Mirrors to One Another: Emotion and Value in Jane Austen and David Hume (Repost)

A compelling exploration of the convergence of Jane Austen’s literary themes and characters with David Hume’s views on morality and human nature. Argues that the normative perspectives endorsed in Jane Austen's novels are best characterized in terms of a Humean approach, and that the merits of Hume's account of ethical, aesthetic and epistemic virtue are vividly illustrated by Austen's writing. Illustrates how Hume and Austen complement one another, each providing a lens that allows us to expand and elaborate on the ideas of the other Proposes that literature may serve as a thought experiment, articulating hypothetical cases which allow the reader to test her moral intuitions Contributes to ongoing debates on the philosophy of literature, ethics, and emotion Content: Chapter 1 How Literature Can be a Thought Experiment: Alternatives to and Elaborations of Original Accounts (pages 1–19): Chapter 2 Literary Form and Philosophical Content (pages 20–36): Chapter 3 Kantian and Aristotelian Accounts of Austen (pages 37–57): Chapter 4 Hume and Austen on Pleasure, Sentiment, and Virtue (pages 58–75): Chapter 5 Hume and Austen on Sympathy (pages 76–87): Chapter 6 Hume's General Point of View and the Novels of Jane Austen (pages 88–99): Chapter 7 The Useful and the Good in Hume and Austen (pages 100–113): Chapter 8 Aesthetics and Humean Aesthetic Norms in the Novels of Jane Austen (pages 114–134): Chapter 9 Hume and Austen on Good People and Good Reasoning (pages 135–156): Chapter 10 “Lovers,” “Friends,“ and other Endearing Appellations: Marriage in Hume and Austen (pages 157–167): Chapter 11 Hume and Austen on Pride (pages 168–180): Chapter 12 Hume and Austen on Jealousy, Envy, Malice, and the Principle of Comparison (pages 181–194): Chapter 13 Indolence and Industry in Hume and Austen (pages 195–205): Chapter 14 What Hume's Philosophy Contributes to Our Understanding of Austen's Fiction; what Austen's Fiction Contributes to Our Understanding of Hume's Philosophy (pages 206–222):