Why don't we hear anything about magical theory in the HP Universe.

I dont mean that in the way of JKR didnt want it in her children's book but what do you think in the context of the series.

- Do we just don't hear about it
- Wizards don't care about magic, they just use it
- There is no theory, because it's magic
- Harry doesn't care, he's not the theory type of guy
- It's too complicated to study at Hogwarts
- They learned that in the beginning and JK glossed over it

What do you think?

 

I think J.K just hasn't developed a theory. Now, I'm not bashing her, but I don't think she had one in mind. She created the Wizarding World, Hogwarts, and a lot of other things, but didn't really need theory.

She probably didn't expect people to delve deeply and try to figure every little detail about her world.

 

Thats what I think too, but what I wanted to hear was a canon-logical explanation of why it wasn't there.

 

Well, in that case, I'd have to go with Wizards don't care; excepting a few of course.

The Muggleborns are probably so fascinated by magic and how they can do it, they don't bother knowing how.

The Half-Bloods have probably been at least somewhat accustomed to magic there whole life, and either don't care or it's too advanced.

The Purebloods have been around magic there whole life and are probably accustomed to simply using it and not caring how.

 

I'd agree on the half-bloods and purebloods but the muggleborns might expect some logic in a theory, so they might not understand it at all, because for muggles, theory means logical reasoning and so they just don't have the feel for it.

 

True, the Muggleborns might want to know how they are doing this thing called magic.

 

I just don't think anyone cares enough about it, the only ones who look into it are maybe people hoping to create spells, or want to create variations on spells. Everyone else just uses magic without understanding why any of it happens.

I'd compare the situation to something like Human biology. We all use our organs or muscles, alot of people not really knowing how they work at all. But Doctors and the like study the theory behind how the body works to understand it, and create cures to any problems that the body has. Wizards that study theory plan to manipulate magic in some way, the way a doctor is able to manipulate the way the body works with medicine or something. (I know we all know something behind biology, because we learn it in school nowadays, but i hope you get the point anyway.)

 

Good comparison KANE. Expanding on what he said, I think it's mainly the Unspeakables who know about the theory of magic. They have to know how to work out this new spell, or create counters and keep things like the Veil, without someone getting hurt.

 

I think Magical Theory would end up being a Post-Hogwarts study, like DLR said, most probably for Unspeakables.

Although, admittedly Wizarding schooling confuses me. What do Purebloods and Halfbloods living in the magical world do from 5 til 11? Muggleborn students go to Primary school and learn the basics of Literature, Numeracy and Science, would the wizarding equivalent being learning the basics of magic, like the theory?

Like Science, you don't do any of the big experiments until secondary school, but you learn a bit about it at primary. In the magical world you do the magic when you get the wand at 11 and learn the theory beforehand. That's one possibility.

If the HP books were from the point of view of Hermione or Neville it's possible we'd know more about it, from research or general experience respectively. However, knowing Harrys school of thought as being 'wave your wand, magic pops out' I doubt we'll know for sure unless JKR publishes the information seperately.

 

I think there has to be a primary school for at least grammar. If not they must be home schooled or the teachers would never be able to get through an essay.

 

I think that all children are home schooled, either by their parents or thru tutors. Like many others so do I belive that magical theory is not studied until after Hogwarts, mainly when you work on spell creation, curse breaking and similar jobs.

 

Hmmm, maybe they dump the magical orphans in muggle orphanages because of this homeschool-system. They won't have to pay for the cost of raising a child that nobody in the W-world wants.

 

It seems that there are no public primary wizarding schools. Most of the pureblood kids have probably never met unless their parents socialize with each other.

As for the muggleborns not being interested: Would YOU be interested in scientific theory at the age of eleven if you could make others belch slugs? Probably not. Maybe their parents have an interest if they are scientists, but the kids can't do magic at home so there probably isn't much to study for those parents. Once the kids get of age, they are probably immersed in the Wizarding World, spending most of their time there and finding a job there, getting more and more separated from their muggle roots.

If I entered the Wizarding World at 17 or older, I probably would have tried to find out more about how it works scientifically. But that would probably require instruments for analysis, hampering the effort for some time.