What is Happiness? — An Initial Exploration of Social Ethics in "Persuasion"
Journal: Arts Studies and Criticism DOI: 10.32629/asc.v5i6.3444
Abstract
The evolution of human society is a history of building communities. Jane Austen, a highly acclaimed British female novelist, also paid attention to the theme of community. This paper attempts to interpret the social ethics in Austen's works through different virtue ethics to glimpse the true happiness. In Austen's view, a virtuous person is naturally a happy one. "Persuasion" meticulously portrays the decline of the geographical community in the English countryside during a period of social transition and the dissolution of the blood community, conveying deep humanistic care and a beautiful hope for a new type of community. This paper calls for the construction of a harmonious spiritual community that transcends geography and class, united by friendship and centered on emotional bonds. This community is formed by individuals with virtue, from which we can gain many insights and further consider the relationship between community and modern social ethics, or rather, how to draw the boundary between the two.
Keywords
Happiness; Social ethics; Community; Persuasion
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[4] Yin Qiping. Western Literary Keywords — Community. Foreign Literature, 2016(2): 70-80.
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[8] Zhang Xiuli. Women, Friendship, and Community Imagination: The Community Writing in Waverley. Journal of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, 2021(3): 40-52.
[9] Ferdinand Tönnies. Community and Civil Society. Trans. Jose Harris and Margaret. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
[10] Cheng Xilinn and Fang Yazhong. What is Feminist Criticism. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2011.
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