Page 185 - DENG501_LITERARY_CRITICISM_AND_THEORIES

Unit 16: Mikhail Bakhtin and his ‘From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse-Dialogics in Novels: Introduction

Toward a Philosophy of the Act reveals a young Bakhtin who is in the process of developing his Notes
moral philosophy by decentralizing the work of Kant. This text is one of Bakhtin's early works
concerning ethics and aesthetics and it is here that Bakhtin lays out three claims regarding the
acknowledgment of the uniqueness of one's participation in Being:
1. I both actively and passively participate in Being.
2. My uniqueness is given but it simultaneously exists only to the degree to which I actualize this
uniqueness (in other words, it is in the performed act and deed that has yet to be achieved).
3. Because I am actual and irreplaceable I must actualize my uniqueness.
Bakhtin further states: "It is in relation to the whole actual unity that my unique thought arises
from my unique place in Being." Bakhtin deals with the concept of morality whereby he attributes
the predominating legalistic notion of morality to human moral action. According to Bakhtin, the
I cannot maintain neutrality toward moral and ethical demands which manifest themselves as
one's voice of consciousness.
It is here also that Bakhtin introduces an "architectonic" or schematic model of the human psyche
which consists of three components: "I-for-myself", "I-for-the-other", and "other-for-me". The I-for-
myself is an unreliable source of identity, and Bakhtin argues that it is the I-for-the-other through
which human beings develop a sense of identity because it serves as an amalgamation of the way
in which others view me. Conversely, other-for-me describes the way in which others incorporate
my perceptions of them into their own identities. Identity, as Bakhtin describes it here, does not
belong merely to the individual, rather it is shared by all.
Problems of Dostoyevsky's Poetics: Polyphony and Unfinalizability
During his time in Leningrad, Bakhtin shifted his focus away from the philosophy characteristic
of his early works and towards the notion of dialogue. It is at this time that he began his engagement
with the work of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Problems of Dostoyevsky's Art is considered to be Bakhtin's
seminal work, and it is here that Bakhtin introduces three important concepts.
First, is the concept of the unfinalizable self: individual people cannot be finalized, completely
understood, known, or labeled. Though it is possible to understand people and to treat them as if
they are completely known, Bakhtin's conception of unfinalizability respects the possibility that a
person can change, and that a person is never fully revealed or fully known in the world. Readers
may find that this conception reflects the idea of the "soul"; Bakhtin had strong roots in Christianity
and in the Neo-Kantian school led by Hermann Cohen, both of which emphasized the importance
of an individual's potentially infinite capability, worth, and the hidden soul.
Second, is the idea of the relationship between the self and others, or other groups. According to
Bakhtin, every person is influenced by others in an inescapably intertwined way, and consequently
no voice can be said to be isolated. In an interview, Bakhtin once explained that,
In order to understand, it is immensely important for the person who understands to be located
outside the object of his or her creative understanding-in time, in space, in culture. For one cannot
even really see one's own exterior and comprehend it as a whole, and no mirrors or photographs
can help; our real exterior can be seen and understood only by other people, because they are
located outside us in space, and because they are others.
As such, Bakhtin's philosophy greatly respected the influences of others on the self, not merely in
terms of how a person comes to be, but also in how a person thinks and how a person sees him-
or herself truthfully.
Third, Bakhtin found in Dostoevsky's work a true representation of "polyphony", that is, many
voices. Each character in Dostoevsky's work represents a voice that speaks for an individual self,
distinct from others. This idea of polyphony is related to the concepts of unfinalizability and self-
and-others, since it is the unfinalizability of individuals that creates true polyphony.
Bakhtin briefly outlined the polyphonic concept of truth. He criticized the assumption that, if two
people disagree, at least one of them must be in error. He challenged philosophers for whom
plurality of minds is accidental and superfluous. For Bakhtin, truth is not a statement, a sentence

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