Community dedicated to the world of Harry Potter.
Mostly focused on books and fan creations, movie content is accepted but should not overwhelm the community.
I have always thought it was something to do with "philosophy" sounding like something you would learn in school, while "sorcery" is very obviously magical. As a kid growing up in the US I had never heard of a "philosopher's stone," and honestly if the book were named that when I was in grade school I may have been more skeptical about reading it.
Broader appeal? I was always under the impression that it was religious sensitivities behind the name change.
Are there many religious sects which take issue with philosophy, but are fine with sorcery? I would have thought the name change would have caused more problems in that aspect.
No clue.
My theory doesn’t hold up to a web search, but honestly at the time the book was exploding here in Canada it was commonly talked about as the pagan or similar word offending primarily in the US.
"The philosopher's stone is a mythic alchemical substance." Alchemy (the fake science or the philosophical research) can be easily seen as witchcraft. It was still popular when the church got its power, compared to wizards who are seen as very old stuff that does not exist anymore. Churches hate alchemy way more than the fake wizards that they associate with LOTR.