The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind The Lord of the Rings is a scholarly reference book written in 2005 by Peter J. Kreeft, and published by Ignatius Press (San Francisco).
Summary
The book discusses the philosophical skeleton and hidden worldviews of J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology, mostly of The Lord of the Rings, as gleaned through quotes from Tolkien himself from his letters and through frequently-made inferences from the original text.
There are thirteen chapters, each pertaining to a philosophical angle (e.g. "Angelology", "Ethics: The War of Good and Evil", and "the Philosophy of Language"), a conclusion following them, and then following a bibliography is a concordance where over thirty philosophical dilemmas (e.g. "Duty versus Utility", "Obedience to Authority", "Courage", longing for the Sea, "Knowledge by Faith", etc.), virtues, and vices are matched with references in the books of the trilogy.
The Philosophy of Tolkien received praise from the philosopher James V. Schall and Tolkienist Joseph Pearce (author of Tolkien: Man and Myth).
- "While nothing can equal or replace the adventure in reading Tolkien’s masterwork, The Lord of the Rings, Peter Kreeft says that the journey into its underlying philosophy can be another exhilarating adventure. Thus, Kreeft takes the reader on a voyage of discovery into the philosophical bones of Middle earth. He organizes the philosophical themes in The Lord of the Rings into 50 categories, accompanied by over 1,000 references to the text of Lord. Since many of the great questions of philosophy are included in the 50-theme outline, this book can also be read as an engaging introduction to philosophy. For each of the philosophical topics in Lord, Kreeft presents tools by which they can be understood. Illustrated."
- —From the publisher
Translations
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Die filosofie van Tolkien |
| Albanian | Filozofia e Tolkienit |
| Amharic | የቶልኪያን ፍልስፍና |
| Arabic | فلسفه تولكين |
| Armenian | Տոլկիենի փիլիսոփայությունը |
| Azerbaijani | Tolkienin fəlsəfəsi |
| Basque | Tolkienen Filosofia |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Філасофія Толкіена |
| Bengali | টলকিনের দর্শনশাস্ত্র |
| Bosnian | Filozofija Tolkin |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Философията на Толкин |
| Catalan | La filosofia de Tolkien |
| Cebuano | Ang Pilosopiya ni Tolkien |
| Chinese | 托尔金的哲学 |
| Corsican | A Filusufìa di Tolkien |
| Croatian | Tolkienova filozofija |
| Czech | Filozofie Tolkien |
| Danish | Tolkiens filosofi |
| Dutch | De filosofie van Tolkien |
| Esperanto | La Filozofio de Tolkien |
| Estonian | Tolkien filosoofia |
| Filipino | Ang Pilosopiya ni Tolkien |
| Finnish | Tolkienin filosofia |
| French | La philosophie de Tolkien |
| Frisian | De filosofy fan Tolkien |
| Galician | A Filosofía de Tolkien |
| Georgian | ტოლკინის ფილოსოფია |
| German | Die Philosophie von Tolkien |
| Greek | Η Φιλοσοφία του Τόλκιν |
| Gujarati | ધ ફિલોસોફી ઓફ ટોલ્કિએન |
| Haitian Creole | Filozofi ki sere nan Tolkien |
| Hawaiian | ʻO ke akeakamai o Tolkien |
| Hebrew | הפילוסופיה של טולקין |
| Hindi | टॉलिकिन की फिलॉसॉफी |
| Hungarian | Tolkien filozófiája |
| Icelandic | Heimspeki Tolkien |
| Indonesian | Filsafat Tolkien |
| Irish Gaelic | An Fealsúnacht de Tolkien |
| Italian | La filosofia di Tolkien |
| Japanese | トルキンの哲学 |
| Kannada | ದಿ ಫಿಲಾಸಫಿ ಆಫ್ ಟೋಲ್ಕಿನ್ |
| Kazakh Cyrillic | Толкиентың философиясы |
| Korean | 톨킨의 철학 |
| Kurdish | Philosophyê Tolkien (Kurmanji Kurdish) |
| Latin | Philosophiae Tolkien scriptor |
| Latvian | Tolkienas filozofija |
| Lithuanian | Tolkieno filosofija |
| Luxembourgish | D'Philosophie vum Tolkien |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Филозофија на Толкин |
| Malay | Falsafah Tolkien |
| Maltese | Il-Filosofija ta 'Tolkien |
| Malagasy | Ny filôzôfian' ny Tolkien |
| Marathi | टॉल्किनची तत्त्वज्ञान |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Толкиен-ийн философи |
| Nepalese | दर्शन को टोल्किएन |
| Norwegian | Tolkiens filosofi |
| Persian | فلسفه تالکین |
| Polish | Filozofia Tolkiena |
| Portuguese | A filosofia de Tolkien |
| Punjabi | ਟੌਲੋਕਿਨ ਦਾ ਫ਼ਿਲਾਸਫ਼ੀ |
| Romanian | Filosofia lui Tolkien |
| Russian | Философия Толкина |
| Samoan | Le filosofia o le Tolkien |
| Scottish Gaelic | An Feallsanachd de Tolkien |
| Serbian | Филозофија Толкиена (Cyrillic) Filozofija Tolkiena (Latin) |
| Slovak | Filozofia Tolkien |
| Slovenian | Filozofija Tolkien |
| Spanish | La filosofía de Tolkien |
| Sudanese | Filsafat Tolkien |
| Swahili | Falsafa ya Tolkien |
| Swedish | Tolkiens filosofi |
| Tamil | டோல்கீனின் தத்துவம் |
| Telugu | ది ఫిలాసఫీ ఆఫ్ టోల్కీన్ |
| Thai | ปรัชญาของโทลคีน |
| Turkish | Tolkien Felsefesi |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Філософія Толкієна |
| Urdu | فلسفی ٹولکین |
| Uzbek | Толкиеннинг фалсафаси (Cyrillic) Tolkienning falsafasi (Latin) |
| Vietnamese | Triết lý của Tolkien |
| Welsh | Athroniaeth Tolkien |
| Yiddish | די פילאָסאָפיע פון טאָלקיען |
