Contemporary Philosophy in
Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and the Golden Compass

Do you need an elective, or just want to get credit for some cool summer reading and discussion. You can do it online this summer while reading and discussing Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Narnia, and the Golden Compass. Feel free to contact me if you have questions about the course. dbanach@anselm.edu

http://www.anselm.edu/Academics/Summer-School.htm
http://www.anselm.edu/Academics/Summer-School/Registration-and-Payment.htm

PH338      CONTEMPORARY IMAGES OF MAN IN FANTASY NOVELS    David Banach
Harry Potter    Lord of the Rings    Narnia    The Golden Compass
This course examines the Postmodern situation and the nature of the Human Person in four popular sets of 
Fantasy Novels. We reveal how we see the limitations of contemporary life, man’s place, and the nature of good and 
evil, by how we change those limitations in stories that alter the fundamental metaphysical and moral features of our 
world. We will consider two sets of novels influenced by World War II: Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis’s 
Narnia series, and contrast them with two recent series: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling and The Golden Compass series 
by Philip Pullman. The course will examine what we think of the real, its metaphysics and moral structure, by how we 
conceive the unreal.

This course is an examination of basic themes in contemporary philosophy as they appear in fantasy novels. It examines the answers that Post-Modern Philosophy has given to these basic philosophical questions and how they differ from the answers given in Classical and Modern Philosophy. We'll be looking at Contemporary Philosophers Foucault, Wittgenstein, Quine, Thomas Kuhn, Heidegger, Camus, Dostoevsky, and Daniel Dennett and how their arguments and ideas shape our world and are reflected in the world of the novels. We'll also look at Neoplatonism, Augustine, Anselm, Boethius, and Descartes to see how their ideas shaped the worlds of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

• 1. What makes us who we are? What is our personal identity?

• 2. How do we know reality?

• 3. What is the relation of language to reality?

• 4. Are Human Beings free? What is the relation of human freedom to causation in Nature and God?

• 5. Is there more to reality than what we see with our senses?

• 6. What is the ultimate meaning or purpose of Human life?

• 7. What is the nature of good and evil?

Texts:

• The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles: Blackwell

• The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind the Lord of the Rings, Ignatius Press. 

• Return of the King 

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

• The Amber Spyglass 

• The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.