M. Lermontov and the Science of Passions

The following thesis makes the first steps to investigate the „science of passions” in Lermontov’s œuvre. The ages of Enlightenment and Romanticism had produced certain “theories of passions”, proposed by David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Madam de Staël and Charles Fourier. The starting point for the description of Lermontov’s “science of passions” is Pechorin, the hero of “Geroi nashego vremeni”, who gives a definition of passions and perceives passions in interdependence with ideas. Thис interdependence makes it possible to establish the connection between Lermontov’s “science of passions” and Hume’s philosophy of passions, as contained in “A Treatise of Human Nature”. The ability to master the art of passions distinguishes Pechorin from all other characters in Lermontov’s œuvre. Pechorin achieves an independence from the influence of passions that brings him close to the ideal of the Stoics. Lermontov’s dramas create situations in which passions are taken to their maximum of intensity. As in Schiller’s tragedies, Lermontov’s passion are similar to the role of “fate” in Greek tragedies. The difference in the treatment of passions can be revealed only in the light of the “science of passions” in the entirety of Lermontov’s works. Lermontov continues Schiller’s “tragedy of passion” in order to transform the passions into an “object of investigation”. Lermontov’s conception of passions can be traced also on a lexical level.