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Abstract:

For Dostoevsky, at the beginning of philosophy there is not wonder, but mystical tremor. The tremor is not fear or torment, but the wound of our weak human condition. It is a sign of our ontological dependence. In Crime and Punishment, the term “tremor” occurs many times. It breaks the closure of the self and reveals the need for the other. The tremor opens the way for Raskolnikov to inner transformation. Sonia trembles for him in the face of destiny because she wants salvation for him. She reads with emotion the passage from the Gospel about Lazarus. Sonia trembles, and with the words of Jesus, she asks him to come out of the darkness of the cave and out of nothingness. Her tremor makes the young man become aware of the gravity of what he has done. It becomes the evidence of our need for another, in order not to fall into nothingness. There are also those who do not feel the trembling for the others because they are blind and are against life, like Svidrigailov or Stavrogin. Svidrigailov, after destroying the lives of others and that of an innocent child, kills himself. For this reason, the wish for everyone is to tremble for their own destiny and for that of the world. The awareness of our fragility guides us to the truth of life.

Keywords: mystical tremor, Destiny, salvation, process, ontological dependence, human condition, solidarity.