Free Will in Tolstoy’s War and Peace: A Fairy Tale?
Lev Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace (1865–1869) is not only an epic account of the Napoleonic Wars, but also a comprehensive inquiry into the philosophy of history , ethics , and the issue of free will . In the novel, Tolstoy systematically critiques both narratives of individual heroism and the concept of “history of great men,” raising the question of whether human actions are truly free. In this context, free will appears for Tolstoy not as a metaphysical reality, but rather as an illusion, even a “fairy tale,” to which humans resort in order to make sense of themselves .
1. The “Great Man” Illusion and a Critique of Free Will
At the heart of Tolstoy’s critique of free will lies his rejection of the idea that history is directed by great figures. The figure of Napoleon is the most visible example of this critique. Tolstoy portrays Napoleon as a character who sees his own will as the engine of history; however, this claim is constantly refuted in the novel.
“Napoleon thought history obeyed him; yet at every step he was being swept along by countless circumstances of which he himself was unaware.”(Tolstoy, War and Peace , translated by Ayşe Hacıhasanoğlu, Can Yayınları, 2018, p. 612)
In this passage, free will is associated with the individual believing himself to be the cause of his actions. According to Tolstoy, Napoleon’s “freedom” is in reality an illusion arising from an ignorance of necessities . This approach, while considering free will as a subjective experience, invalidates it at the objective level.
2. Historical Causality and the Dissolution of Will
In the philosophical sections that intensify particularly from the second volume of the novel, Tolstoy argues that historical events arise as a result of the sum of an infinite number of small causes . According to him, the will of a single individual cannot be decisive within this network of causes.
“To say that a man is free is nothing more than admitting that the conditions that brought him into being are unknown.”(Tolstoy, War and Peace , p. 1184)
Here, Tolstoy establishes a direct link between free will and ignorance. A person believes themselves to be free to the extent that they are unaware of the causes. This idea shows a striking parallel with Spinozan determinism; however, Tolstoy incorporates it not as an abstract metaphysical system, but within the narrative fabric of the novel.
3. Individual Experience: Pierre Bezuhov and Inner Necessity
Tolstoy’s critique of free will is not limited to the historical level; it is also deepened at the level of individual consciousness through the character of Pierre Bezuhov. Pierre’s search for meaning makes visible the tension between the romantic ideal of free will and the necessities of life.
“Pierre realized that he was most mistaken when he thought he was free, and that he was most at peace when he accepted necessity.”(Tolstoy, War and Peace , p. 947)
This awareness also reveals Tolstoy’s ethical approach: a true ethical stance lies not in claiming absolute freedom, but in living with an awareness of necessity . Thus, free will is positioned as a psychological need rather than a moral foundation.
4. Is Free Will a “Fairy Tale”?
In the final chapters of the novel, Tolstoy explicitly problematizes the concept of free will. He links people’s belief in free will to the need to make legal and moral responsibility possible:
“Man must believe that he is free in order to judge himself; without this belief, neither history nor morality is possible.”(Tolstoy, War and Peace , p. 1302)
This statement implies that free will is more of a social and moral construct than an ontological reality. In this sense, free will is not entirely rejected by Tolstoy; however, it is reduced to a functional fable rather than a “real” one .
In summary;
War and Peace treats free will not as an absolute human capacity, but as a strategy of meaning-making that humans develop in the face of complex networks of causality. By analyzing will at both individual and historical levels, Tolstoy fundamentally questions the modern subject’s claim to freedom. In this context, free will appears in Tolstoy’s novel not as a metaphysical truth, but as a narrative that upholds the moral order —a “fairy tale.”
Source
Tolstoy, Lev. War and Peace . Translated by Ayşe Hacıhasanoğlu. Istanbul: Can Yayınları, 2018.
Berlin, Isaiah. The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy’s View of History . London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1953.
Schapiro, Leonard. “Tolstoy’s Philosophy of History.” Slavic Review , Volume 22, No. 3, 1963, pp. 437–448.