Fantasy and Philosphy

Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Rang Hogwarts
By David Baggett,Shawn E. Klein, William Irwin, editors
Open Court Publishing, 2004
(250 pages, $17.95, paperback)

reviewed by Rebecca Hurt

Harry Potter and Philosophy is definitely a must-read for Harry Potter devotees. I have enjoyed this fantasy series for several years now, just as a good story. Of course, that is often why one enjoys a book, but Harry Potter and Philosophy takes one a step deeper.

This collection of essays, cleverly sorted into the four Hogwarts houses, discusses the various worldviews and philosophies portrayed in J.K. Rowling's wizarding world. The topics range from “Dursley Duplicity: The Morality and Psychology of Self Deception” (now that's a mouthful) to “Magic, Science, and the Ethics of Technology.” A couple of the best essays are “Voldemort's Agents, Malfoy's Cronies, and Hagrid's Chums: Friendship in Harry Potter,” which draws from Aristotle to look at friendship, and “Heaven, Hell, and Harry Potter,” which looks at morality through an explicitly Christian worldview. “Kreacher's Lament: S.P.E.W. as a Parable on Discrimination, Indifference, and Social Justice” (they sure are fans of long titles around here) uses Immanuel Kant to examine, well, discrimination, indifference, and social justice, and “Is Ambition a Virtue? Why Slytherin Belongs at Hogwarts” makes some interesting points on why ambition really is a virtue when not blown out of proportion.

I would recommend this book to critics of the Potter series who might argue that the series is meaningless or even evil. To them I quote one of the essays, which says, “These are books that, uncharacteristically in contemporary fiction, instruct the readers about how to live.” And with the help of these essays we can see that indeed these books do show us a way to live, and it is the right way to live. Several of the essays point out one of my favorite arguments for Harry Potter: that Harry over and over again chooses what is right over what is easy or best for himself.

This is also a good book to bring back to me how endearing Fred and George are, how much I loathe Umbridge, how purely evil Voldemort is, and how much I love Dumbledore. I can just feel that warm nostalgic feeling sweeping back over me. Like Harry Potter fans everywhere, I eagerly awaited the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ( released July 21 st ). With the assistance of these handy essays I will be able to take a closer look at the worldviews it portrays and how they play out, which is what one should always strive to do when reading, watching, or listening to anything.

Rebecca Hurt has lived in Lynchburg for well nigh seven years. She is looking forward to home schooling herself through her senior year of high school this year and has high hopes of attending New Saint Andrews the next. She enjoys reading, running, people and coffee. She also enjoyed writing this bio in the third person.

Editor's note: Rebecca is also the daughter of Virgil and Katie Hurt, and a sister of five. This is her first article for The Inklings Review. Virgil Hurt is pastor of Providence Church (www.providencekirk.com) and headmaster of Pactum Christian Academy (www.pactumchristian.com) in Lynchburg.