Sense and Sensibility:
\nEthics and Emotions in the 18th Century
\nGerman 590\/ English 524
\nEllwood Wiggins
\nThe Age of Reason and the Age of Sentimentality find their latter-day representatives in Elinor and Marianne, two sisters in Jane Austen\u2019s\u00a0Sense and Sensibility\u00a0(1811). In this course, we will trace the development of the \u201ccult of feeling\u201d from its Enlightenment roots to Austen\u2019s wry skewering. This era saw a dramatic shift in conceptions of emotions, from the external showiness of Baroque passions to the internal expressiveness of sentimentalist feelings. Despite this shift toward interiority, emotions–even in their narrative representation–continue to be inflected through performative and theatrical categories.
\nWe will explore the theory and practice of affect in the 18th century, reading philosophers of feeling (Moses Mendelssohn, Adam Smith, J.J. Rousseau, Mary Wollstonecraft) and purveyors of sentiment (G.E. Lessing, Laurence Sterne, Sophie de La Roche, J.M.R. Lenz, Hannah Foster, Jane Austen). How are emotions constructed in art and in moral philosophy? How do feelings manifest in bodies? Can feelings be shared? If morality has its foundation in the senses, what consequences does that have for art and for life? These and related questions are no less urgent today than they were in the 18th\u00a0century. We will also read important recent scholarship in affect theory and the history of the emotions.
\nAll readings available in translation. Discussion in English.<\/p>\n
On the first day of class, we will finalize the syllabus together and discuss a variety of assignment possibilities (including a traditional seminar paper or the organization of a conference panel) in order to determine what fits best with student interests and needs.
\nThe following texts will certainly feature in our readings for seminar discussions:
\nMoses Mendelssohn, Letters on the Sentiments (Briefe \u00fcber die Empfindungen, 1755)
\nG.E. Lessing, Miss Sara Sampson (1755)
\nAdam Smith,\u00a0Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759, sel.)
\nLaurence Sterne,\u00a0A Sentimental Journey (1765)
\nMary Wollstonecraft,\u00a0Justification of the Rights of Women (1792)
\nJane Austen,\u00a0Sense and Sensibility (1811)
\nDepending on the trajectory chosen together with students on the first day of class, we will also read a couple of the following: Lessing, Mendelssohn, Nicolai, Correspondence on Tragedy (Briefwechsel \u00fcber das Trauerspiel, 1756-7);\u00a0Edmund Burke,\u00a0A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757); Denis Diderot,\u00a0Le fils naturel (1757); J.J. Rousseau,\u00a0Julie, ou la nouvelle H\u00e9lo\u00efse (1761); Sophie de la Roche,\u00a0Fr\u00e4ulein von Sternheim (1771); Goethe, lyric poems and\/or The Sufferings of Young Werther\u00a0(Die Leiden des jungen Werther, 1774); J.M.R. Lenz,\u00a0The Tutor (Der Hofmeister, 1774) or The Hermit\u00a0(Der Waldbruder, 1776); Hannah Webster Foster,\u00a0The Coquette (1797); Mary Wollstonecraft,\u00a0Maria: or the Wrongs of Woman (1798); Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818).
\nIn conjunction with the primary texts, we will discuss recent scholarship in affect theory and literary studies by scholars such as Eve Sedgwick, Ruth Leys, Martha Nussbaum, and others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[47],"class_list":["post-1291","course","type-course","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive-courses"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 14:39:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwcps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/course\/1291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwcps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/course"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwcps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/course"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwcps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwcps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}