Tolkien John Ronald Reuel - The Lord of the rings and philosophy : one book to rule them all

Popular Culture and Philosophy Series Editor: George A. Reisch

VOLUME 1Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000)

VOLUME 2The Simpsons and Philosophy: The Doh! of Homer (2001)

VOLUME 3The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (2002)

VOLUME 4Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale (2003)

VOLUME 5The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All (2003)

VOLUME 9Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts (2004)

VOLUME 12Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine (2005)

VOLUME 13Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way (2005)

VOLUME 17Bob Dylan and Philosophy: Its Alright Ma (Im Only Thinking) (2006)

VOLUME 19Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (2006)

VOLUME 24Bullshit and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Get Perfect Results Every Time (2006)

VOLUME 25The Beatles and Philosophy: Nothing You Can Think that Cant Be Thunk (2006)

VOLUME 26South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating (2007)

VOLUME 28The Grateful Dead and Philosophy: Getting High Minded about Love and Haight (2007)

VOLUME 29Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy: How to Philosophize with a Pair of Pliers and a Blowtorch (2007)

VOLUME 30Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene! (2007)

VOLUME 31Johnny Cash and Philosophy: The Burning Ring of Truth (2008)

VOLUME 32Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy: Darkness on the Edge of Truth (2008)

VOLUME 33Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission Frakked Up? (2008)

VOLUME 34iPod and Philosophy: iCon of an ePoch (2008)

VOLUME 35Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant (2008)

VOLUME 36The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am (2008)

VOLUME 37The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy: Wicked Wisdom of the West (2008)

VOLUME 38Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive (2009)

VOLUME 39Jimmy Buffett and Philosophy: The Porpoise Driven Life (2009) Edited by Erin McKenna and Scott L. Pratt

VOLUME 40Transformers and Philosophy: More than Meets the Mind (2009) Edited by John R. Shook and Liz Stillwaggon Swan

VOLUME 41Stephen Colbert and Philosophy: I Am Philosophy (And So Can You!) (2009) Edited by Aaron Allen Schiller

VOLUME 42Supervillains and Philosophy: Sometimes, Evil Is Its Own Reward (2009) Edited by Ben Dyer

VOLUME 43The Golden Compass and Philosophy: God Bites the Dust (2009) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison

VOLUME 44Led Zeppelin and Philosophy: All Will Be Revealed (2009) Edited by Scott Calef

VOLUME 45World of Warcraft and Philosophy: Wrath of the Philosopher King (2009) Edited by Luke Cuddy and John Nordlinger

Volume 46Mr. Monk and Philosophy: The Curious Case of the Defective Detective (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower

Volume 47Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin

VOLUME 48The Red Sox and Philosophy: Green Monster Meditations (2010) Edited by Michael Macomber

VOLUME 49Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy: New Life for the Undead (2010) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad

VOLUME 50Facebook and Philosophy: Whats on Your Mind? (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower

VOLUME 51Soccer and Philosophy: Beautiful Thoughts on the Beautiful Game (2010) Edited by Ted Richards

VOLUME 52Manga and Philosophy: Fullmetal Metaphysician (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Adam Barkman

VOLUME 53Martial Arts and Philosophy: Beating and Nothingness (2010) Edited by Graham Priest and Damon Young

VOLUME 54The Onion and Philosophy: Fake News Story True, Alleges Indignant Area Professor (2010) Edited by Sharon M. Kaye

VOLUME 55Doctor Who and Philosophy: Bigger on the Inside (2010) Edited by Courtland Lewis and Paula Smithka

VOLUME 56Dune and Philosophy: Weirding Way of the Mentat (2011) Edited by Jeffery Nicholas

VOLUME 57Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United (2011) Edited by Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman

VOLUME 58Dexter and Philosophy: Mind over Spatter (2011) Edited by Richard Greene, George A. Reisch, and Rachel Robison-Greene

VOLUME 59Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved (2011) Edited by Luke Cuddy

VOLUME 60SpongeBob SquarePants and Philosophy: Soaking Up Secrets Under the Sea! (2011) Edited by Joseph J. Foy

VOLUME 61Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy: The Footprints of a Gigantic Mind (2011) Edited by Josef Steiff

VOLUME 62Inception and Philosophy: Ideas to Die For (2011) Edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

VOLUME 63Philip K. Dick and Philosophy: Do Androids Have Kindred Spirits? (2011) Edited by D.E. Wittkower

VOLUME 64The Rolling Stones and Philosophy: Its Just a Thought Away (2012) Edited by Luke Dick and George A. Reisch

VOLUME 65Chuck Klosterman and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Seth Vannatta

IN PREPARATION:

Neil Gaiman and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Tracy L. Bealer, Rachel Luria, and Wayne Yuen

Breaking Bad and Philosophy (2012) Edited by David R. Koepsell and Robert Arp

The Walking Dead and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Wayne Yuen

Curb Your Enthusiasm and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Mark Ralkowski

Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox

The Catcher in the Rye and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Keith Dromm and Heather Salter

Jeopardy! and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Shaun P. Young

Planet of the Apes and Philosophy (2013) Edited by John Huss

Boardwalk Empire and Philosophy (2013) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene

The Wire and Philosophy (2013) Edited by Joanna Crosby, Seth Vannatta, and David Bzdack

For full details of all Popular Culture and Philosophy books, visit www.opencourtbooks.com.

The Lord of the Rings

and Philosophy

One Book to Rule Them All

Edited by

GREGORY BASSHAM

and

ERIC BRONSON

OPEN COURT

Chicago and La Salle, Illinois

Volume 5 in the series, Popular Culture and Philosophy

To order books from Open Court, call toll free 1-800-815-2280, or visit our website at www.opencourtbooks.com.

Open Court Publishing Company is a division of Carus Publishing Company.

Copyright 2003 by Carus Publishing Company

First printing 2003

Second printing 2004

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Open Court Publishing Company, a division of Carus Publishing Company, 315 Fifth Street, P.O. Box 300, Peru, Illinois, 61354-0300.