Phl 361K

Fall ’03

Questions for Reflection and Discussion: Isengard (Oct. 16, 21, 23)

Fellowship of the Ring, Book II

Chapter 9

1. Why does the flow of time seem to be suspended in Lothlorien? (Relate this to Tolkien’s discussion of “enchantment” in “On Fairy Stories.”)

2. How does Boromir’s fall under the spell of the Ring advance the progress of the Quest? What would or might have happened if Boromir had resisted the temptation?

Chapter 10

3. Is Frodo merely a pawn in the contest between Sauron and Gandalf (the two “voices”)? Does he genuinely have any free choice, or does it only seem so it to him? Why is Frodo able to take off the ring on Amon Hen, but not able to resist the temptation to put it on on Weathertop?

4. Is Sam’s expression of hope mere bravado, naivete, or something else?

The Two Towers, Book III

Chapter 1

1. Is fate really against Aragorn, as he thinks? Is he in fact an “ill chooser”?

2. Why do the three friends spend precious time on Boromir’s funeral when the orcs are meanwhile carrying Merry and Pippin further beyond their reach?

Chapter 2

3. What is Aragorn’s view of the constancy of ethics? (see also page 26)

4. Gandalf’s counsel “was not based on a foreknowledge of safety for himself or others.” Was it based on a different kind of foreknowledge?

Chapter 4

5. By giving Saruman a mind of “metal and wheels”, without care for living things, is Tolkien implicitly criticizing technology or industrialization? Is this an incipient version of the green movement?

Chapter 5

6. How is the blindness of Sauron (his inability to anticipate the actions of the good) a fatal weakness? Compare also the fact that Gandalf understands Saruman, and not vice versa (in Chapter 8, pp. 238-9). Relate this to the Boethian theory of evil.

7. How do Sauron and Saruman unwittingly bring about Saruman’s ruin? Is this mere coincidence?

8. Who or what sent Gandalf back? (p. 139)

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Chapter 6

9. Why does Hamas disobey the letter of the king’s law? What are the consequences of this disobedience? Is there a point here about the permissibility of civil disobedience, or about jurisprudence?

Chapter 8

10. Why can’t the evil of Sauron be wholly cured? (p. 197)

11. Why is Saruman lacking in “grit”, or “plain courage in a tight spot”? (p. 219)

12. Is the genocidal slaughter of orcs (in this case, by the Ents and huorns) an ethically troubling aspect of the LOTR?

Chapter 11

13. Is Gandalf really “both kinder and more alarming, merrier and more solemn than before”? Can you cite any evidence one way or the other?

14. What does Gandalf mean by saying that Pippin and his friends have been saved by “good fortune, as it is called”? (p. 254)

15. Why does “evil will oft evil mar”? (p. 255)

The Silmarillion, Chapters 20 & 21 (Turin Turambar)

1. Why is it critical to Tolkien’s story that Morgoth conquer not just through the use of Balrogs and dragons, but also by the treachery of Men and the fractiousness of the Elves?

2. Does the story of Turin and Nienor work? How does it compare to the story of Feanor, The Hobbit, the FOTR? What features of Middle Earth are introduced in this story? What elements of the later stories are missing?

3. Is Turin a hero? villain? fool? a good man with tragic flaws? Is he simply the victim of fate, or of Morgoth’s supremacy? Is he at all responsible for his own fate? Does the successful killing of Glaurung represent a kind of “eucatastrophe”, a partial redemption of Turin’s life?

Unfinished Tales

1. What does the debate between Morgoth and Hurin reveal about each? About mankind in general? (pp. 70-72) How powerful can evil be in a world governed by a just and benevolent God? Is even the temporary dominance of Morgoth comprehensible in Tolkien’s universe?

The Silmarillion, Akallabeth

1. Is the Ban of the Valar analogous to the angel who keeps Adam and Eve from returning to paradise?

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2. How does the transition from Telperion to Galathalion to Celeborn to Nimloth reflect the neo-Platonic ideas of imitation and emanation?

3. Is the idea that the death of Men was not originally “apportioned for a punishment” consistent with Biblical theology (see Genesis 3, Romans 3 and 5)?

Flint, “Two Accounts of Providence”

1. What does Flint mean by a “strong notion of providence”? How is providence more than foreknowledge? Is there evidence of such a strong form of providence at work in Tolkien’s world?

2. What is Middle Knowledge? Why do Thomists deny that it exists? What are the points of agreement and disagreement between Thomists and Molinists?

3. Why does Flint think that God’s knowledge of the conditionals of creaturely freedom (CCF) is required for strong providence? Is he right?

4. What for Molinists is the distinction between possible worlds and worlds that are feasible for God? Why do Thomists have no such distinction?

5. Can Molinism give an adequate explanation of the possibility of predictive prophecy, the fulfillment of prayer for the salvation of others, predestination? Is Tolkien’s universe implicitly Thomistic, Molinistic or neither?

6. Assuming that some CCFs are true, what does the truth of the CCFs depend on? God’s will? On God, but not on His free will? On human agency? On nothing whatsoever?

7. How does the Thomist reconcile the universality of God’s salvific intent with the fact that not all are saved? Is it a coherent explanation? What, for the Thomist, does “sufficient, but not efficacious, grace” mean?

Van Inwagen, “Free Will Remains a Mystery”

1. Why does free will seem to be inconsistent with both determinism and with indeterminism? How does van Inwagen’s “rollback” argument work? Is it convincing? Do defenders of free will have a compelling reply?

2. Is the notion of “agent causation” of any use?

Lewis, The Abolition of Man

1. Why does scientific progress not mean the eventual liberation of mankind from the dead hand of the past? Is Lewis right in claiming that Man’s power over Nature = the power of some men over other men?

2. What is a “Conditioner”? What is Lewis’s argument for the claim that the Conditioner and his subjects are no longer human? That the Conditioner is beyond good and evil? Is Lewis right?

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3. Is Man’s ultimate conquest of Nature really Nature’s ultimate conquest of Man?

4. Is modern science fundamentally flawed, according to Lewis? If not, how might it be reformed or redeemed? What, according to Lewis, is the historical connection between science and magic? Is this Lewisian theory reflected in Tolkien’s creation of Saruman?

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Schumacher, Small is Beautiful

1. Does the Shire approximate Schumacher’s ideal of decentralized “intermediate technology”? Why or why not?

2. Does the LOTR or the Silmarillion illustrate the corrosive power of greed, especially its power to destroy wisdom and intelligence?

3. Is the production of things “organic, gentle, elegant and beautiful” part of the appeal of Tolkien’s world?

4. Schumacher claims that “man’s infinite needs can only be satisfied in the spiritual realm, not in the material.” Does this principle hold in Middle-Earth? Are the Elves a counter-example?

Ellul, The Technological Bluff

1. Ellul claims that the language of “technique” is “algebraic”. Is this similar to Barfield’s description of the limitations of the logical, prosaic principle of thought?

2. Ellul claims that culture, unlike technique, cannot be universal. Why not? Is the essential particularity of culture embodied in Tolkien’s world?

3. Is Ellul’s “technique” identical to what Lewis describes as “the abolition of Man”?

Lewis, That Hideous Strength

1. What are the similarities and differences in the views about science and technology revealed in Lewis’s THS and Tolkien’s LOTR?

2. How does Lewis’s THS illustrate or allegorize Lewis’s argument in The Abolition of Man?

3. Why is it significant that Hingest is the only “real scientist” at NICE?

4. Why is NICE so lacking in clear organizational strucutre, assignments and hierarchy? How does the social structure of NICE compare to that of the orcs in LOTR?

5. Who’s really on the “inside” at NICE? Feverstone? Hardcastle? The DD? Frost? Why is it so hard to tell?

6. Is sociology as Stoddard practices it an example of what Barfield would have called “abstract” thinking? (see especially p. 87) Is this connected with the fact that it is educated readers who are more easily swayed by propaganda? (p. 99)