Abstract
Contrary to the critics of Tolstoy's War and Peace who have interpreted the Second Epilogue as an aberration in the novel that distracts from the merits of the work, I argue that Tolstoy spells out the crucial principles that organize the entire novel in the Second Epilogue. In the Second Epilogue, Tolstoy presents his philosophy of consciousness and memory that, in turn, informs his philosophy of history that is similar to Augustine's conceptions of the city of God and the city of man. Tolstoy's comments, therefore, about God, freedom, and history in the Second Epilogue make War and Peace a philosophical work that has literary elements within it rather than a literary work with philosophical aspects.