Let's talk about Harry Potter

Scene choice: Harry’s first visit to the Mirror of Erised (Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone, Chapter 12). 1) What happens, briefly - Harry discovers a mirror that shows “the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.” He sees his deceased parents; later Dumbledore explains that the mirror reveals desire, not truth, and warns that one can be trapped by it. 2) Philosophical themes to highlight - Desire and the structure of longing: The mirror literalizes Plato’s distinction between appearance and reality (Republic, Book VII). The image is alluring but not knowledge; it tempts one to substitute ecstatic appearance for true understanding. - Self-deception and akrasia: Harry’s repeated visits show how powerful desires can cause self-deceptive behavior—continuing to seek the mirror despite recognizing its illusions—akin to Aristotle’s discussion of akrasia (weakness of will) and how desire can override practical reason (Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII). - The good life (eudaimonia) vs. obsessive longing: Dumbledore’s warning, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live,” echoes Aristotelian ethics: flourishing requires activity in accordance with virtue, not passively indulging in longing for what one lacks. - Memory, mourning, and attachment: The mirror functions as a therapy for grief but also as a trap. Existentialist thinkers (Beauvoir, Sartre) note that clinging to the past can obstruct authentic action and freedom; Harry’s longing keeps him from engaging fully with his present agency and relationships. - The identity question: The mirror reveals desires that shape self-understanding. Humean and narrative theories of self both suggest that persistent desires contribute to identity, but the mirror problematizes this by showing desires detached from reality (a desire to be reunited with dead parents cannot be satisfied), prompting reflection on what constitutes a well-ordered self. 3) Moral psychology: motive vs. means - The scene encourages distinguishing virtuous motives (love, longing for family) from harmful means (obsessive avoidance of life). Love for parents is morally intelligible and formative, but when it becomes avoidance, it undermines agency and moral responsibility. 4) Dumbledore as moral guide — prudence and pedagogy - Dumbledore’s approach: he neither destroys the mirror nor forbids seeing it outright; he moves it and explains its danger. This models prudential education: cultivating practical reason (phronesis) rather than simple prohibition—again Aristotelian pedagogy. - His line about the Mirror’s ownership (it will be moved) suggests that wise authority manages temptations by structuring environments to promote flourishing. 5) Broader implications in the series - The mirror prefigures other artifacts (Resurrection Stone, Pensieve) that mediate desire and memory. Rowling repeatedly asks: when does remembrance honor the dead, and when does it imprison the living? - The narrative values action, friendship, and sacrifice over static consolation. Characters who act (Harry, Dumbledore, even Snape in later books) are morally central; those who indulge static, possessive desires (Voldemort) are morally degraded. 6) Recommended philosophical readings - Plato, Republic (Allegory of the Cave) — appearance vs. knowledge. - Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics — desire, akrasia, and eudaimonia. - Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness — bad faith and inauthentic living. - Martha Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought — emotions and ethical reasoning (for grief and attachment). Short conclusion The Mirror of Erised scene functions as a compact lesson in moral psychology: it honors human longing while warning that unreflective attachment to desire can derail flourishing. The ethical task is to transform longing into prudential, loving action — to remember and be shaped by desire, without being consumed by it.