Conscience and Virtue, Self-Deceit and Vice: Concepts from Bishop
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2012 Conscience and Virtue, Selfdeceit and Vice: Concepts from Bishop Joseph Butler's Moral Psychology in Jane Austen's Ma#Sfield Park Becka R. Laplant Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES CONSCIENCE AND VIRTUE, SELF-DECEIT AND VICE: CONCEPTS FROM BISHOP JOSEPH BUTLER‘S MORAL PSYCHOLOGY IN JANE AUSTEN‘S MANSFIELD PARK By BECKA R LAPLANT A Disse tation submitted to the Depa tment of Philosophy in pa tial fulfillment of the e-ui ements fo the de. ee of Docto of Philosophy De. ee A0a ded: Sp in. Semeste , 1011 Becka R LaPlant defended this dissertation on March 14th 2012. The members of the supervisor committee were: David McNaughton Professor Directing Dissertation Eric Walker (niversit Representative )ohn Roberts Committee Member Piers Rawling Committee Member The Graduate ,chool has verified and approved the above-named committee members. and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with universit re/uirements. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am especially . ateful fo the suppo t of the G aduate School in the fo m of the P esidential Fello0ship du in. the 1008-1005 and 1011-1011 academic yea s. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abst act ........................................................................................................................................... v 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 1. JUDGMENT, PRINCIPLE, AND CONSCIENCE: PART ONE OF A BUTLERIAN READING OF MANSFIELD PARK .................................................................................... 8 1.1 Butle and the Mo al and Intellectual Climate of Austen‘s Time ................................. 8 1.1 Mansfield Park 9 the Be.innin.s of a Butle ian Readin. ........................................... 15 1.3 D e0 on Butle ‘s and Austen‘s Use of ”P inciple‘, and ”Conscience‘........................ 14 1.4 Conclusions about Fanny as an Ideal Butle ian A.ent ............................................... 31 1.5 The G eate Mansfield Household as a Sin.le A.ent ................................................. 33 3. SELF-DECEIT, EDUCATION, AND THE SUPPRESSION OF CONSCIENCE: PART TWO OF A BUTLERIAN READING OF MANSFIELD PARK ........................................ 40 3.1 The Question of the Infallibility of Conscience .......................................................... 40 3.1 Makin. the Infallibility of Conscience Plausible ........................................................ 43 3.3 Self-deceit.................................................................................................................... 54 3.4 Education, Self-Deceit, and the Infallibility of Conscience in Mansfield Park .......... 5A 3.5 Education and Vice in Mansfield Park ....................................................................... 5A 3.A Edmund Be t am and Self-deceit ................................................................................ 55 3.8 Concludin. Rema ks ................................................................................................... A4 4. FIVE READINGS OF AUSTEN‘S ETHICS: THE PROBLEMATIC AND THE PROMISING ........................................................................................................................ A8 4.1 Ta pley on Mansfield Park .......................................................................................... A8 4.1 Rude man on Austen as Classical A istotelian ........................................................... 83 4.3 Emsley‘s Austen as Ch istian Vi tue Theo ist ............................................................ 81 4.4 Devlin on Austen, Ryle and the Mo alists .................................................................. 88 4.5 Concludin. Rema ks ................................................................................................... 5A 5. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 58 Biblio. aphy ................................................................................................................................ 101 Bio. aphical Sketch .................................................................................................................... 105 iv ABSTRACT This disse tation has . o0n out of a simple obse vation. I happened to be eadin. selections f om Bishop Joseph Butle ‘s se mons and his disse tation On the Nature of Virtue a ound the same time that I 0as eadin. Jane Austen‘s Mansfield Park, and 0as st uck by the simila ities I pe ceived bet0een the t0o 0o ks. The mo e I ead in each, the st on.e 0as my sense of a .ene al esemblance bet0een Butle ‘s and Austen‘s inte ests and convictions e.a din. the mo al life of human bein.s. Pe sonal inte est alone 0ould have been enou.h to encou a.e me to investi.ate the nuances and fine points of the t0o autho s‘ sha ed ethic and mo al psycholo.y, but I am additionally pe suaded of the value of such a p oBect to both Austen schola s and those philosophe s 0ho a e conce ned 0ith sustainin. and nu tu in. a mutually beneficial dialo.ue bet0een the 0o ks and disciplines of lite atu e and philosophy. At its b oadest, my aim he e is to p ovide teCtual suppo t f om both autho s fo my claim that Mansfield Park eCp esses and endo ses vie0s about the mo al natu e of human bein.s and about the causes and effects of vi tue and vice that st on.ly coincide 0ith Butle ‘s. Essentially, my a .ument ests on t0o obse vations. The fi st is that of the numbe and p ominence of sha ed concepts bet0een the t0o autho s includin.: the natu e and impo tance of mo al Bud.ment to mo al behavio and the co espondin. un eliability of efe ence to mo al ules fo p oducin. mo al behavio , the idea that the e is a natu al and beneficial hie a chical o .aniDation of motivational p inciples 0ithin an individual a.ent‘s psycholo.y, and an app eciation of the dan.e ous connection bet0een self-deceit and vice. My second obse vation is that the plot of Mansfield Park bea s out these commitments beyond simply affi min. them in pa ticula cha acte s 0hom Austen 0ants he eade to accept as mo al ole models o eCempla s. That is, 0hile it is t ue that Fanny P ice, as an individual, demonst ates the value of Bud.ment and c itical eflection, and of successful mo al action 0ithout efe ence to st ict mo al p inciples o ules, 0hat seems to me to be mo e impo tant is the fact that cont ove sial elements of the plot of the novel seem to be eCp essions of Butle ‘s vie0s as 0ell. Austen is 0o ied about Edmund Be t am‘s infatuation 0ith Ma y C a0fo d because she, like Butle , is 0o ied about the einfo cin. effect of self-deceit on establishin. mo ally p oblematic action as a habit. This causes he to be anCious about the mo ality of he cha acte s‘ effo ts to pe fo m the play ELove ‘s Vo0sF. It seems to me that 0hen 0e p ope ly app eciate the mo al thou.ht unde lyin. this v 0o y, Austen‘s much-mali.ned ”p i..ishness‘ e.a din. the play becomes mo e unde standable and less alien than it fi st appea s. In othe 0o ds, 0hen 0e have Butle ‘s Se mons and the disse tation On the Nature of Virtue at hand 0hen 0e ead Mansfield Park 0e a e less likely to be pe pleCed by events in the novel and the na ato ‘s pe spective on them fo the simple eason that 0e have bette access to the mo al psycholo.y Austen 0as 0o kin. 0ith. vi CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION This disse tation has . o0n out of a simple obse vation. I happened to be eadin. selections f om Bishop Joseph Butle ‘s se mons and his disse tation on the natu e of vi tue a ound the same time that I 0as eadin. Jane Austen‘s Mansfield Park, and 0as st uck by the simila ities I pe ceived bet0een the t0o 0o ks. The mo e I ead in each, the st on.e 0as my sense of a .ene al esemblance bet0een Butle ‘s and Austen‘s inte ests and convictions e.a din. the mo al life of human bein.s. Pe sonal inte est alone 0ould have been enou.h to encou a.e me to investi.ate the nuances and fine points of the t0o autho s‘ sha ed ethic and mo al psycholo.y, but I am additionally pe suaded of the value of such a p oBect to both Austen schola s and those philosophe s 0ho a e conce ned 0ith sustainin. and nu tu in. a mutually beneficial dialo.ue bet0een the 0o ks and disciplines of lite atu e and philosophy. At its b oadest, my aim he e is to p ovide teCtual suppo t f om both autho s fo my claim that Mansfield Park eCp esses and endo ses vie0s about the mo al natu e of human bein.s and about the causes and effects of vi tue and vice that st on.ly coincide 0ith Butle ‘s. Befo e outlinin. the chapte s that follo0, I 0ould like to su..est a fe0 easons fo e.a din. my p oBect as impo tant. Fo Austen schola ship, this should be fai ly clea . A numbe of schola s have taken up the -uestion of Austen‘s mo al vie0s 0ith an eye to0a ds associatin. he 0ith a pa ticula philosophical t adition. These schola s look deepe than Austen‘s admitted intellectual debts to Samuel Johnson and to Co0pe and attempt to disce n the philosophical oots of thei inte p etation of the mo al tone o messa.e of he novels. Both lite a y and philosophical t adition place Austen amon. those mo al thinke s conce ned 0ith vi tue, but the e is disa. eement amon. lite a y c itics as to 0hethe she is ali.ned mo e closely 0ith one o anothe of the B itish Mo alists (he elative contempo a ies), o if she 0as classically inclined, and mo e esembles A istotle, o if 0e ou.ht athe to look to Au.ustine o A-uinas to find the clea est mi o of he mo al thou.ht.