Intellectuals Are Mentally Sick- Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Notes From Underground: This is Why You'll Never Be Happy.
I should have been an insect.
I tell you solemnly that I have many times tried to become an insect, but I was not equal even to that. I swear, gentlemen, that to be too conscious is an illness — a real, thoroughgoing illness.
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground stands as a counter to Nikolai Chernyshevsky’s What Is to Be Done, which advocates a utopia based on the so-called natural laws of self-interest. Chernyshevsky’s vision was rooted in scientism and rationalism. Yet Dostoevsky saw in this vision a grave danger. To him, the rationalist ideas behind utilitarianism, socialism, and scientific determinism were gateways to a fatalistic worldview.
In Dostoevsky’s eyes, this path, if pursued, ultimately leads to nihilism — a belief in nothing, a void of meaning. He saw nihilism not as a philosophical stance but as a destructive force, particularly hazardous for young minds. For Dostoevsky, the rise of nihilistic thinking risked a profound moral and spiritual decay — a theme he sought to expose through his novels.
Yet Notes from Underground is more than a simple critique. The novella’s protagonist, the underground man, serves as an anti-hero who embodies nihilistic traits while paradoxically resisting them. His character is both a nihilist and, in a way, an anti-nihilist, offering a complex portrayal that has fascinated readers and philosophers alike. It’s this duality that makes Notes from Underground such a captivating text. It’s a work that offers different meanings to each reader, inviting them to uncover new perspectives on life with each read-through.
From one particular lens, the underground man becomes almost a mirror of the modern mind — a person trapped in overthinking, whose self-awareness, rather than offering clarity, becomes a source of torment. His overconsciousness alienates him from happiness, as he grapples with an inner complexity that resonates with the struggles many face today.
Five Main Points That Make the Underground Man an Unhappy Person
1. Alive but Dead Within
“I am a sick man. I am a spiteful man. I am an unpleasant man.”
The protagonist was a government officer who despised his job. He continued working there solely because he needed money to eat and cover basic necessities. After the death of a relative, he inherited some wealth, which meant he no longer had to work. He had no friends or close relationships, so he decided to live alone in a small, grimy apartment in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Hopelessness consumed him, and he began to take pleasure in the isolation of his underground apartment. He didn’t see himself as an honorable person, which brings him to a stage of nihilism where people often fall into depression and believe they are insignificant. The underground man seems to embody this nihilistic mindset.
He abandoned his somewhat busy life to wallow in despair, overthinking in his small apartment. He admitted that he had failed to make something of himself and now felt that he wasn’t even worth the life of an insect. To him, he was just a speck in the corner of his room.
The individual recognizes that something is wrong with his liver but refuses to seek medical help, despite knowing it would worsen his condition. While he respects medicine and doctors, his refusal to treat himself stems from a deep, irrational defiance — a form of self-punishment. Although he understands his actions are harmful only to himself, he intentionally lets his illness worsen, symbolizing his internal struggle and the slow decay of his spirit.
His refusal to seek treatment reflects his bitterness and self-destructive mindset. The underground man represented a state of profound disillusionment, isolation, and self-destructive introspection that resonates with issues many people face today. Like him, many feel disconnected from the purpose of their work or education, merely going through the motions without any true fulfillment, often driven by economic pressures.
With few genuine connections or social support, they retreat into their own “underground” — whether through social media isolation or unhealthy coping mechanisms. Just as the underground man refuses to seek help for his health problems out of spite, some avoid addressing their mental health issues or seeking help due to mistrust, pride, or despair.
This self-destructive, nihilistic mindset arises when life feels purposeless or when the world seems indifferent to personal struggles, leaving people to enjoy despair in lonely, introspective spaces. The underground man’s story serves as a warning against letting cynicism and hopelessness lead to isolation and detachment from life’s possibilities — a challenge that remains highly relevant today.
2. Escaping Life’s Struggles
The protagonist always avoids challenges, ultimately making himself miserable. Believing himself to possess a rare, superior intellect, he sees himself as too perceptive and intelligent to engage in the petty struggles and confrontations of everyday life. This sense of superiority becomes a crippling flaw, trapping him in endless overthinking instead of taking any meaningful action.
When faced with people he considers beneath him, he fantasizes about asserting his dominance — even wishing to slap them in petty acts of revenge — yet he never follows through. His contempt for others, combined with his lack of action, leaves him isolated and embittered, as he sees himself as above the very confrontations that could give him purpose.
One pivotal moment comes when he forces himself into a farewell party thrown by former schoolmates who have long moved past him socially and emotionally. His presence is uninvited, and when they ultimately dismiss and leave him behind, he seethes with resentment and plots revenge. Yet, paralyzed by his own fear and indecision, he does nothing — sinking deeper into frustration and self-loathing.
Desperate to soothe his wounded pride, he seeks out Liza, a prostitute, hoping to assert some form of control or significance. But his attempt to connect with her only highlights his emptiness, as he realizes his spiteful self-isolation has robbed him of true connection and fulfillment. He advises Liza to quit prostitution because she is “selling her soul instead of her body,” and he offers to help her just to feel superior to someone else — driven by his inability to take revenge on his so-called friends.
This mirrors the struggles of people today who, fearing failure or discomfort, choose to avoid challenges and remain in their comfort zones. Much like the underground man, some convince themselves they’re above taking certain risks or engaging in typical pursuits, often viewing themselves as more insightful or complex than others around them.
This self-image leads to overthinking rather than action. With endless analysis replacing real effort, they may fantasize about asserting themselves or confronting others, but ultimately shrink from confrontation, believing they’re too smart for it. This avoidance, while initially comfortable, leads to a cycle of dissatisfaction and stagnation, as they miss out on personal growth, meaningful relationships, and achievements.
Just as the underground man felt trapped in bitterness and missed opportunities, modern comfort-zone thinking can lead to frustration and self-doubt. Attempts to soothe that discontent by seeking temporary relief — whether through distractions, superficial relationships, or escape activities — only reinforce feelings of inadequacy. This avoidance can create a cycle of misery, where one becomes increasingly disconnected from both self and society.
3. The Paralysis of Overthinking
The underground man is the epitome of someone trapped by their own overthinking, an individual paralyzed by their thoughts rather than motivated by action. He is convinced of his intellectual superiority, believing that his constant analysis makes him more perceptive than those who take action without second-guessing themselves. To him, those who succeed or push forward in life are merely impulsive, naïve, or even foolish because they don't take the time to reflect deeply on every decision.
He prides himself on his over-consciousness — his heightened awareness of every detail, every consequence, every nuance. This, he thinks, is the sign of true intelligence, a gift that others lack. But paradoxically, his overthinking becomes his curse, as it robs him of the ability to take any real steps toward change or growth.
While he sees his constant mental deliberation as a form of protection — a shield against the world's randomness — it only exacerbates his misery. He admits that this over-consciousness, far from enriching his life, often paralyzes him, making him unable to enjoy simple pleasures or embrace the opportunities in front of him.
This obsession with avoiding mistakes, driven by a fear of making the wrong choice, means that he never truly lives. He simply exists in a loop of thought. In the face of the world's challenges, the underground man retreats. Rather than confront the uncertainty of the outside world, he secludes himself in a small, cramped apartment where he feels safe from the overwhelming forces he believes are beyond his control.
His intellect, which he believes sets him apart, only makes him feel more disconnected from others, as he watches people around him move forward seemingly without hesitation or thought.
This mindset resonates deeply with a significant part of the modern world, where many choose to remain inactive, paralyzed by overthinking and fear of failure.
4. Self-hate and Isolation
It is clear to me now that owing to my unbounded vanity and to the high standard I set for myself, I often looked at myself with furious discontent which verged on loathing, and so I inwardly attributed the same feeling to everyone.
The underground man is a character consumed by contradictions, particularly when it comes to his feelings toward others. On one hand, he openly admits to hating everyone around him, seeing them as shallow, foolish, or beneath his intellectual superiority. Yet in the same breath, he confesses that he cannot truly hate anyone because his conscience constantly intervenes.
His heightened self-awareness, his constant overthinking paralyzes him. He is caught in a mental tug of war, torn between his desire to lash out and his inability to act on these impulses due to his conscience, which often leaves him confused and helpless in his treatment of others.
His frustration with others and himself culminates in a form of self-destruction as he sabotages any potential for connection or redemption.
5. Intellectual Superiority
An intelligent man cannot become anything seriously, and it is only the fool who becomes anything.
The underground man's belief in his intellectual superiority goes beyond mere arrogance. It manifests in a profound aversion to taking responsibility for anything. He sees himself as too enlightened and refined to engage in the mundane, tedious tasks that others must deal with.
He avoids responsibility, convinced that his superior intellect places him above the trivialities of everyday existence.
This attitude leads him to further isolation and frustration, as he avoids the challenges that come with living an active life and refuses to face the consequences of his inaction. Instead of growing and finding meaning through experience, he chooses to wallow in his own intellectualism, which ultimately deepens his misery.
This, in turn, leads to a profound sense of emptiness, as avoiding responsibility and rejecting action only deepens their isolation and despair — much like the underground man's eventual self-destruction.
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Thank you sincerely for engaging so thoughtfully with the piece. Your reflections are deeply appreciated, especially your caution regarding assumptions and the nuanced distinction between living and life. You're absolutely right to challenge the risk of interpreting a 19th-century psychological portrait too rigidly through a modern lens — a tension I acknowledge and respect. The Underground Man resists easy conclusions, and I welcome your suggestion that what may seem like paralysis or despair could, instead, reflect a different mode of awareness or being — not necessarily a failure to grow, but perhaps an alternate path through contradiction and conflict.
Your critique on cause and effect is especially sharp. It's a fair challenge to the tendency, in commentary, to see suffering as something to be solved rather than endured or contemplated. The Underground Man doesn’t simply fail; he exists in friction with simplicity itself. If the piece provoked thought — agreement or not — then it has served its purpose.
Again, thank you. Your comment not only adds value to the conversation but also reminds me that any interpretation must remain humble in the face of such a complex, self-sabotaging, and strangely honest character.
Permit me to address the "Mentally Sick" description cited above. We know that Freud could not enjoy reading Dostoyevsky, and perhaps some of the reason was that the author presented too many insights into the psyches of certain characters. It is possible that Freud would have found the anti-hero (in NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND) borderline schizophrenic...