HSFC · Essays
Published essays connected with the HSFC research project.
Seven essays use Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass as literary lenses for examining human self-formation, imagination, the possible and the real, action, reality testing, rules, the grounds of obedience, one’s own judgment, inner authorship, effort, adaptation, direction, reflection, development, language, and meaning.
Essay · published
Through the Looking-Glass, the White Queen, and the Limits of Transformative Imagination
When imagination opens the possibility of something new — and why belief alone is not enough to make it real
Essay · published
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Trial of the Knave, and the Shift from a Given Order to One’s Own Judgment
When refusing to obey becomes inner authorship — and why disagreement alone does not yet make a person free
Essay · published
Through the Looking-Glass, Humpty Dumpty, and the Power to Define Meaning
When someone else’s definition shapes a person — and why forming one’s own understanding does not mean having the right to make words mean anything at all
Essay · published
*Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland*, the Duchess, and the Distinction Between Reflection and Self-Formation
When the ability to explain our experience creates only the appearance of inner change
Essay · published
*Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland*, the Cheshire Cat, and the Question of One’s Own Direction
When There Are Many Roads, but None Is Yet Your Own
Essay · published
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, and the Distinction Between Activity, Adaptation, and Self-Formation
When movement changes our lives — and when it merely allows them to continue
Essay · published
When experience changes us—and when we begin to participate in how it changes us
What can truly be called our own if life inevitably changes us? An analysis of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland through the concept of HSFC.