A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

-166 ..
does not totally avoid all references t- the Christ but these
ore in Feuerbachian terms and.
tu
of humanity. They thus
become a useful symbol for t he human P1': dicamenc.
The patterns of thought George El.~ot ;;hEJ.reCi \,iith ~'euerbach and the
similar emotional resonance of their writings \C,-it
thA reiterated concern
for humanity places both of them in a tX'€iC1.ition of hU:::1£11"..istic ethics.
rhis Jr,ind of ethics is intent on propoU}:.ding the' inwerdness of an
individual t s reaction to the v;orld. Dons.lei UacKinnon, contrasting the
lIact-ethics n of utilitarianism \nth a h;::.'TIanistic ethic declares that
the humanistic ethic defines a man' s mC~.al
'North in terms of IIman ; s responsiveness,
II the tldisponibility" of P
fellows, the 'Jiversity of huma.'>l 10v8*
.tl in the p:t'es.ence of' hi~3
worth, It he olairns, "is realized
by the extent to which the indivj, '·.'ll so to
opens and Qeepens
himself through his relations tobis fe~' }OVJs. II
The mention of "openness II and Hr6sponsi 'Veness II c:mfirms the connection
I am making between George Eliott s me:;,'
and the other philosophers throughout
a "shallow consec;,uentialist morality"
position an.:l that of Feuerbach
centuries who have raj
ami have promulgated a hU,Hlanist-
ic ethic ..