ABSTRACT
Lady Catherine as a paradiastolic manipulator behaves in a way that is akin to the self-aggrandizing ironist commended by the philosopher Richard Rorty. Rorty claims that “We ironists hope, by . . . continual redescription, to make the best selves for ourselves that we can” (“Private Irony and Liberal Hope,” 80). Lady Catherine also wants to make the best self for herself that she can, which is why she calls herself sincere and frank in her battle with Elizabeth (as I discuss in the previous chapter). Since I want to distinguish Elizabeth from Lady Catherine, I find I also want to distinguish Elizabeth from Rorty. This also means that I want to allow Lady Catherine a kind of philosophical defense. Her advocate will be Richard Rorty. I argue in this chapter, however, that we should take Elizabeth Bennet, and not Rorty and Lady Catherine, as our model for descriptive reasoning.
