Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy : Curiouser and Curiouser / Edited by Richard Brian Davis
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IRWIN PHILOSOPHY/POP CULTURE SERIES EDITOR: WILLIAM IRWIN Alice EDITED BY RICHARD BRIAN DAVIS Should the Cheshire Cat’s grin make us reconsider the nature of reality? R IN Can Humpty Dumpty make words mean whatever he says they mean? WONDERLAND R Can drugs take us down the rabbit-hole? R Is Alice a feminist icon? Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has fascinated children and adults alike for generations. Why does Lewis Carroll introduce us to such oddities as a blue AND caterpillar who smokes a hookah, a cat whose grin remains after its head has faded away, and a White Queen who lives backward and remembers forward? Is it all just nonsense? Was Carroll under the infl uence? This book probes the deeper PHILOSOPHY underlying meaning in the Alice books and reveals a world rich with philosophical life lessons. Tapping into some of the greatest philosophical minds that ever lived— Aristotle, Hume, Hobbes, and Nietzsche—Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy explores life’s ultimate questions through the eyes of perhaps the most endearing heroine in all of literature. RICHARD BRIAN DAVIS is an associate professor of philosophy at Tyndale curiouser curiouser University College and the coeditor of 24 and Philosophy. WILLIAM IRWIN is a professor of philosophy at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He originated the philosophy and popular culture genre of books as and coeditor of the bestselling The Simpsons and Philosophy and has overseen recent titles, including Batman and Philosophy, House and Philosophy, and Watchmen curiouser and Philosophy. To learn more about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, visit www.andphilosophy.com $17.95 USA/$21.95 CAN Cover Design: Paul McCarthy Cover Image: © Getty Images EDITED BY DAVIS BLACKWELL PHILOSOPHY AND POP CULTURE SERIES This book has not been approved, licensed, or sponsored by any entity or person involved in creating or producing Alice in Wonderland, the novels or films. ISBN: 978-0-470-55836-2 EAN: 9780470558362 ALICE IN WONDERLAND AND PHILOSOPHY ffirs.indd i 11/23/09 9:06:26 AM The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series Series Editor: William Irwin South Park and Philosophy Batman and Philosophy Edited by Robert Arp Edited by Mark D. White and Robert Arp Metallica and Philosophy Edited by William Irwin House and Philosophy Edited by Henry Jacoby Family Guy and Philosophy Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski Watchmen and Philosophy Edited by Mark D. White The Daily Show and Philosophy Edited by Jason Holt X-Men and Philosophy Edited by Rebecca Housel and Lost and Philosophy J. Jeremy Wisnewski Edited by Sharon Kaye Terminator and Philosophy 24 and Philosophy Edited by Richard Brown and Edited by Richard Davis, Kevin Decker Jennifer Hart Weed, and Ronald Weed Heroes and Philosophy Edited by David Kyle Johnson Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy Twilight and Philosophy Edited by Jason T. Eberl Edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski The Offi ce and Philosophy Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski Final Fantasy and Philosophy Edited by Jason P. Blahuta and Michel S. Beaulieu ffirs.indd ii 11/23/09 9:06:26 AM ALICE IN WONDERLAND AND PHILOSOPHY CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER Edited by Richard Brian Davis John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ffirs.indd iii 11/23/09 9:06:27 AM Copyright © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada Chapter opener design by Forty-Five Degree Design LLC No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifi cally disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fi tness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profi t or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy : curiouser and curiouser / edited by Richard Brian Davis. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-470-55836-2 (pbk.) 1. Carroll, Lewis, 1832-1898. Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. 2. Philosophy in literature. 3. Literature–Philosophy. I. Davis, Richard Brian, 1963– PR4611.A73A54 2010 823' .8–dc22 2009037590 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ffirs.indd iv 11/23/09 9:06:27 AM CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: “It’s My Own Invention”— Yeah, Right! ix Introduction: You’re Late for a Very Important Date 1 PART ONE “WAKE UP, ALICE DEAR” 1 Unruly Alice: A Feminist View of Some Adventures in Wonderland 7 Megan S. Lloyd 2 Jam Yesterday, Jam Tomorrow, but Never Jam Today: On Procrastination, Hiking, and . the Spice Girls? 19 Mark D. White 3 Nuclear Strategists in Wonderland 33 Ron Hirschbein 4 “You’re Nothing but a Pack of Cards!”: Alice Doesn’t Have a Social Contract 47 Dennis Knepp v ftoc.indd v 11/23/09 9:07:34 AM vi CONTENTS PART TWO “THAT’S LOGIC” 5 “Six Impossible Things before Breakfast” 61 George A. Dunn and Brian McDonald 6 Reasoning Down the Rabbit-Hole: Logical Lessons in Wonderland 79 David S. Brown 7 Three Ways of Getting It Wrong: Induction in Wonderland 93 Brendan Shea 8 Is There Such a Thing as a Language? 107 Daniel Whiting PART THREE “WE’RE ALL MAD HERE” 9 Alice, Perception, and Reality: Jell-O Mistaken for Stones 125 Robert Arp 10 How Deep Does the Rabbit-Hole Go?: Drugs and Dreams, Perception and Reality 137 Scott F. Parker 11 Perspectivism and Tragedy: A Nietzschean Interpretation of Alice’s Adventure 153 Rick Mayock 12 Wishing It Were Some Other Time: The Temporal Passage of Alice 167 Mark W. Westmoreland ftoc.indd vi 11/23/09 9:07:34 AM CONTENTS vii PART FOUR “WHO IN THE WORLD AM I?” 13 Serious Nonsense 183 Charles Taliaferro and Elizabeth Olson 14 “Memory and Muchness”: Alice and the Philosophy of Memory 197 Tyler Shores CONTRIBUTORS: Pawns and Pieces: As Arranged before Commencement of Game 213 INDEX: “Down, Down, Down”: What You Will Find at the Bottom 219 ftoc.indd vii 11/23/09 9:07:35 AM ftoc.indd viii 11/23/09 9:07:35 AM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS “ It ’ s My Own Invention ”— Yeah, Right! “ Oh, I ’ ve had such a curious dream. ” Since it seems as though I ’ ve just edited a book, I ’ d better single out a few individu- als for special praise. Thanks are due to Connie Santisteban at Wiley, who was no doubt tempted (at points) to speak the dreaded words of the White Rabbit: “ Oh my ears and whis- kers, how late it ’s getting! ” She didn’ t. And to Bill Irwin, who pushed me — or rather let me jump — into the rabbit hole. Working with Bill is sweet: “ a sort of mixed fl avour of cherry - tart, custard, pineapple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast. ” And fi nally, to my daughters, Madelyn and Emma, who urged me on at every turn. My wish for you is that you would grow up to be (in Megan Lloyd ’ s words) as “unfl appable, confi - dent, assertive” as Alice herself. To Madelyn and Emma Davis, I dedicate this book. ix flast.indd ix 11/23/09 9:07:05 AM flast.indd x 11/23/09 9:07:06 AM INTRODUCTION You’ re Late for a Very Important Date “ You take the blue pill, ” Morpheus says to Neo in The Matrix , “ and the story ends . You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit - hole goes. ” It ’s a tempting offer, isn ’ t it? For at one time or another in our lives, we ’ ve all wanted to escape — from a dull and tedious job, an impossible relationship, from a world in which we often have so little control over what happens to us. Perhaps it ’ s for reasons such as these that our culture has become posi- tively obsessed with the idea of transcending the confi nes of this world for the cool fresh air of another.