Up@dawn 2.0

Saturday, November 7, 2015

PART 1 FINAL EXAM

Adem Abell, Blake Owens, and I Axle Rothberg are doing a report today on Harry Potter and Philosophy, If  Aristotle Ran Hogwarts by David Bagget and Shawn E. Klein. The Harry Potter series seems to spark imagination for people all ages and also helps broaden peoples spectrum and perception on life leading to altercation in lifestyle such as questioning reality daily or making different style choices. Harry potter and the Sorcerers Stone was originally going to be called Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone but the thought was Americans would be put off by the reference to philosophy. Bagget and Klein quoted Plato “Philosophy begins in wonder” which they agreed that philosophical curiosity comes natural in a child. The Harry Potter series is perfect for this testimony in which it creates a world for a child to open their mind up to and escape and explore all sorts of possibilities and in relations to Plato wonder what's going to happen next. The authors state that Rowling's works are not filled with philosophical treatises, therefore their arguments will be based off its philosophical significance. And it is indeed philosophically significant because it is so engaging emotionally, imaginatively, and intellectually. The authors claim things such as Aristotle would act a lot like Dumbledore and there is a parallel between Harry's invisibility cloak and Plato's ring of Gyges.  This book discusses various topics including self depiction, good and bad friendships and a discussion informed by Aristotle insight on the subject, gender equality, morality, sacrifice, the meaning of life, and echoing philosophical themes from and sharing insights with Jean-Paul Sarte, Immaunuel Kant, and William James,




Known tools by great philosophers as virtues used to solve problems on a day to day basis are intelligence, planning, courage, determination, persistence, and so forth. While wizards can replace all of that with a spell. Rowling's aim in her books is not to display the importance of magic in her characters lives but to display the magical importance of the classical virtues in any life. The authors point out and give several examples that Harry Potter out of all the characters feels a far more intense fear than any of the others in a frightening situation. “His stomach lurched....his insides were squirming... harry stopped dead” However he is always able to overcome these situations to and to the extent of saving the day. The question is how does Harry have this much courage. Courage is said to be “doing what's right not doing what's easy” Aristotle teaches us that courage is a midpoint between two extremes in our reaction to danger. Cowardice and rashness. A lesson we can learn from Rowling, Harry's recipe for courage which was to prepare for the challenge, surround himself with support, engage in positive self-talk, focus on what's at stake, and take appropriate action. Each of these task we can all simply do.

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