Introduction

This introduction chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discusses in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book considers the value of literature for educational and philosophical inquiry. It relates rational egoism with neoliberalism, analyses the arguments and experiences of the central character, and considers the need for harmony in the educational development as reasoning, feeling and willing beings. Within the international philosophy of education community, the themes of reason and rationality have long occupied a prominent position in published work, with the 'London School' of Peters, Hirst and Dearden leading the way in the United Kingdom. The book focuses on Fyodor Dostoevsky's final novel, The Brothers Karamazov. It also considers Leo Tolstoy's crisis in the light of ideas from the Spanish existentialist philosopher and novelist, Miguel de Unamuno. The book concludes with brief reflections on the continuing power of Dostoevsky's fiction to engage and educate contemporary readers.