Brothers K- The role of Truth, Honesty and self knowledge?

This topic was raised briefly in my note on Alyosha, but considering its importance I've decided to delete it from that post and give it its own thread.

The question is what role does Truth play for Dostoevsky?

Dostoevsky is seen as being an influence on both Freud and Nietzsche who both took an introspective turn. Freud couched this turn in the 'scientific' language of psychoanalysis whereas Nietzsche employed a more poetic sense. However, as a legacy of both these thinkers, and the rise of a desire for 'authenticity' stemming from them and their descendants, it seems one can rightfully ask what is the role of truth? After all, if we are to seek to have a good self knowledge (for Nietzsche, what we truly value. For Freud... being responsive and understanding of our deepest urges and impulses) what is that knowledge and how do we know that we have arrived at it? Especially when the self becomes an object of investigation strange, distant and alienated from itself.

It strikes me that as a symptom of the modern outlook our inner selves have become a 'wall of mirrors.' That is to say, we are oft inclined not to trust our own, or others, initial 'surface' understandings of ourselves but to dig deeper. However, once we have peeled away one layer of the onion, we are called to dig even deeper.

So, to return to the novel, which characters strike you as being the most 'truthful' both in relationship to themselves and to the world outside? How does this manifest itself in act and word? What do each of the characters involved take as the grounding for 'truth'? (and hence, action)

Brothers K- Alyosha Fyodorvich Karamazov

I'm still trying to get a proper handle on Alyosha. The first thing that seems to strike me is that of all the characters in the novel, with the possible exception of Father Z, Alyosha is the one character that is extremely likable. Now, we may have a great deal of sympathy for Ivan, or empathize with crazy Dimitri, or find even Fyodor Pavlovitch amusing but Alyosha, compared to the rest of these characters, is shining.

Young, friendly, altruistic and guileless, he approaches the world with a great deal of love. He cares about his brothers and father and they, in turn, seem to care (in their own peculiar way) for him even while they are at each others' throats.

As initial pass I want to just note a few observations I have of Alyosha up to this point.

1) He is not a mystic, nor even much of an ascetic. In an early chapter it states that he is a 'realist.'

As soon as he reflected seriously he was convinced of the existence of God and immortality, and at once he instinctively said to himself: "I want to live for immortality, and I will accept no compromise." In the same way, if he had decided that God and immortality did not exist, he would at once have become an atheist and a socialist. (Ch 5)

That is to say, he quite genuinely believes in the resurrection as a fact as plain as that there are clouds in the sky.

2) Alyosha seems to have a certain sort of impulsiveness that is common to his father and brother Dimtri. This impulsiveness however is often differently directed.
3) Related to this, he is told by Rakitin that he is a sensualist, and inherits this trait from his father. (What is the role of genealogy and blood ties in this book?)
4) His mother is different than Dimitri's but the same as Ivan's: a beautiful, young religious woman whom Fyodor Pavlovitch was very cruel to up until she died. (Mary?)
5) He lives in the monastery, but is not a monk. Father Z is constantly sending him out on 'missions' from the monastery to the town, missions that Alyosha willingly undertakes though against some of his inclinations to stay. (What is Alyosha's relationship between these two worlds?)
6) He does not act with guile, but throughout the first section, particularly in the case of the 'wisp of tow' captain, we can see that he comes to realize that others are not completely as honest as he is. This seems to make him sad, but not angry. He also learns to expect this sort of behavior and attempts to understand it.

A quote from BK: the love of humanity vs the love of individuals

Zossima was referring to an issue that another was struggling with, and this person said this:

"I love humanity...but I wonder at myself. the more I love humanity in general the less I love man in particular. In my dreams...I have often come to making enthusiastic schemes for the service of humanity, and perhaps I might actually have faced crucifixion if it had been suddenly necessary; and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with any one for two days together, as I know by experience...I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I detest men individually the more ardent becomes my love for humanity." (Bk 2, Ch 4)

I have had some of the same worries, actually in the other direction. I have felt that my personal care for more people in particular has affected my love for a sense of humanity in a negative way. I think that we need to love actual flaws in those we care about particularly, or at least refrain from judging those flaws. A love for humanity seems to include high standards for what is possible for particular human beings, and the constant disappointment that comes from actual human beings hurts this sense of humanity. Sometimes our standards are incredibly high, sometimes incredibly unfitting (especially those that ignore the fact that we are more than rational beings); but most standards in general seem to face disappointment in actual people.

Moving back to our characters, I wonder if this dynamic will be faced in the brothers. I'm finishing Part I, and it seems as though it is safe to conclude that all three brothers have to face the utterly helpless hedonistic misery that has passed in some form from their father to them, although I haven't seen it in outer form yet (only inner-struggles). Alyosha seems to have a love for all individuals, including his father. Ivan probably has an unfulfillable standard for humanity...