Associationist Philosophy, Cognitive Literary Studies, and Objective–Subjective Habits of Mind

Abstract

This article discusses the lasting impact of associationist philosophy on studies of Romantic and Victorian literature. Associationism, which involves belief that “mental and moral phenomena may be accounted for by association of ideas” (OED), combines habits of thinking with habits of feeling. The suggestion that detectable patterns of thought impact personal preferences and social decisions has special significance in scholarship about sympathy and distance. The explosion of scholarship within cognitive theory and the arts, spearheaded by Nicholas Dames, Sean O'Toole, Anne Stiles, Laura Otis, Lisa Zunshine, and many others, has offered powerful insights into attention, recollection, and the understanding of the self through literature. Analyses of narrative form and affect by scholars such as Amanda Anderson, Sarah Winter, Catherine Robson, and Suzanne Keen underscore how associations dictate and shape sympathetic interactions. This article argues for productive overlap between these strains of scholarship. Together, the works suggest that insights into habits of mind can and should be applied to the social realm.