Tolkien and philosophy

[mark12_30]

Hi Hookbill,

You wrote,

The reference to those who (As was said, for their own enjoyment) look deeply into these matters and that not bothering Tolkien is perhaps a sigh that with creating any imaginary world Philosophical subjects will arise.

Yes, it's true that "with creating any imaginary world Philosophical subjects will arise". I think careful consideration of TOlkien wll reveal that the two ideas were interwove,n. He did treat philosophical ideas rather carefully in his Epic Romance LotR, just as he treated them carefully in his Mythology For England (the Sil.) Do you have a copy of Letters? He discusses his ideas frequently in Letters, and it is very interesting reading. That is why I asked "On what do you base your conclusion" that Tolkien was not a philosopher; I find his letters very philosophical indeed.

C.S. Lewis’s Books involved an imaginary world and I'm sure there are forums with people discussing similar things. Tolkien was perhaps not intentionally putting these things there, they just sort of came along with it. Probably hiding in a small box so he didn’t notice it.

Except that when you read some of his own statements, you find such things as "It's about death, the inevitability of death". I do think he was writing a great story, of course. But with a deep thinker in the process of writing a great story, deep themes do bubble to the surface-- precisedly because the man is a deep thinker.

He wrote essays describing his philosophy towards Faery stories and towards Beowulf, and other things as well. If you are not familiar with them, perhaps you would like to check them out.

I think you've raised a question that puzzles a lot of people, because on the one hand Tolkien often did say that Lord of the Rings was "just a story". However, he also said that the Silmarillion was a "myth"-- his attempt at writing a myth for England. And he believed that myths are all shadows of what he called The One True Myth. So there was a lot of deep thinking going on.

Keep asking questions, Hookbill! And don't let the dyslexia get you down; looks like I don't need to tell you that! I like your spunk.

--mark12_30