Dickens:
Opposing political economy, based on utilitarian views of Adam Smith (reductive version), Jeremy Bentham individual self-interest promotes the general good (Smith's "invisible hand")
Empathic basis to social life considered an illusion; no such thing as society (as Mrs. Thatcher maintained).
Nussbaum thesis: rationality of emotions / literary imagination
Gradgrind opposes literature, which prompts imagination and
feeling, on grounds of political economy, 356
The novel encourages thought and feeling in opposition to economic rationality,
357
But to argue for role of literary imagination in public life, 357
Empathy (altruism?) vs. self-interest:
Theory of mind vs. autism
Centrality of literary experience in overcoming autistic thinking
To ask how to assess well-being; what is the rational thought
of a good judge, 358
Imagination said to be unscientific, irrational and emotional, and not impartial,
358
Emotions as guidance for reasoning, 358
Why novels: to show what might happen, link characters to reader, 359
Literary texts make us confront what may be unpleasant and difficult, 359
That the situation shown in a novel often differs markedly from our own, 360
Issues raised for Nussbaum by reading Hard Times, in general context of her
understanding of freedom, human flourishing, etc., 361
[but who would read it who
was not already inclined to accept its premises?]
Cost-benefit economics more prevalent now, 361
Novel offers ethical reasoning that is specific but generalizable, 361
Facilitates critical debate, as advocated by Booth, 362
In Hard Times we encounter the ordinary, enlargement of sympathy, 362
Empathy and compassion as components of citizenship, 362
But ethical assessment of novels required, 363
Proposes that economic science be based on human data of novels, 364
Test insights in relation to moral and political philosophies, 364
That reading novels advances moral and political theory, and develops reader's
moral capacities, 364
Questions
How far is Nussbaum's imagination specific to literary novels?
To what extent do readers really read ethically?
How does her claim fare in a world where fewer seriously read literary novels?
What else might be opposed to utilitarian economics?
What kind of literary institution is Nussbaum promoting? Can you recognize
it?