Mefistofeles à rebours. Komentarz do Koszmaru Iwana Karamazowa

The article is an attempt to formulate a philosophical interpretation of the figure of Ivan Karamazov’s “devil” or to explicate the theoretical and conceptual connotations associated with the demonic motif in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov. The reasoning follows the line: the author of the novel – the hero of the novel – the figure of the devil. The questions explored in the article are related to the duality of Ivan, a character depicted in the novel (this issue is discussed within a broader anthropological context), to the conceptual and – most importantly – ideological background for “Ivan Karamazov’s nightmare”, to the intellectual and ethical conflicts unfolding in him, and finally to the ambiguous relationship between Christianity and socialism (theological and political contexts).