Carrie-Ann Biondi	Ariel Kline	Ashley Feith	John Granger	Keith Hawk

Synopsis:

'Harry Potter and Philosophy: Metaphysical Musings at Hogwarts'

Carrie-Ann Biondi is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Marymount Manhattan College and her course on 'Harry Potter and Philosophy' is as popular as you'd imagine. In addition to the course, Prof Biondi sponsored an interdisciplinary academic conference in 2011 titled 'The Power to Imagine Better: the Philosophy of Harry Potter.' The proceedings of that conference were revised, expanded, and recently published as an edited collection by her in the journal Reason Papers. She has also written two papers on Harry Potter and Philosophy, and is proud to be the Faculty Advisor for Marymount Manhattan's student club The Marymount Marauders. In her conversation with John and I, and our student guest Ariel, Prof Biondi surveys the philosophical categories -- ethics, epistemology, politics, and metaphysics -- that reading literature and especially Harry Potter can open up for serious readers in a classroom or outside one. We will discuss particular subjects -- love, death, friendship, punishment, lying, torture, justice, fate versus free will, the meaning of life -- through a philosophical lens, which demonstrates how philosophical tools can help us to appreciate our experience of the Hogwarts Saga more profoundly and intimately. Get your geek on for this wild ride into 'Harry Potter and Philosophy!'