Do Jane Austen's novels have a political teaching? What do her novels teach us about the economics of marriage and the possibility of dignity within marriage? What can we learn about the human propensities for self-deception and self-knowledge in her work? What does Austen have to tell us about liberal education?

Sarah Marsh and Tom Merrill discuss these and other questions in this wide-ranging discussion of Pride and Prejudice. Key passages discussed include:

Chapter 1, opening lines

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What is the social tyranny of the majority and is there any way to escape it? Does Mill's Harm Principle give us useful guidance on how to resolve the tension between individual freedom and the needs of the community? John McGowan of the University of North Carolina joins Tom Merrill and Sarah Marsh for this episode of "Politics and the Humanities" to discuss these questions.

McGowan is the John W. and Anna H. Hanes Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of American Liberalism: An Interpretation for our Time, among many other books.

The text discussed on the episode is John Stuart Mill's On Liberty.

Tom Merrill and Sarah Marsh discuss Jonathan Kramnick's essay "The Humanities After Covid-19" and Andrew Kay's essay "Academe's Extinction Moment: Failure, Whiskey, and Professional Collapse at the MLA." . Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life can be found here.

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