes,” see the goal and realize that it can only be achieved by uniting. Consequently, 1816 is not the origin. And then everything concentrates on 1812 - the beginning of the Patriotic War.

The generally accepted point of view on the origins of Decembrism is known: having defeated the “invincible Napoleon”, having crossed half of Europe in the liberation campaign, having experienced military brotherhood, which transcends ranks and class barriers, Russian society returned to the same deceitful, perverted state and social system that it had before. before the war. And the best, the most conscientious, could not come to terms with this. This view of the origins of Decembrism is supported by the famous statement of one of the Decembrists: “We were children of the twelfth year...”

However, this view of the Decembrist uprising from 1812 does not seem exhaustive to Tolstoy. This logic is too elementary, suspiciously simple for him: they defeated Napoleon - they realized their strength - they saw a free Europe - they returned to Russia and felt the need for change. Tolstoy is not looking for an explicit historical sequence of events, but for a philosophical understanding of history, knowledge of its laws. And then the beginning of the novel’s action moves to 1805 - the era of the “ascension” of Napoleon and the penetration of the “Napoleonic idea” into Russian minds. This becomes for the author the starting point in which all the contradictions of the Decembrist idea, which determined the course of Russian history for many decades, are concentrated.

“Reason and Feelings.” Interpretation of Concepts

Intelligence

1. Reason is the highest level of human cognitive activity, the ability to think logically, generally and abstractly. (Efremova T. F. New dictionary of the Russian language. Explanatory and word-formative)
2. The ability to think universally, in contrast to directly given individual facts, with which the thinking of animals is exclusively occupied. (Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary)
3. Reason as a moral category is a person’s ability to be responsible for his actions, to predict the consequences of words and actions.
4. Reason allows a person to weigh everything, comprehend the main thing, the essence of what is happening, and, having comprehended it, make the right decision about his actions and actions.
5. The mind is capable of objectively assessing what is happening, not giving in to emotions, and reasoning sensibly. This is an understanding of what is happening around and in the person himself.
6. It is reason that allows a person to control his actions, not to go beyond what is permitted, those laws and moral principles that are accepted in society, that is, to behave “reasonably”
7. Reason is a person’s ability to identify true values ​​in life, to distinguish them from imaginary, false ones. By reasoning and analyzing intelligently, a person is able to choose the right moral guidelines and ideals.
8. Each person chooses his own path in life, for this he is given reason.

Feelings

1. The ability of a living being to perceive external impressions, to feel, to experience something. (Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. Edited by D.N. Ushakov)
2. The internal, mental state of a person, what is included in the content of his mental life. (Efremova T. F. New dictionary of the Russian language. Explanatory and word-formative)
3. Feelings as a moral category are a person’s ability to emotionally perceive everything around him, to experience, sympathize, suffer, rejoice, grieve.
4. A person can experience many different feelings. Feelings of beauty, justice, shame, bitterness, joy, dissatisfaction, empathy and many, many others.
5. Some feelings make him stronger. Others are ruined. And this is where reason comes to the rescue, helping you take the right step.
6. Feelings make a person’s life brighter, richer, more interesting, and simply happier.
7. Feelings allow a person to subjectively perceive the environment and evaluate what is happening depending on the mood at the moment. This assessment will not always be objective, and often very far from it. Feelings can overwhelm a person, and the mind is not always able to calm them down. Over time, things may look completely different.
8. Feelings are a person’s existing attitude towards something. Many feelings become the basis of his character: a feeling of love for the Motherland, respect for loved ones and elders, a sense of justice, pride in the country.
9. Feelings should not be confused with emotions. Emotions are short-term, often momentary. Feelings are more stable. They often define the essence of a person.
10. A person lives by both reason and feelings. Both of these human abilities make life richer, more varied, and more valuable. Harmony of mind and feelings is a sign of high spirituality of a person. She allows him to live his life with dignity.