Rowling and Philosophy

[marephraim]

No: HPFGUIDX 53635

This is a general reply to the thread, not any one in particular. 

It seems to me that Rowling is quite within the tradition of the 
Catholic moral tradition, without the trappings of Hagiographical 
writing conventions. Her writing clearly follows the English story-
telling format (consider Beowulf as the flawed hero). 

He Who Must Not Be Named is a clear example of both the seduction of 
evil and the disfigurement of the person due to the corrupting 
influence of evil. From his youth, You Know Who has chosen the path 
of bitterness, revenge, hatred, and pride. This has disfigured his 
morals (obviously) as well as his physical person. His free choice 
to kill the unicorn represents a kind of ultimate choice for 
damnation that results in his incarnation in GoF being more demonic 
than human.

As for Harry, we must distinguish the literary "Harry in a comedy" 
setting and "Harry in a tragedy/drama" setting. ISTM that most of 
Harry's rule breaking can be divided between situations that serve 
merely as enterainment (Divination) -- and let us not forget that HP 
is first and foremost intended to be an entertaining read, eh? -- 
thus clearly in the comedy genre, and as actions contributing to the 
resolution of the mystery at hand, in which case 'rule breaking' is 
a metaphor for overcoming obstacles to reach the goal.

The most serious thing we can say about Harry's moral behavior is 
that he has a tendency to sin through omission in not passing on 
knowledge to Dumbledore and others that might prevent later 
suffering (which usually happens to Harry himself). In this regard, 
we again see the heroic character as found in so many English 
stories (going back even to the late Middle Ages) whose choice both 
impell the story forward and indicate the limitations of the human 
person.

The Ethics of HP clearly turn on Dumbledore's comment that "It is 
our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our 
abilities." (CoS, p 245 UK pb)

The metaphysics of the HP universe have not been clearly defined by 
Rowling. I believe this is due to the material being written from 
the First Person Non-Omniscient perspective. Harry is a youth who 
has not fully examined the principles and powers that drive his 
universe. He takes much on face value, trusting his intuition 
(sometimes correctly and sometimes to his own harm) to make his way 
through. Yet, even in the presence of ghosts we discover (or will 
discover in OoP if JKR is true to her promise) that their existence 
is a kind of purgatory. 

I suspect that by the end of the series a case could be well made 
that JKR has drawn much from the basic canon of Western literature, 
the English literary tradition, and the basic western Catholic 
tradition of which she is a product.

MarEphraim