2nd installment Demi Rothberg

Honest and persistence has been a central moral idea of modern philosophy. The authors discuss how modern philosophers have explored the many ways in which people sabotage a natural knowledge to know themselves through rationalization and self-deception in this is exactly what the Dursleys do through abuse, neglect, and obsession. Philosophers often argue whether or not self deception is necessary and moral due to the need of humans to think well of themselves which is more of a personal, self-satisfaction issue. The Dursleys first obsess themselves with appearing normal, or completely dis-associated with magic. However the flaw remains in the connection to the magical world through Lily and Harry Potter. Even with this flaw Uncle vernon refuses to notice anything peculiar or odd about the child or the environment ie the strangely dressed people in cloaks, whatsoever. This continues after coincidences such as overhearing discussions of the potters but instead convinces himself that potter is a common name.  This behavior in response to magic clearly implicates self-deception and this pattern will continue. The dursleys self-deception of Harry is continuously shattered and is frequently in need of renewal after incidents of unintentional acts of magic such as the removal of the glass on the snake cage at the zoo or harry's enlargement of aunt Marge. A problem for self-decievers is that denying the facts does not alter them, harrys powers and admission to hogwarts is impervious to the dursleys denials and punishments. Also, failed self-deceptions are likely to leave people confused, scared, angry,  vulnerable, or depressed. Daniel Goldman writes that self-deception can lead us to “fall prey to blind spots remaining ignorant of zones of information we might be better off knowing even if that knowledge brings us pain” he recommends we find a mean between truth and falsehood. Lying is another form of self-deception portrayed in the dursleys. Petunia (Harry's Aunt) particularly kept the secret from Harry that he was a wizard. The authors claim she did this in the feelings of jealousy and being inferior to her sister lily and turned to hatred and contempt. The authors compare Malfoys prejudice preference for pure-blood no matter magical ability or moral character to real-life racism.   

The authors state that rowling creates a world where equal opportunity among the sexes is given unlike everywhere around our world. The friendship between Harry, Ron and Hermione shows equality among sexes as opposed to other trios among literature which are all male such as the Three Musketeers or the Hardy Boys.  Feminist like Colette Dowling claim that “the deep wish to be taken care of by others is the chief force holding down women today, a woman must be taken care of or saved by a man. Contrary to this, Hermione on several accounts rescues Ron and Harry such as saving them from the devil's snare plant or tricking professor umbridge to get into the ministry of magic. Harry goes to her for help to complete the task of defeating the dragon in the triwizard tournament. Hermione Proves to be able to take care of others and definitely herself. Hermione is the one who when realizes who is the servants, all the elves, takes a stance against their slavery and works for their equality. But what she chooses to ignore is that the slaves don't emphasize free will. She excels in school, morality, strength of mind, and virtue. In continuance of gender equality, professor Mcgonagall is second in command and also faculty sponsor of Gryffindor. Two of the founders of Hogwarts are witches, Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw.