The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles
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Socrates believed that the life of the philosopher is a superior life, and that the philosopher is not afraid to die. In a sense, his own death was the ultimate display of his conviction that a life in pursuit of wisdom is the best kind of life, and his willingness to die for this conviction is an example that others would be wise to follow. In this way, then, the death of Socrates could have contributed to the good of Athens. His friends and followers, if they followed him in the pursuit of virtue, would also have contributed to the good of Athens, inspired by the life and the death of Socrates. Whether Athens did in fact benefit from Socrates’ death and the ensuing lives of his students is a question for historical investigation. But it is clear that there can be no common good without individual goodness, and that Socrates acts as an exemplar for others to imitate in his willingness to die for his convictions.
Similarly, Dumbledore is more concerned with defeating the Dark Lord and his allies than with preserving his own life, because he believes that this is what will be best for all. He, of course, wants to avoid being tortured by his enemies, and he wants to preserve his soul. Yet he is also willing to die in order to prevent Severus Snape’s spying from being revealed. It is here that the common good comes into play, as it is clearly beneficial for those opposed to Voldemort to have an ally in his inner circle. So, both Socrates and Dumbledore lay down their lives willingly for virtue and the common good.
There is something very important about the individual’s commitment to the common good, rather than to mere self-interest (understood as the pursuit of power, pleasure, comfort, or wealth). Voldemort put self above all else, and his existence is not something that we envy, even if he had defeated Dumbledore and Harry. Harry, however, in his unselfishness, devotion to his friends, and loyalty to the good of all, lives a rationally desirable and morally good existence. The lesson here is that we live best when we live for a cause greater than ourselves. This is something of a paradox. Those who, like Voldemort, put self above all else end up worse off than those who often put the common good above the self. The best life is the moral life.
There is another lesson in all of this for those who pursue this type of fulfillment, and it has to do with Harry’s relationship with Dumbledore. Readers of the Potter series know that Harry’s relationship with Dumbledore is vital to his personal growth and fulfillment. It is also crucial to the fulfillment of his destiny. One thing that is highly conducive to living a good life—even (or perhaps especially) for us Muggles—is the presence of one or more mentors in our lives who provide guidance, instruction, and encouragement along the way. Harry has many mentors at different points in his life, but none more significant than Dumbledore.
Why is Dumbledore such a good mentor for Harry? A good mentor is humble in accurately recognizing and sharing his own faults, as Dumbledore does when confessing his past mistakes. A good mentor is honest with his mentee, as Dumbledore is when he refers to Harry’s hotheadedness in his conversation in the mist at King’s Cross. A good mentor also praises the virtues of his protégé, as Dumbledore does in the same conversation when he notes Harry’s courage, unselfishness, and willingness to face death. Finally, a good mentor is able to encourage his mentee at critical times in his life. We’ve already seen how Dumbledore plays a crucial role in Harry’s fulfilling his destiny during their conversation in the mist. There is, however, another pivotal point, in Order of the Phoenix, in which Dumbledore’s presence and words make all the difference for Harry.
After Sirius Black’s death and a confrontation with Voldemort, Harry and Dumbledore take a Portkey back to Dumbledore’s office, where they have one of their most significant conversations. Harry is angry, and a part of him feels like giving up the struggle against evil. After Dumbledore explains why he has been keeping his distance from Harry, he offers the words that Harry needs to hear in order to fulfill his destiny. Dumbledore recounts all that has happened in the five years since Harry’s arrival at Hogwarts and expresses his pride in all that Harry has done. He in essence tells Harry that he has what it takes to fulfill his destiny, because he has the character to do so. Dumbledore then explains the lost prophecy to Harry, which singles him out as the only person able to defeat Voldemort. Dumbledore’s faith in Harry’s ability to defeat Voldemort ultimately enables Harry to do so. And it is Voldemort’s inability to understand the power of self-sacrificing love that ultimately proves his undoing. This sort of love encompasses virtue and the common good, and it is the reason that Harry and Socrates opt for death.
Returning from the realm of Hogwarts to our own Muggle lives, we can draw two practical lessons related to human fulfillment. First, if we are to live good lives, we must be devoted to something larger than ourselves. Lily Potter, Dumbledore, and Harry decided to die because they believed life was about more than themselves, and that the greatest life one can live is one devoted to the common good of all of humanity. Fortunately, this type of love is not just the stuff of fantasy literature and imaginary heroes like Harry Potter, but of real-life heroes such as Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Jesus, and Socrates. Second, if we want a good life, we need a mentor, too. We need someone who can provide us with and lead us into insight and wisdom about life’s big questions and the small daily choices that make up the substance of our answers and our lives. These choices also make up the substance of each individual’s character.
The mentor may be a parent, a coach, or a community leader of some sort. Readers have the advantage of not being limited to the present. They can be mentored by some of the greatest minds in history, such as Aristotle, Confucius, and Jesus, to name just a few. A close reading of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the book of Matthew in the New Testament, or King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” enables us to bridge the gaps of time and space to learn from some of the wisest persons ever to walk the earth. Ideally, our mentors will be able to go through life with us, as Dumbledore does with Harry. And ultimately, if we’re committed to the common good, we’ll also be mentors to others, whether that occurs in the context of our homes, our workplaces, or religious or community organizations.
The End of the Story
At the end of the day, philosophical reflection on ethics should have an impact on our daily lives. Given this, consider the following question: Who would you rather be, Harry or Voldemort? For any true lover of virtue and the common good, the answer is clear. What might be less clear to some, but is no less true, is that your answer should remain the same even if Voldemort had won. The value of love, in its best form, is not lessened when love is apparently defeated. To underscore this point, I close with the wise words of Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter, the boy who lived and ultimately won: “You are the true master of death, because the true master does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying.”9
NOTES
1 Kelly James Clark and Anne Poortenga, The Story of Ethics: Fulfilling Our Human Nature (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003), pp. 7-23. This short and well-written book traces the theme of the relationship between ethics and human fulfillment from ancient times to our era and is worth reading for those interested in pursuing this subject further. Much of what follows is drawn from this work. See also Plato’s Republic.
2 Plato, Republic, translated by G. M. A. Grube, revised by C. D. C. Reeve (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992), pp. 19-20.
3 . See Book X of the Republic, 621 a-621 d.
4 Deathly Hallows, pp. 706-707.
5 For more on this theme, see chapter 17 in this volume, “Beyond Godric’s Hollow: Life after Death and the Search for Meaning” by Jonathan and Jerry Walls.
6 See Clark and Poortenga, The Story of Ethics, p. 21.
7 Deathly Hallows , p. 716. The passage is strongly reminiscent of Saruman’s attempt to justify to Gandalf his treacherous alliance with Sauron in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring (Book 2, chap. 2): “We can bide our time, we can keep our
thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evil done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order.”
8 For an account of the trial and the death of Socrates, see Plato, Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, translated by G. M. A. Grube (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1981). There are several points raised in the dialogues that lend support to the claim that the common good was one of Socrates’ motivations regarding his decision to die. In the Apology 29d-30c, Socrates expresses his refusal to cease philosophizing in Athens as a refusal to stop calling its citizens to value truth, wisdom, and the state of their souls more than they value wealth and reputation. There is an important connection between the character of the citizens and the character of the city, and Socrates would rather die than refrain from contributing to the common good through his philosophizing on the streets of Athens. He would rather provide an example to those who continue living of the importance of a life devoted to virtue and the common good. As he says at the end of this passage, “Wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence makes wealth and everything else good for men, both individually and collectively.” Other reasons for Socrates’ decision to die that are related to the common good include his belief that the god has given him this mission (Apology 30e), his concern for the reputation of Athens (Apology 34e), and his belief that he should die rather than flee Athens, because he owes a debt of gratitude to the city (Crito 50a-52e).
9 Deathly Hallows, pp. 720-721.
CONTRIBUTORS
The Hogwarts (for Muggles) Faculty
Beth Admiraal, associate professor of political science at King’s College in Pennsylvania, is a carbon copy of Lily Potter, except she doesn’t have red hair or green eyes, has never conjured a spell, at no point called her future husband an “arrogant toerag,” and rarely sees the value in a person before that person sees this value in himself. She does, however, see the value in studying international relations.
Michael W. Austin teaches philosophy at Eastern Kentucky University, with a focus on ethics and philosophy of religion. He has published journal articles on ethics, philosophy of sport, and philosophy of religion. His published books include Conceptions of Parenthood: Ethics and the Family (Ashgate, 2007), Running and Philosophy: A Marathon for the Mind (Blackwell, 2007), and Football and Philosophy: Going Deep (University Press of Kentucky, 2008). He’d love to try Quidditch but can’t find a Firebolt anywhere.
Gregory Bassham teaches at King’s College in Pennsylvania, where he specializes in philosophy of law and critical thinking. He wrote Original Intent and the Constitution: A Philosophical Study (Rowman & Littlefield, 1992), coauthored Critical Thinking: A Student’s Introduction (McGraw-Hill, 4th ed., 2011), and coedited The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All (Open Court, 2003); The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: The Lion, the Witch, and the Worldview (Open Court, 2005); Basketball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Paint (University Press of Kentucky, 2007); and The Hobbit and Philosophy (forthcoming, Wiley). Greg hopes to retire early to spend more time with his remaining hair.
Catherine Jack Deavel is associate professor of philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and also associate editor of American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. She serves on the executive council of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.
David Paul Deavel is associate editor of Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture and contributing editor for Gilbert magazine. The Deavels’ collaborative work has included articles in Logos, New Blackfriars, and St. Austin Review, as well as two chapters on philosophy and popular culture. It also includes four children—and they aim to have more than the Weasleys do, although red hair isn’t in the genes.
S. Joel Garver teaches philosophy at La Salle University, focusing on freshman teaching, interdisciplinary courses, epistemology, and philosophical theology. He recently presented on Bonaventure and Aquinas on prophecy, South Park and ontologies of violence, and the phenomenon of divine revelation. After Olivander disappeared, Joel ended up crafting his own wand, although he wonders whether his cat’s whisker is really a proper core.
Tamar Szabó Gendler is professor of philosophy and chair of the cognitive science program at Yale University. Her research focuses primarily on issues in epistemology, philosophical psychology, metaphysics, and aesthetics. She is the author of Thought Experiments: On the Powers and Limits of Imaginary Cases (Routledge, 2000) and an editor of Conceivability and Possibility (Oxford, 2002), Perceptual Experience (Oxford, 2006), and The Elements of Philosophy: Readings from Past and Present (Oxford, 2008). She has been unsuccessful in her efforts to allow students to substitute N.E.W.T.s for SATs in applying to Ivy League schools.
John Granger writes and speaks on the intersection of literature, philosophy, faith, and culture. He has published articles in Touchstone, has been a keynote speaker at numerous academic and fan conferences and at major universities from Princeton to Pepperdine, and is the author of several books on Harry Potter, including How Harry Cast His Spell (Tyndale, 2008), The Deathly Hallows Lectures (Zossima, 2008), and Harry Potter’s Bookshelf (Penguin, 2009). John was also a finalist in the 2006 Witch Weekly “Most Winning Smile” house-elf division. He lives with his wife, Mary, and their seven Harry-loving dwarves in Pennsylvania.
Alan J. Kellner is a graduate student in philosophy at the University of Chicago in the master of arts program in the humanities (MAPH). His main interest in philosophy is the intersection of metaphysics, ethics, and politics in the history of philosophy. Despite the fact that he goes to school in Chicago, Alan lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has, in fact, discovered a Floo Network going between the two, which is how he commutes each day. When he’s not reading or writing, he’s petting his cat, Plato.
Amy Kind, whose specialty is philosophy of mind, teaches at Claremont McKenna College. Her research has appeared in journals such as Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Philosophical Studies, and The Philosophical Quarterly, and she has also previously written on philosophy and pop culture topics such as Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, The Hobbit, and Angel. When she recently took an online Harry Potter identity quiz, she was terribly dismayed to discover she matched up best with Percy Weasley.
Andrew P. Mills is the chair of the department of religion and philosophy at Otterbein College, where he has taught just about every philosophy course there is. He’s interested in metaphysics, metaphilosophy, and the pedagogy of philosophy, having published articles in the Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Papers, and Teaching Philosophy. His essay “What’s So Good about a College Education?” has been used at schools all around the country to explain to students the nature and value of a liberal arts education. At present, he’s working to perfect the “aybeeceedee” spell, which will get his papers graded in a flash.
Tom Morris, after teaching philosophy at Notre Dame for fifteen years, became a public philosopher and has since reached millions of Muggles worldwide through the magic of television, radio, and the Internet and in talks on topics ranging from business ethics and excellence to Dumbledore’s favorite reading list. He’s the author of around twenty books, including If Harry Potter Ran General Electric (Doubleday, 2006), Philosophy for Dummies (IDG Books Worldwide, 1999), True Success (Berkley Books, 1994), The Art of Achievement (MJF Books, 2003), If Aristotle Ran General Motors (Henry Holt and Co., 1997), Making Sense of It All (W.B. Eerdmans, 1992), and The Stoic Art of Living (Open Court, 2004). He may well Apparate to a city near you if you contact him on Twitter, where he is holding court daily as TomVMorris; at the Huffington Post, where he blogs weekly; or via his magical Web site: www.MorrisInstitute.com.
Jeremy Pierce is a PhD student at Syracuse University in New York, who works on metaphysics, philosophy of race, and philosophy of religion. He is also an adjunct instructor at Le Moyne College, where he teaches ordinary philosophy, and at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he teaches the many means of disco
vering the future through magic and the many ways of not changing the past with Time-Turners. It wasn’t until he had children that he realized that sleep is too important to use Time-Turners to get more accomplished during the day.
Regan Lance Reitsma, assistant professor of philosophy at King’s College, works in ethics, especially in the area of moral normativity, when he’s not battling Voldemort (nobody has the heart to tell him he’s not real). He received a “T” on his grad school comps and invented a howler e-mail. If no response is received within three days, the recipient’s computer begins belting out “Muskrat Love.”
Eric Saidel teaches philosophy at George Washington University. His interests have to do with the relationship between the mind and the body. If he were an Animagus, he’d like to think that the form he’d take would be a hippogriff. He’s sure that he would be too dignified to chase his own tail (but we have our doubts).
Scott Sehon teaches philosophy at Bowdoin College, including courses on topics such as mind, language, religion, law, and logic. His research focuses on philosophy of mind, an area in which he has published a number of articles and a book titled Teleological Realism: Mind, Agency, and Explanation (MIT Press, 2005). He hopes to start a philosophical counseling practice, in which he will treat abnormal dementors who suffer from chronic happiness.