Writing the mind : social cognition in nineteenth-century American fiction / Hannah Walser.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Walser, Hannah, author.

Series:

Stanford scholarship online.

Stanford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American fiction--19th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

Philosophy of mind in literature.

Social perception in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (274 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2022]

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Novels are often said to help us understand how others think - especially when those others are profoundly different from us. When interpreting a character's behaviour, readers are believed to make use of 'Theory of Mind', the general human capacity to attribute mental states to other people. In many well-known nineteenth-century American novels, however, characters behave in ways that are opaque to readers, other characters, and even themselves, undermining efforts to explain their actions in terms of mental states like beliefs and intentions. This book dives into these unintelligible moments to map the weaknesses of Theory of Mind and explore alternative frameworks for interpreting behaviour.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction. Toward a Literary History of Cognition

1 Boundedness

2 Epistemic Reality

3 Causal Power

4 Responsibility

Coda The Curtain

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2022.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781503632042

1503632040

OCLC:

1334344185