Harry Potter and Philosophy: if Aristotle ran Hogwarts

389 Pages·2004·1.38 MB·English

by  David Baggett

Table of Contents
Popular Culture and Philosophy Series Editor: George A. Reisch
Title Page
Dedication
A Few Start-of-Term Notices
Abbreviations
The Magic of Philosophy
Gryffindor - The Characters of Harry’s World
Chapter 1 - The Courageous Harry Potter
Magic and Virtue
The Virtues at Hogwarts
Feelings of Fear
Harry’s Recipe for Courage
Harry’s Big Step of Faith
Chapter 2 - Dursley Duplicity: The Morality and Psychology of Self-Deception
The Arguments for Self-Deception
The Self-Deceptions of the Dursleys
The Lessons of Dursley Deceit
A Fourth Lesson
Making Sense of Positive Illusions
An Honest Life
Chapter 3 - Voldemort’s Agents, Malfoy’s Cronies, and Hagrid’s Chums: ...
Voldemort’s Agents
Malfoy’s Cronies: Crabbe and Goyle
Hagrid’s Chums: Harry, Ron, and Hermione
Aristotle’s Friends
Useful Friends and Pleasant Friends
Friendship in the Fullest Sense
“What’s Comin’ Will Come, an’ We’ll Meet It When It Does” (GF,
p. 719)
Chapter 4 - Feminism and Equal Opportunity: Hermione and the Women of
Hogwarts
In the Image of Her Creator
Not Just One of the Guys
Strength of Mind and Moral Virtue
Co-education at Hogwarts
Equal Opportunity Beyond Hogwarts
Hufflepuff - Morality in Rowling’s Universe
Chapter 5 - Heaven, Hell, and Harry Potter
Are We Truly Happy?
Is Death Really a Good Thing?
So Why Not Take the Money and Run?
Magical Moral Obligations
Some Damned Good Reasons
Chapter 6 - Magic, Science, and the Ethics of Technology
Magic, Science, and Harry Potter
Interlude: Fantasy and Moral Epistemology
Rowling’s Ethics of Magic
Back to Reality
Chapter 7 - The Mirror of Erised: Why We Should Heed Dumbledore’s Warning
The Mirror of Erised
Dumbledore’s Warning
Knowledge and Truth
Descartes’s Dreams
The Experience Machine
To Plug In . . .
. . . Or Not to Plug In
Doing Certain Things
Being a Certain Way
Back to the Mirror
Heeding Dumbledore’s Warning
Chapter 8 - Kreacher’s Lament: S.P.E.W. as a Parable on Discrimination, ...
Discrimination and Prejudice
What Is Wrong with Prejudice?
Why S.P.E.W. Doesn’t Work
Indifference, Security, and Social Justice
Slytherin - Knockturn Alley and the Dark Arts
Chapter 9 - Is Ambition a Virtue? Why Slytherin Belongs at Hogwarts
Aristotle and the Sorting Hat
The Virtue of Slytherin House
Ambition as a Virtue
What We Can Learn from Slytherin House
Chapter 10 - A Skewed Reflection: The Nature of Evil
Evil Doesn’t Exist
Evil Protects Itself and Grows through Deception
Evil Is a Result of Free Choice
Seeing Clearly, Acting Bravely
Chapter 11 - Voldemort, Boethius, and the Destructive Effects of Evil
Boethius and the Destructive Effects of Evil
Voldemort and the Destructive Effects of Evil
Voldemort and Moral Education
Chapter 12 - Magic, Muggles, and Moral Imagination
The Devil Made Harry Do It
What’s Wrong with Harry?
Answering the Moral Charge
Is Hogwarts a Wiccan Academy?
Imagination and Morality
Imagination and Faith
Ravenclaw - Many-Flavored Topics in Metaphysics
Chapter 13 - Finding Platform 9 : The Idea of a Different Reality
The Oz Stories
The Ship of Theseus
The Narnia Chronicles
Hogwarts
Hogwarts and Narnia
Hogwarts and Oz
Hogwarts and Our World
Seeing but Not Noticing
Science and Alchemy
Chapter 14 - Space, Time, and Magic
Where and When: The Harry Potter Universe and Our Own World
Magical and Non-Magical Places
How: Travel by Magical Means
Time Travel: The Tensed versus the Tenseless View of Time
Time Travel in the Harry Potter Universe
What We’ve Learned About Harry Potter’s World
Chapter 15 - Why Voldemort Won’t Just Die Already: What Wizards Can Teach
Us ...
Disembodied Survival and the Nature of Persons
Teletransportation and Personal Identity
Chapter 16 - The Prophecy-Driven Life: Fate and Freedom at Hogwarts
The Scientific Challenge to Freedom
The Religious Challenge to Freedom
The Paranormal Challenge to Free Will
Reconciling Freedom and Foreknowledge
Hogwarts Emeritus Faculty
Current Hogwarts Faculty
A Wizard’s Index
Copyright Page
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