If you have a group of at least 4 students who would like to take this class together, please contact me and we can set up mutually convenient times, dates, and number of class sessions.  Classes will take place on zoom, and participants can pay me through PayPal or Zelle. The cost is $18 per student per class session.

Studying philosophy helps you expand your worldview, form your own moral code, and develop your critical thinking skills.  This will be a discussion-based class; we will look at a different topic in philosophy each week.  We will first discuss a question or idea in general, and then connect it to "The Hobbit."  Please note that we will focus on "The Hobbit" itself, and not the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.  Students should have read the book before taking this class.    

Topics will include:  

The ethics of various actions in the book, with a focus on the episode of the Arkenstone.

We will use the riddle game played by Bilbo and Gollum as a way of thinking about how we interpret language.

We will talk about "Just War Theory" and apply it to the Battle of Five Armies.

How can greed hurt the people around you?  And how can it hurt the greedy person themselves?  This discussion will focus on Gollum and Thorin, among others.

According to Aristotle's concept of Virtue Ethics, was Bilbo courageous?  Did he always make good decisions?  And how could Virtue Ethics apply to our own lives?       

If you have a group of at least 4 students who would like to take this class together, please contact me and we can set up mutually convenient times, dates, and number of class sessions.  Classes will take place on zoom, and participants can pay me through PayPal or Zelle. The cost is $18 per student per class session.