I agree, although, given the same training you speak of, I think in their cases it is almost "instinct vs. reasoning", and so is not as hard a choice as it could be. (I also might be less unwilling to cut into flesh than other people, having had surgery myself and retained a mild interest in zootomy since my school years, so there's that.)

And in C&P, as I recall, Svidrigaylov blackmailed Raskol'nikov quoting Raskol'nikov's own words that the prostitute's younger sister would go the same way...which might have been the first instance when I learned that people should care not to leak information, whether it be a statement of facts or a statement of their attitude to facts, however morally good it is. So now I take my observations with a grain of salt; and I want to trust my eyes, but that's about it...