The Golden Compass and Philosophy: God Bites the Dust

by Richard Greene (Editor), Rachel Robison (Editor)

Overview

The popularity of the His Dark Materials trilogy has generated a major motion picture, a stage play, video games, and a new prequel. The series has also been highly controversial with its use of exciting adventure stories for children to comment on organized religion. These books have piqued the interest of the contributors to this fascinating volume, who use it to probe the philosophical issues that inform them. Could a golden compass, or alethiometer, really work? Can a person's soul or daemon have a mind of its own? What are the ramifications of pursuing the diabolical "intercision" process, or of trying to bring about the death of God, a plot that Lyra and her mysterious Father struggle over? These are some of the questions explored by these essays that try to get to the heart of Lyra's bewildering, inspiring, and multifaceted world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812698152
Publisher:	Open Court Publishing Company
Publication date:	03/30/2012
Series:	Popular Culture and Philosophy , #43
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	477 KB

About the Author

Rachel Robison is a graduate student in the philosophy department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She has published several articles on philosophy and popular culture topics.

Richard Greene is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. He has co-edited several titles in the Popular Culture and Philosophy series, most recently Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy.
Rachel Robison is a graduate student in the philosophy department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She has published several articles on philosophy and popular culture topics.

Richard Greene is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. He has co-edited several titles in the Popular Culture and Philosophy series, most recently Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgment ix

Angels and Dæmons and Bears (Oh My)! xi

Part I When You Stopped Believing in God Did You Stop Believing In Good and Evil? 1

1 Thus Spake Philip Pullman Randalle E. Auxier 3

2 One of These Gods Is Not Like the Other Rachel Robison 25

3 Is Philip Pullman Corrupting the Young? Abrol Fairweather 37

4 Faith and Circumcision Wayne Yuen 51

Part II Tell Them Stories. They Need the Truth. You Must Tell Them True Stories, and Everything Will Be Well, Just Tell Them Stories 61

5 The Truth in Lyra's Lies Kiera Vaclavik 63

6 The Many Phases of Lyra Margaret Mackey 73

7 Kicking Up Some Dust Mary Harris Russell 87

Part III All the History of Human Life Has Been a Struggle between Wisdom and Stupidity 99

8 Cuts Like a Knife Randalle E. Auxier 101

9 Is Lyra Free Enough to Be a Hero? Nicolas Michaud 121

10 Could the Magisterium Be Right? Nicolas Michaud 131

Part IV Was There Only One World after All, which Spent Its Time Dreaming of Others? 143

11 Worlds of Possibility Hannah Finley 145

12 Lyra's Journey to the World of the Dead Angela Rhyan Harris Paul Baer 153

13 Why the Dead Choose Death Richard Greene 165

The Magisterium 175

The Index of Forbidden Thoughts 179