Anna Karenina's Suicide: A Syllogistic Analysis

📋 Premises

P1: [Personal] Anna doesn't have enough self control to not cheat on her husband

P2: [Social Exchange Theory] Couples with asymmetrical rewards tend to dissolve, because imbalance in costs and benefits erodes commitment

P3: [Personal] Anna is too passionate for Vronsky to not admit in public her affair

P4: [Social code] A woman separated from her husband, especially if she took a lover, was branded as a fallen woman (padenaya zhenschina). The "rule" was that she would not be received in polite salons, balls, or theaters that formed the core of elite society life

P5: [Social code] A man could have affairs without complete ruin, but living openly with a married woman who abandoned her husband was scandalous

P6: [Durkheim] Egoistic Suicide → Occurs when individuals are insufficiently integrated into society

P7: [Social code] In 19th century Russia, when a woman left her husband for adultery, she forfeited all legal rights to her children

P8: [Social Psychology] For aristocratic men, social standing and career prospects are essential for long-term life satisfaction and identity

🔗 Logical Chain

C1: Anna cheats on her husband with Vronsky
[From Premise 1]

C2: Anna admits public her affair with Vronsky
[From Premise 3 and Conclusion 1]

C3: Anna becomes a "fallen woman" and is ostracized from elite society
[From Premise 4 and Conclusion 2]

C4: Vronsky faces social scandal for living openly with Anna
[From Premise 5 and Conclusion 2]

C5: The relationship between Anna and Vronsky becomes asymmetrically costly (she loses everything, he loses less but still suffers)
[From Conclusions 3, 4 and Premise 2]

C6: Vronsky realizes the relationship threatens his long-term social standing and career prospects
[From Premise 8 and Conclusion 4]

C7: The imbalanced costs and Vronsky's growing resentment erode their commitment to each other
[From Premise 2, Conclusion 5, and Conclusion 6]

C8: Anna becomes insufficiently integrated into society due to complete social ostracism
[From Premise 4 and Conclusion 3]

C9: Anna is at high risk for egoistic suicide
[From Premise 6 and Conclusion 8]

C10: Anna loses all contact with her son Seryozha
[From Premise 7 and Conclusion 2]

C11: Anna loses her social world, her romantic relationship, and her maternal role simultaneously
[From Conclusions 3, 7, and 10]

⚡ Final Conclusion

Anna kills herself
[From Conclusions 8 and 10 - having lost all sources of meaning she killed herself]