Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts

by Shawn E. Klein and David Baggett

Book Overview

Harry Potter has put a spell on millions of readers, and they all want to find out more about the deeper meaning of his adventures. In Harry Potter and Philosophy, 17 experts in the field of philosophy unlock some of Hogwarts' secret panels, uncovering surprising insights that are enlightening both for wizards and for the most discerning muggles. Individual chapters look at such topics as life revealed in the Mirror of Erised; the ethics of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812694554
• ISBN13: 9780812694550
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Open Court
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Concise, entertaining, and practical reading!

I am a philosophy major turned law student. It has been almost three years since my last philosophy class, and I am more than a little rusty on what I learned in college in my philosophy classes. This book was fabulous! Using the Potter series as a springboard, Baggett's book explores disparate philosophical topics in a lucid, precise, and interesting manner. The book is separated into sixteen short essays that average about 7-10 pages. Each essay covers a different philosophical topic and illustrates its point by using examples from the Potter series. The essays are remarkably palatable and easy to read--I found that I could enjoy an essay before bed or on a short car trip. Each essay is entertaining and educational. Want to know about Aristotilean ethics? Read Steve Patterson's essay on Ambition. There are also essays covering feminism, racial discrimination, and morality. I would highly recommend this book to all readers, whether they're professional philosophers, armchair philosophers, or avid Potter fans. Where else can you gain a rudimentary understanding of the philosophy of Space and Time in just over thirteen pages?

A new interest in philosophy

I loved this book!! It taught me so much about philosophy. I learned about what Aristotle says about friendship, about the relationship between good and evil, how I can build courage, how science in our world parallels magic in Harry's, why ambition can be good, reasons why criticisms of the Potter books are so often misguided, and so much more! I've loved Harry Potter for a long time, and could tell the authors did too, but I never realized how so many interesting points can be raised by the books. I especially enjoyed the essays dealing with space, time, different realities, and free will and foreknowledge. This book made me laugh and it made me excited about philosophy by making so many issues understandable with examples from the Harry Potter books. I highly recommend it, what great fun!

Painless Way to Learn Philosophy

This series of books, popular culture and philosophy is fantastic. It seems that any popular movie, or TV series immediately generates a backlash. Two recent examples include the Harry Potter books and movies, and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. In the case of Harry Potter, fundamentalist Christians have lamented that the books are teaching witchcraft. In Passion, the movie is being charged as being anti-Semite. In this series of books, prominent philosophers are being asked to comment on these charges and on the story contained in the movie. In contrast to the shrill, loud, emotionally loaded comments being made primarily to get attention to the commenter, here are thoughtful, reasoned essays that challenge the reader to think about and decide for himself about these charges. These books make for absolutely delightful reading. It is a way to bring philosophy to the public in connection with a story that is familiar to a broad range of people.

17 philosophical experts unlock some of Hogwart's secrets

Harry Potter's put the spell on millions of readers, and many have debated the 'deeper meaning' of the stories. In Harry Potter And Philosophy, seventeen philosophical experts unlock some of Hogwart's secrets, revealing connections between the particular characters and how they link to modern philosophy. There's more than a healthy dose of humor, such in an analysis of how Aristotle would've run a school for wizard. Harry Potter And Philosophy is "must" reading for dedicated fans of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels and films presenting Harry Potter's detailed and complicated world.