Hobbit and Philosophy

Gregory Bassham is Chair of the Philosophy Department at King's College and a professor of philosophy. He edited The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy and co-edited The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy (Open Court) and The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy.Eric Bronson is a visiting professor in the Humanities Department at York University in Toronto, Canada. He is the editor of Poker and Philosophy (2012), and co-editor of The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy (2003) and Baseball and Philosophy (2011).William Irwin is Professor of Philosophy at King's College. He originated the philosophy and popular culture genre of books as coeditor of the bestselling The Simpsons and Philosophy and has overseen recent titles including House and Philosophy, Batman and Philosophy, and Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy.

• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thag You Very Buch xIntroduction: Never Laugh at Live Philosophers 1Gregory Bassham and Eric BronsonPART ONE DISCOVER YOUR INNER TOOK1 The Adventurous Hobbit 7Gregory Bassham2 “The Road Goes Ever On and On”: A Hobbit’s Tao 20Michael C. Brannigan3 Big Hairy Feet: A Hobbit’s Guide to Enlightenment 32Eric Bronson4 Bilbo Baggins: The Cosmopolitan Hobbit 45Dennis KneppPART TWO THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE SLIMY5 The Glory of Bilbo Baggins 61Charles Taliaferro and Craig Lindahl-Urben6 Pride and Humility in The Hobbit 74Laura Garcia7 “My Precious”: Tolkien on the Perils of Possessiveness 90Anna Minore and Gregory Bassham8 Tolkien’s Just War 103David Kyle Johnson9 “Pretty Fair Nonsense”: Art and Beauty in The Hobbit 118Philip Tallon10 Hobbitus Ludens: Why Hobbits Like to Play and Why We Should, Too 129David L. O’HaraPART THREE RIDDLES AND RINGS11 “The Lord of Magic and Machines”: Tolkien on Magic and Technology 147W. Christopher Stewart12 Inside The Hobbit: Bilbo Baggins and the Paradox of Fiction 161Amy Kind13 Philosophy in the Dark: The Hobbit and Hermeneutics 176Tom GrimwoodPART FOUR BEING THERE AND BACK AGAIN14 Some Hobbits Have All the Luck 193Randall M. Jensen15 The Consolation of Bilbo: Providence and Free Will in Middle-Earth 206Grant Sterling16 Out of the Frying Pan: Courage and Decision Making in Wilderland 218Jamie Carlin Watson17 There and Back Again: A Song of Innocence and Experience 235Joe KrausCONTRIBUTORS: Our Most Excellent and Audacious Contributors 251INDEX: The Moon Letters 257

"The value in this approach, of course, is that these essays are simple; they are incredibly short (each runs about five pages), and they are clear and accessible." (Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, 1 February 2015)"Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson's anthology of essays, 'The Hobbit and Philosophy', may have an overblown title, but the authors do a good job of focusing on themes like possessiveness, providence and free will, courage and decision-making." (The Times Literary Supplement, 21 December 2012)