ABSTRACT
Fielding and Richardson represent the beginnings of what I call 'the high theory of mind tradition' in the English novel. Theory of mind is a term from cognitive science that describes one of the most important mental mechanisms underlying social exchange. It is the ability to know that other people have minds, to attribute beliefs to them, and to understand how their beliefs might differ from some factual state of affairs. Theory of mind can help us understand why reading about human interaction interests us. It can help us understand, too, what sorts of interactions we find most interesting.
