Lowe Scott C(Editor) - Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal

VOLUME EDITOR

SCOTT C. LOWE is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the
Department of Philosophy at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.
His current interest is in the political philosophy of Richard Rorty.
He is the editor, along with Steven Hales, of Delight in Thinking:
An Introduction to Philosophy Reader (2006).

SERIES EDITOR

FRITZ ALLHOFF is an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy
Department at Western Michigan University, as well as a Senior
Research Fellow at the Australian National Universitys Centre for
Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. In addition to editing the
Philosophy for Everyone series, Allhoff is the volume editor or co-editor
for several titles, including Wine & Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007),
Whiskey & Philosophy (with Marcus P. Adams, Wiley, 2009), and
Food & Philosophy (with Dave Monroe, Wiley-Blackwell, 2007).

PHILOSOPHY FOR EVERYONE

Series editor: Fritz Allhoff

Not so much a subject matter, philosophy is a way of thinking. Thinking not just about the Big Questions, but about little ones too. This series invites everyone to ponder things they care about, big or small, significant, serious or just curious.

Running & Philosophy:
A Marathon for the Mind
Edited by Michael W. Austin

Wine & Philosophy:
A Symposium on Thinking and Drinking
Edited by Fritz Allhoff

Food & Philosophy:
Eat, Think and Be Merry
Edited by Fritz Allhoff and Dave Monroe

Beer & Philosophy:
The Unexamined Beer Isnt Worth Drinking
Edited by Steven D. Hales

Whiskey & Philosophy:
A Small Batch of Spirited Ideas
Edited by Fritz Allhoff and Marcus P. Adams

College Sex Philosophy for Everyone:
Philosophers With Benefits
Edited by Michael Bruce
and Robert M. Stewart

Cycling Philosophy for Everyone:
A Philosophical Tour de Force
Edited by Jess Ilundin-Agurruza
and Michael W. Austin

Climbing Philosophy for Everyone: Because Its There
Edited by Stephen E. Schmid

Hunting Philosophy for Everyone:
In Search of the Wild Life
Edited by Nathan Kowalsky

Christmas Philosophy for Everyone:
Better Than a Lump of Coal
Edited by Scott C. Lowe

Cannabis Philosophy for Everyone:
What Were We Just Talking About?
Edited by Dale Jacquette

Porn Philosophy for Everyone:
How to Think With Kink
Edited by Dave Monroe

Serial Killers Philosophy for Everyone:
Being and Killing
Edited by S. Waller

Dating Philosophy for Everyone:
Flirting With Big Ideas
Edited by Kristie Miller and Marlene Clark

Gardening Philosophy for Everyone:
Cultivating Wisdom
Edited by Dan OBrien

Motherhood Philosophy for Everyone:
The Birth of Wisdom
Edited by Sheila Lintott

Fatherhood Philosophy for Everyone:
The Dao of Daddy
Edited by Lon S. Nease
and Michael W. Austin

Forthcoming books in the series:

Fashion Philosophy for Everyone
Edited by Jessica Wolfendale
and Jeanette Kennett

Coffee Philosophy for Everyone
Edited by Scott Parker
and Michael W. Austin

Blues Philosophy for Everyone
Edited by Abrol Fairweather
and Jesse Steinberg

This edition first published 2010

2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd except for editorial material and organization
2010 Scott C. Lowe

Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwells publishing program has been merged with Wileys global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Christmas philosophy for everyone: better than a lump of coal / edited by Scott C. Lowe.

p. cm.(Philosophy for everyone)

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4443-3090-8 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Christmas. I. Lowe, Scott C.
II. Title: Christmas philosophy for everyone.

BV45.C548 2010

263.915dc22

2010006824

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

To John Hirschi

it was always said of him, that he knew how to
keep Christmas well

STEPHEN NISSENBAUM

FOREWORD

Joining the Manger to the Sleigh?

Heres a philosophical exercise of sorts. Imagine, first, the manger scene, set in Bethlehem. You will of course visualize the newborn infant Jesus, the Virgin Mary and her husband Joseph, and perhaps several shepherds, angels and animals; possibly also the three wise men. All right, now place into that same scene, just in front of the holy infant, the kneeling figure of Santa Claus.

Something wrong with this picture? Does Santa not quite belong in this scene? And why not? If you find this exercise puzzling, then you have entered into a Christmas problem that may be deemed philosophical. The nineteenth-century American poet Emily Dickinson once recalled that as a child in the 1830s she secretly loved Santa Claus more than the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that preference (though perhaps not in the acknowledgment of it) Emily Dickinson was and remains far from alone. In their hearts, many people today probably love Santa Claus more than Jesus Christ. As certain Christians point out, the mere reversal of two letters turns