I'm currently reading this book for my Harry Potter and Philosophy class. I will be updating my review space with my thoughts on each chapter as I read them.
Chapter 3: Destiny in the Wizarding World- Jeremy Pierce
Really interesting chapter that focuses on Trelawney's prophecies and how grandiose and unreliable she is, but also taking into account her only "two" real prophecies. This chapter provides a lot of interesting discussion on free will and determined destiny. I also had a personal revelation as to why Voldemort chose Harry as opposed to Neville that I hadn't really thought about before. Voldemort marks Harry as his equal because he is also a half-blood. Neville is a pure-blood and according to Voldemort's rhetoric (although he would deny it), technically above him in blood status. Neville could never be equal to Voldemort because he is technically already stronger than him because of his pure-blood status. However, Harry was also a half-blood and since he only heard half of the prophecy, he didn't realize that marking one of the two children as his equal would give him more power and eventually lead to his demise. Recommend: Read
Chapter 16: The Real Secret of the Phoenix: Moral Regeneration through Death- Charles Taliaferro
This is a really interesting chapter that focuses on the concept of moral regeneration and compares a phoenix to human remorse and rebirth. It's a really well-done chapter, but there are a lot of holes in the argument. However, I enjoyed reading the chapter and I felt like there were a lot of interesting tidbits. Recommend: Read
Chapter 7: Patriotism, House Loyalty, and the Obligations of Belonging -Andrew P. Mills
This essay was pretty strong. It made me question a lot of Mills' points, but he also brought up a good amount of points that I heavily agreed with. Overall, pretty solid. Recommend: Read
Chapter 8: Dumbledore's Politics -Beth Admiraal and Regan Lance Reitsma
This essay focuses on another essay's claim that Dumbledore is a Libertarian and it was pretty interesting. I like the style of this particular essay because it completely demolishes another and makes counteractive points that made me feel as if I had read the essay it was disputing. Recommend: Read
Chapter 15: A Hogwarts Education: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly- Gregory Bassham
I read this one outside of class for my final essay on the philosophy of education within Hogwarts. This was interesting, but as an education major I disputed with a lot of his points. However, it was a strong essay that I really enjoyed reading and it provided great source material for my essay. Recommend: Read
Read Outside of Class:
Chapter 1: The Soul in Harry Potter - Scott Sehon
This was a pretty strong essay on the soul and its implications in philosophy as well as in the context of the Harry Potter series. It's not amazing, but it was a relatively strong one. Recommend: Read
Chapter 2: Sirius Black: Man or Dog? - Eric Saidel
This essay is boring and I don't feel like I was learning anything. There was little to no philosophy and it was packed with uninteresting information. Saidel does make one interesting point concerning Polyjuice Potion and I would have loved to have seen the essay focus solely on that aspect and interpretation of this topic.
Recommend: Skip
Chapter 5: Love Potion No. 9 3/4 - Gregory Bassham
This is a simple essay about love potions. It's not a super exciting or informative essay, but it, surprisingly, a lot of fun. I do recommend reading it because it is a lot of fun and love potions are such an interesting portion of the Harry Potter world.
Recommend: Read
Chapter 6: Harry Potter, Radical Feminism, and the Power of Love - Anne Collins Smith
At first I wasn't too sure about this and where it was going because it was chocked full of examples from essays about HP and feminism that I've never read or heard about before. However, this is one of my favorite essays in this collection. It was a very well-done essay and I definitely loved reading it.
Recommend: READ
Chapter 9: Dumbledore, Plato, and the Lust for Power - David Lay Williams and Alan J. Kellner
I loved the history lessons incorporated into this essay as a setup for the argument. This essay was quite brilliant because it was simple and true to the series. I enjoyed it a lot. Some may not like it because it isn't offering anything new since we already know the majority of all this information as readers, but it was so much fun.
Recommend: Read
Chapter 10: Is Dumbledore Gay? Who's to Say? - Tamar Szabo Gendler
This essay doesn't fit in this collection for two reasons. Dumbledore being gay is supported in the HP canon through physical representation. I'm hoping to see that change in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Also there isn't any philosophy here. It feels like an essay that was found online and someone said, "We have to meet a chapter quota, let's throw this one in there." Topic was interesting, but not cohesive to the novel it's in.
Recommend: Skip
Chapter 11: Choices vs. Abilities - Gregory Bassham
This essay was a lot of fun. For instance, "Aristotle classically defined humans as the 'rational animal'- but, obviously, he had never watched an episode of the Jerry Springer Show." I was laughing so hard at that. It's not an amazing or mindblowing essay, but Bassham's writing style is fun and breezy. It made the topic easy to read and fun to get through.
Recommend: Read
Chapter 12: The Magic of Personal Transformation - S. Joel Garver
To be honest, this essay is kind of pointless. I thought Garver made one interesting point about Dudley, but there was a lot of bouncing around in the examples and it became very annoying. I'm not a huge fan of this one.
Recommend: Skip
Chapter 13: Just in Your Head? - John Granger with Gregory Bassham
This was an incredibly thought provoking essay and I really enjoyed the points that this collaborative effort brought to life. The writing was also cheeky and fun, so it made this essay incredibly intelligent and witty.
Recommend: Read
Chapter 14: A Pensive for Your Thoughts?: Harry Potter and the Magic of Memory - Amy Kind
Again another essay that was a bit of a dud. It could've been interesting, but it felt very underwhelming and I just didn't care for the way the topic was presented.
Recommend: Skip
Chapter 17: Beyond Godric's Hollow: Life After Death and the Search for Meaning - Jonathan L. Walls and Jerry L. Walls
I think my biggest problem with this particular piece was the writing style. The content is interesting, but nothing original. This collection begins to feel too long after a while and the essays all start to feel like they bring up the exact same points. I would just like more variety in the topics presented.
Recommend: Skip
Chapter 18: Why Harry and Socrates Decide to Die: Virtue and the Common Good - Michael W. Austin
Again, my biggest problem with this essay is that is feels like a rehash of several different essays that I've already read in this collection. The topic is interesting and I loved the discussion we did for this topic in class (even though we didn't read this particular chapter), but I just felt underwhelmed.
Recommend: Read/ Skip (if already well-versed in topic)
Overall Rating: 3 stars