With the new interest for anything "Alice in Wonderland" due to Tim Burton's recent new film, it's no wonder at the proliferation of china plates, Tetley Tea Alice canisters and other gimmicks promoting both the old and newer versions. Alice In Wonderland And Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser, from the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series, is a breath of fresh air filled with excellent propositions and philosophical fact, not just whimsy. Even the Index is labeled "Down, Down, Down: What You Will Find at the Bottom."
Her Perception of Reality
It's based on the original books by Lewis Carroll, with 14 submissions, each relating an aspect of Alice's adventures to philosophical thought and our world. Divided into four sections: "Wake Up, Alice Dear." "That's Logic," "We're All Mad Here" and "Who In The World Am I?", the book provides a fascinating analysis by varying authors.
Post-LSD culture, many would say that it's a relief to read Alice is no longer a poster girl for drugs. After all, she did not take drugs until after she saw a "talking white rabbit and fallen down a seemingly bottomless pit at a comfortable speed, landed softly on the ground....." So it's her perception of reality, not a drug induced altered state, that is important. It's also telling that many of the articles allude to "The Matrix," as that film itself quoted and alluded extensively to Alice in Wonderland.
Consider the exchange with Humpty Dumpty - as he sets himself up as master by making a word mean what he wants it to mean as opposed to when he wanted a literal translation. These worlds do meet, in their "intention behind them, which has never been to discover the real meaning of what's being said...but only to exercise a kind of sham mystery...it can never bring you..closer to discovering the truth."
Bergson's Time as Duration
Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Kant and other famous thinkers have their ideas and ideals both highlighted and decried in these essays. Henri Bergson's depiction of time as duration versus movement from one point to another is clearly a point Carroll agrees with, as "running to stay still" shows Alice with the Red Queen, running faster and faster, and ending up still under the same tree. Alice expected to be in a different place, as is the spacial interpretation, but now learns time is duration.
And, of course, Alice as the feminist is explored, as she must reject the current society's notion of how a young girl or woman should act, in order to survive in this new world (the first submission).
Many will find that Alice In Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser is a treasure to read and contemplate. Previous knowledge of philosophy is not necessary, as each article includes a brief summary of the philosopher's idiom particular to that article (but it helps to better understand the comparisons). Mainstream and not so mainstream philosophers' theories are applied to varying aspects of Alice and her strange world.
Book courtesy of FSB Associates.
Reference:
Davis, Richard Brian, Ed. Alice In Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser. Hoboken, New Jersey USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
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