The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All

Front Cover
Gregory Bassham, Eric Bronson
Open Court, 2003 - Literary Criticism - 240 pages
Can power be wielded for good, or must it always corrupt? Does technology destroy the truly human? Is beer essential to the good life? The Lord of the Rings raises many such searching questions, and this book attempts some answers. Divided into five sections concerned with power and the Ring, the quest for happiness, good and evil in Middle-earth, time and mortality, and the relevance of fairy tales, The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy mines Tolkien's fantasy worlds for wisdom in areas including the menace of technology, addiction and fetishism, the vitality of tradition, the environmental implications of Tolkien's thought, Middle-earth's relationship to Buddhism and Taoism, and more.

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Contents

The Rings of Tolkien and Plato Lessons in Power Choice and Morality
5
The Cracks of Doom The Threat of Emerging Technologies and Tolkiens Rings of Power
21
My Precious Tolkiens Fetishized Rin
33
Copyright

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