The Philosopher’s Alice: Lewis Carroll with notes and introduction by Peter Heath. Subtitled The Thinking Man’s Guide to a Misunderstood Nursery Classic.
Tenniel illustrations
Published by Academy Editions, London, 1974. Hardcover. First Edition.
Peter Heath was a former president of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Virginia. The book is the original text (both books) with philosophical asides and comments: Heath himself says that the books show “surprising insights into abstract questions of philosophy”. Very interesting stuff: well worth a read.
On the “Raven/ Writing Desk’ riddle:
‘Shibles compares this to the unanswerable questions allegedly asked by Philosophers. But the real objection to it is that it has too many answers, namely all the innumerable negative properties that ravens share with writing desks (by which I suppose he means logical negatives like ‘neither of them have a chimney’). If these do not count then neither does the property of unanswerability which the Hatter’s riddle is supposed to share with the questions of Philosophers.’
On amazon: The Philosopher’s Alice: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
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