Kant and Snape and Ethics and Everything

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 150256

> >>Sydney:
> <snip>
> My husband does have a degree in philosophy, though, so I braved   
> much embarassment to run this by him for rough accuracy!  He does 
> say that anyone who claims to understand Kant is mistaken;...
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Thank goodness!  I tried to dip into Kant when he was first brought 
up with Snape.  My left eyeball melted.  I'm glad to see that he 
really *can* be that difficult to unpack. <g>

I do think Snape acts according to a rather strict moral code.  It 
is why, I think, he sees Lupin as being so very weak.  Lupin, time 
and again, goes for the surface choice, the choice that will make 
him look good to those he wishes to please, even if he knows it to 
be morally wrong.

Having read that essay comparing Kant's Good Will to Hume's 
benevolence I think it could be said that while Lupin has been 
blessed with benevolence (he seems naturally pleasing) he's had a 
struggle with achieving Good Will.  While Snape, maybe *because* 
he's not naturally benevolent, has pushed himself so hard to achieve 
Good Will.  IOW, I would sooner hire Snape as a babysitter, than 
Lupin; though Lupin would be a nicer dinner companion.

> >>Pippin:
> I know almost nothing about Kant, but from what you and Sydney
> are saying, it sounds like Snape could be a  satirical critique of 
> this philosophy. He's someone who *thinks* he's utterly rational,
> except for those occasional moments of CAPSLOCK rage when
> his mighty powers of occlumency fail him, but he has no idea
> that his subconcious emotions and biases are influencing him
> *all the time*.
> <snip>
> That this is comic is shown by the lack of serious                
> consequences...<snip>

Betsy Hp:
And suddenly I wonder if this doesn't suggest that Snape may well 
survive book 7.  Because if Snape *is* supposed to illustrate the 
struggle to be good in a more comic than tragic way, then doesn't 
that mean he must live, must learn whatever philosophical fact he's 
failed to grasp (the impossibility of achieving pure rationality) in 
order to stay true to the comic story?

[As a clarification: I'm using comic as the opposite of tragic 
rather than comic as funny, which might not have been how Pippin was 
using it, but I'm totally shanghai-ing this idea and running with 
it. <g>]

> >>Sydney:
> As Pippin said, Snape is hampered by his very human brain.  I'm not
> positing Snape as a Kantian saint, if such a thing were even      
> possible.
> I'm saying there's a reason Kant is often brought up in relation to
> this character, because it's all about how someone can be a not
> kind-hearted person but do good things at the same time.  That is, 
> to me, the beauty of Kant-- that our obligations to each other as 
> human beings is something nobler and higher than animal           
> affections, and that it's demanded of us even if it goes against   
> our feelings, and that even if we possess damaged souls our will   
> and reason can allow us to aspire to something better.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
The interesting thing is that this is exactly what Snape's 
detractors don't seem to get.  They don't see the struggle.  They 
see a teacher being mean to a student for no good reason, while 
Snape's supporters (or me, at least <g>) see a teacher struggling to 
pull a student beyond what that student thinks he's capable of.

The Occlumency lessons are another example.  Rather than someone 
doing a bad job, deliberatly or otherwise, I see Snape trying so 
darn hard to get past his issues with Harry and teach the boy.  It's 
the old struggle of nice vs. good.

I think this is why I see the more negative flavors of Snape (ruled 
by self-interest or overall evilness) as so flat and boring, while 
DDM!Snape has such depth and movement and soul to him.  It's the 
struggle that makes him human. 

> >>Sydney:
> The Potter books are so incredibly rich in personalities and
> situations you could find a philosopher to fit all the characters- 
> Sirius makes me think of Rousseau, and the romantic Natural man who
> follows his noble-savage impulses.  Hermione's starting to edge
> alarmingly towards a Nietzchean view of herself as a Superwoman    
> whose superior intelligence gives her dominion over lesser        
> mortals...

Betsy Hp:
I'll nominate Sartre for Draco Malfoy, based on this excellent essay 
here:
http://community.livejournal.com/hp_essays/86380.html

That whole thing with choice, and Draco finally having to (I think!) 
make his own choice, and Dumbledore doing everything in his power to 
give Draco a *chance* to choose strikes me as very true to the story 
JKR is trying to tell.

Betsy Hp, in way over her head, but loving it <g>