My Confessions by Leo Tolstoy - Part 2 (PowerPoint w/ Link for Reading)

This 26-slide presentation was created and used in a University classroom. Leo Tolstoy, most famous for his realistic fiction (e.g., Anna Karenina and War and Peace), wrote an autobiography of sorts reflecting upon a horrible existential crisis that he encountered around the age of 50. He wants to find meaning, and neither his family nor his “art” (writing) seem to have any purpose. This is truly a dark time, and when he looks for answers in the “field of experimental science” and “speculative philosophy,” he comes up short. In this lecture/presentation, his solution (his way out of the existential crisis) is discussed.

This presentation was created in conjunction with the following reading which can be downloaded as a PDF (click here to be redirected). This presentation–Part 2–focuses on Tolstoy’s solution in great detail (faith, or “irrational knowledge”). It corresponds to pages 12-24 in the PDF that is linked.

Part 1 is also available in the store, and needs to be taught prior to this presentation so that students have context. Part 1 was created to correspond to pages 1-12 of the linked PDF.