Lord of the Rings and Philosophy @ Concordia University Wisconsin

[davem]

Ok, so...

1) Did Tolkien set out intentionally, with 'malice aforethought', to write a work of philosophy - Is LotR a 'Philosophical novel'?

2) Did he write a philosophical work without realising it, unintentionallly - (ie the work presents us with a clearly set out, coherent & logical philosophical 'system')?

3) Is it possible for a reader to use LotR as a 'stepping off' point for a course in Philosophy 101 (ie - 'this character/event reminds me very much of what Plato said about 'x' or 'isn't it interesting how we can apply the medieval theory of Humours/four elements/Jung's psychological types/Tarot suits ...to the four Hobbits?

Well, to 1) I'd say clearly he didn't. We have the letters, the early drafts, interviews, & at no point did Tolkien even imply that he wrote LotR as a philosophical work.

To 2) I'd say no again - even if Tolkien himself had not picked up on the fact he'd written a philosophical novel one of his fellow Inklings would have & pointed it out to him. I think Tolkien was smart enough to know what his book was about & what it ws not about.

To 3) I'd simply ask what novel you couldn't do that with.

I think the problem is that you have two different things here which you're attempting to combine together, but these things are a bit like oil & water - both liquids but they won't mix. You'll either end up sacrificing serious study of philosophy in favour of literary analysis or vice versa. Now if it was 'Zarathustra & Philosophy' you wouldn't face that problem. Zarathustra was a philosophical novel, intended to set out Nietszche's philosophy in 'novelistic' form (yes, I realise that oversimplifies massively, but I hope you get the point I'm making).

Philosophical themes in Lord of the Rings: What is reality? What does reality include? The supernatural or only the temporal? God's actions or only ours? God's purposes or only ours? What is good and evil? What, if anything, is the meaning of history? How do we know things? What is Wisdom? What is beauty and is it connected to goodness/ What is the nature and significance of language? What are some of the most important virtues and vices?

Well, ok - but why pick LotR to analyse? Is LotR a particularly good candidate for philosophical analysis? Was it just picked at random for 'dissection'? It seems to me that such a course is likely to fail to achieve anything - to the extent that you focus on LotR you'll neglect the philosophy, to the extent you focus on the philosophy you'll neglect the story

as story

Literature shows the truth that philosophy talks about.

Well, it may, or it may not - the statement seems a little dogmatic to me - but it seems to imply that that is the purpose, not to mention the intention behind literature. I'm not sure they're the same thing at all (which is what the statement seems to imply). The primary purpose of literature, it seems to me, is not to teach philosophy, or to reveal philosophical truths, or question the ultimate meaning of things, but simply to entertain. It may reveal 'truths' along the way, but that is not its purpose (or when it is the author's purpose the work produced tends to be unreadable). Literature's 'purpose' (if one can put it that way) is to entertain, philosophy's 'purpose' is to enlighten. Now literature may also enlighten, & philosophy may also entertain, but that will be 'accidental' in the main, because generally novels written with the intention of enlightening the reader tend to be boring, & philosophy presented with the intention to entertain tends to be shallow.

Or something....