Synopses & Reviews
The perfect companion to Lewis Carroll's classic book and director Tim Burton's March 2010 remake of
Alice in WonderlandAlice?s Adventures in Wonderland has fascinated children and adults alike for generations. Why does Lewis Carroll introduce us to such oddities as blue caterpillars who smoke hookahs, cats whose grins remain after their heads have faded away, and a White Queen who lives backwards and remembers forwards? Is it all just nonsense? Was Carroll under the influence? This book probes the deeper underlying meaning in the Alice books, and reveals a world rich with philosophical life lessons. Tapping into some of the greatest philosophical minds that ever lived?Aristotle, Hume, Hobbes, and Nietzsche?Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy explores life?s ultimate questions through the eyes of perhaps the most endearing heroine in all of literature.
- Looks at compelling issues such as perception and reality as well as how logic fares in a world of lunacy, the Mad Hatter, clocks, and temporal passage
- Offers new insights into favorite Alice in Wonderland characters and scenes, including the Mad Hatter and his tea party, the violent Queen of Hearts, and the grinning Cheshire Cat
Accessible and entertaining, Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy will enrich your experience of Alice's timeless adventures with new meaning and fun.
Synopsis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is more commonly known by its abbreviated name Alice in Wonderland. This classic novel was written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll in 1865 and tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit-hole and stumbles upon a fantasy world filled with anthropomorphic animals. At first glance the plot and dialog in the novel seems like nonsense, but are actually filled with inner-meaning, logic, and truisms. This is a richly philosophic tale that analyzes being and non-being, nonsense and language games, perception and reality, and even drug culture. This is the first book to delve into Alice's wonderland and analyze the philosophy behind the tale while comparing the work to the philosophy of Socrates, Derrida, Rorty, and Wittgenstein, among many others.
Synopsis
The perfect companion to Lewis Carroll's classic book and director Tim Burton's remake of Alice in Wonderland releasing in March 2010
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is treasured by people of all ages who have followed young Alice on her trip down a rabbit hole and into a fantasy world filled with strange and whimsical characters. At first glance, the plot and dialogue seem like nonsense, but are actually filled with inner meaning, logic, and truisms. This is the first book ever to delve into Alice's wonderland to analyze the philosophy behind the tale and compare it to the thinking of Socrates, Derrida, Rorty, Wittgenstein, and other philosophers. Looks at compelling issues such as perception and reality as well as how logic fares in a world of lunacy, the Mad Hatter, clocks, and temporal passage Offers new insights into favorite Alice in Wonderland characters and scenes, including the Mad Hatter and his tea party, the violent Queen of Hearts, and the grinning Cheshire Cat
Accessible and entertaining, Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy will enrich your experience of Alice's timeless adventures with new meaning and fun.
Synopsis
The first work ever to delve into Alice's wonderland and analyze the philosophy behind the tale and compare it to the thinking of Socrates, Derrida, Rorty, Wittgenstein, and other philosophers. Discover how logic fares in a world of lunacy.
Synopsis
Should the Cheshire Cat's grin make us reconsider the nature of reality?
Can Humpty Dumpty make words mean whatever he says they mean?
Can drugs take us down the rabbit-hole?
Is Alice a feminist icon?
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has fascinated children and adults alike for generations. Why does Lewis Carroll introduce us to such oddities as a blue caterpillar who smokes a hookah, a cat whose grin remains after its head has faded away, and a White Queen who lives backward and remembers forward? Is it all just nonsense? Was Carroll under the influence? This book probes the deeper underlying meaning in the Alice books and reveals a world rich with philosophical life lessons. Tapping into some of the greatest philosophical minds that ever lived—Aristotle, Hume, Hobbes, and Nietzsche—Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy explores life's ultimate questions through the eyes of perhaps the most endearing heroine in all of literature.
To learn more about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, visit www.andphilosophy.com
About the Author
RICHARD BRIAN DAVIS is an associate professor of philosophy at Tyndale University College and the coeditor of
24 and Philosophy.
WILLIAM IRWIN is a professor of philosophy at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. 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 Batman and Philosophy, House and Philosophy, and Watchmen and Philosophy.
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: “It’s My Own Invention”— Yeah, Right!
Introduction: You’re Late for a Very Important Date.
PART ONE “WAKE UP, ALICE DEAR”.
1 Unruly Alice: A Feminist View of Some Adventures in Wonderland (Megan S. Lloyd).
2 Jam Yesterday, Jam Tomorrow, but Never Jam Today: On Procrastination, Hiking, and . . . the Spice Girls? (Mark D. White).
3 Nuclear Strategists in Wonderland (Ron Hirschbein).
4 “You’re Nothing but a Pack of Cards!”: Alice Doesn’t Have a Social Contract (Dennis Knepp).
PART TWO “THAT’S LOGIC”.
5 “Six Impossible Things before Breakfast” (George A. Dunn and Brian McDonald).
6 Reasoning Down the Rabbit-Hole: Logical Lessons in Wonderland (David S. Brown).
7 Three Ways of Getting It Wrong: Induction in Wonderland (Brendan Shea).
8 Is There Such a Thing as a Language? (Daniel Whiting).
PART THREE “WE’RE ALL MAD HERE”.
9 Alice, Perception, and Reality: Jell-O Mistaken for Stones (Robert Arp).
10 How Deep Does the Rabbit-Hole Go?: Drugs and Dreams, Perception and Reality (Scott F. Parker).
11 Perspectivism and Tragedy: A Nietzschean Interpretation of Alice’s Adventure (Rick Mayock).
12 Wishing It Were Some Other Time: The Temporal Passage of Alice (Mark W. Westmoreland).
PART FOUR “WHO IN THE WORLD AM I?”.
13 Serious Nonsense (Charles Taliaferro and Elizabeth Olson).
14 “Memory and Muchness”: Alice and the Philosophy of Memory (Tyler Shores).
CONTRIBUTORS: Pawns and Pieces: As Arranged before Commencement of Game.