On Being Tough-Minded: Sense and Sensibility and the Moral Psychology of “Helping”

This essay situates Sense and Sensibility within the debate about the character concepts and psychological models that are most useful in explanations of un/helpful behavior, examining the thinking styles that inform the kind of altruism Austen’s heroine practices. What Austen admires is the (Lockean) exercise of “reasonable exertion,” which involves a rational assessment of one’s circumstances and objectives: a modus operandi that is sustained by a dispositional attitude of toughmindedness. While Elinor Dashwood is able to turn certain situations to her own psychological advantage, Austen finds that not even the most tough-minded of women can become invincibly rational in the pursuit of their own best interests.