Huckleberry Finn's Conscience: Reckoning with the Evasion.

Area of Science:

• Philosophy
• Literary Criticism
• Ethics

Background:

• Philosophers like Jonathan Bennett and Nomy Arpaly have drawn significant ethical lessons from Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (AHF).
• These interpretations focus on Huck Finn's struggles with conscience.
• However, these philosophical readings have been debated, particularly concerning the novel's latter part.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically re-examine the philosophical lessons derived from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Bennett and Arpaly.
• To argue that their interpretations are not fully supported by a close reading of the novel, especially its concluding section.
• To propose an alternative philosophical lesson derived from AHF that accounts for the significance of "the evasion."

Main Methods:

• Close textual analysis of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
• Critical engagement with the philosophical interpretations of Jonathan Bennett and Nomy Arpaly.
• Utilizing a prominent literary scholarship interpretation of "the evasion" as an allegory for post-Civil War US race relations.

Main Results:

• The interpretations by Bennett and Arpaly are found to be inconsistent with Huck Finn's behavior in "the evasion."
• "The evasion" presents significant challenges to existing philosophical readings of AHF.
• A new philosophical lesson is extracted, highlighting the role of conscious moral deliberation.

Conclusions:

• The philosophical lessons drawn by Bennett and Arpaly from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are not adequately supported by the text.
• Conscious moral deliberation is crucial for moral guidance and for challenging ingrained, incorrect moral assumptions.
• "The evasion" in AHF serves as a vital allegorical component, underscoring the importance of deliberate moral reasoning in navigating societal wrongs.