Huck Finn
October 2nd 2006 06:26
In Huckleberry Finn, Huck feels in his heart that slavery is wrong. Twain claims, implicitly and romantically, that Huck is outside society, that he is better in touch with his true feelings.
This is a sweet thought, that one can trust one's feelings. Even though, intellectually, you can scarcely doubt that most of the slavers would have felt slavery was right, just as a lot of cultures felt women and Jews were inferior, just as every culture has a bias towards the status quo, just as everyone's feelings have misled them at one time or another.
"Conscience" is always a loaded word because consciences are created, not given, and even when they're given, this doesn't mean they're right.
This is a sweet thought, that one can trust one's feelings. Even though, intellectually, you can scarcely doubt that most of the slavers would have felt slavery was right, just as a lot of cultures felt women and Jews were inferior, just as every culture has a bias towards the status quo, just as everyone's feelings have misled them at one time or another.
"Conscience" is always a loaded word because consciences are created, not given, and even when they're given, this doesn't mean they're right.
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Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
It is interesting that it is in hucks rebel without a cause personality that his conscience tells him that soceity around him is wrong.
Comment by Gareth
Comment by Joy
And then you have the flip side of things: going against society merely because you think that's "edgy" or "cool."
Comment by Damo
He knew that plenty of slave owners slept well knowing that they owned slaves but that did not stop him from taking the abolitionists side.
'I don't care if people call me a dirt ab-lishinst. I don't care if I burn in hell for stealing a slave. I was going to help Jim escape...' Huck says to himself. (Quoting from memory so forgive any variation from the text)
In reality the reader knows that Huck is doing the right thing and could not possibly 'Burn in Hell' for doing so. Huck is working against his misinformed conscience to achieve the higher goal of helping his friend. As he follows this journey his conscience is slowly infused with the truth and becomes an informed conscience.
At the end of the book we are left with no doubt that Huck had done the right thing.
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
Where the conversation about Huck can soon get to is metaethical questions about the basis on which you design your ethical system. Kant thought you could create a system out of pure reasoning. But people from Hegel, Mill, onwards have thought that Kant was mistaken, and that all his categorical imperative amounted to was a rule of consistency, which is as compatible with evil moralities as good ones. You therefore need intuitions and consciences.
Anyway, long conversation to be had here...