Notes from Underground Lesson Plan

What role do the concepts of want and desire play in the Underground Man’s philosophies about reason?

According to the Underground Man, desire preserves our personality and individuality. In some ways, desire is in opposition to reason. Desire works against reason. One example the Underground Man gives of this is how man often acts outside his own interests. Reason says to behave one way, but desire says to behave in another way. Man usually goes along with his desires over reason. The Underground Man also says, “And indeed, well if one day they really find the formula for all our wantings and caprices—that is, what they depend on, by precisely what laws they occur,...