I’ve recently started reading this book, and it’s been a great summer read for me. It is about a 14 years old girl who starts receiving letters from a mysterious person that is explaining philosophical concepts and trying to capture the beauty of philosophy.
The book is full of ideas and in this post, I will post a brief overview of the topics and the thoughts that came to me as I was reading it. (Mainly writing them down for my future self, even though I might have different thoughts if I re-read the book at a later time 🙂)
Reading strategy, for each chapter:
- Skim through it
- Read it and, as reading, take notes and add them to blog posts like this
- Iterate on the notes one more time using the study guide linked in every chapter
The Garden of Eden
There are mainly two types of letters that Sophie receives: one type where questions such as “Who are you?” are asked, and the other type is an actual philosophy lesson. As soon as she receives the first letter, she starts wondering who might be sending her these letters, but her interest in philosophy is also evident. So, essentially the book jumps between solving that mystery and actual philosophical concepts.
The Top Hat
Older people tend to learn how the world works and start living mechanically abiding by the rules (physics, sports, etc.), and forget to wonder about the beauty of everything.
The only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder.
Once we learn and get used to something, it is hard to unlearn it. For example, we know that when the ice melts it becomes water, but if you don’t know that for a fact, you will have to observe it and conclude yourself.
The Myths
In the past, people relied on myths (stories) to explain unexplainable phenomena, and after that came philosophy.
We call this the development from a mythological mode of thought to one based on experience and reason. The aim of the early Greek philosophers was to find natural, rather than supernatural, explanations for natural processes.
The Natural Philosophers
Every philosopher has their “project”.
Once we have determined what a particular philosopher’s project is, it is easier to follow his line of thought, since no one philosopher concerns himself with the whole of philosophy.
The earliest philosophers in ancient Greece (natural philosophers) wondered if there’s a basic substance so that everything is created out of it.
Since we can’t get anything from nothing, the universe must have always existed. Alternatively, there was a point when everything was created. In both cases, there are logical inconsistencies (I think this is what philosophy is really about).
Philosophy is not something you can learn; but perhaps you can learn to think philosophically.
Democritus
Lego is the most genius toy in the world because it directly relates to the concept of the atom (something that can no longer be broken down into smaller pieces).
Today, scientists found out that atoms can be further divided into smaller pieces. But in general, all physicians agree that there is a bound as to how far you can break down pieces.
At the same time as “inventing” the atom theory, Democritus did not accept that there was any spiritual force in life – unlike Empedocles and Anaxagoras. Can we be sure of that?
Socrates
After having wrapped the natural philosophers and their decisive break with the mythological world picture, the book starts talking about three classical philosophers: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
Sophists chose to concern themselves with man and his place in society, rather than with philosophy since man cannot know the truth about the riddles of nature and of the universe (skepticism).
The wandering Sophists created bitter wrangling in Athens by pointing out that there were no absolute norms for what was right or wrong. Socrates, on the other hand, tried to show that some such norms are in fact absolute and universally valid. […] Unlike the Sophists, he believed that the ability to distinguish between right and wrong lies in people’s reason and not in society.
We don’t know much about Socrates, since he did not have any writings. But we learn a lot about him through Plato, though we can’t be sure that this is the absolute truth about Socrates.
Is there such a thing as natural modesty?
Wisest is she who knows she does not know…
True insight comes from within.
He who knows what is right will do right.
Socratic Irony: By playing ignorant, Socrates forced the people he met to use their common sense. Socrates could feign ignorance—or pretend to be dumber than he was. But he didn’t do this just to torment people, he claimed there is a “divine voice” inside him, and unlike the Sophists, he did not teach for money.
He is neither impertinent nor pertinent, but he is trying to reach real wisdom. That’s the great difference between a real joker and all the other cards in the deck.
Plato
I discovered the Theory of forms. One thing that popped to my head immediately (as a programmer) is the distinction between a class and an instance. I assume that in that period they used molds, so this is how Plato likely arrived at the Theory of forms, but what was interesting to me is how concepts we use to this day can be traced back to history. I was always a skeptic of history, but “true” history is priceless.
The book contains a paragraph explaining how Plato, by observing “instances” came to the conclusion that there must be a form. This popped another thought into my head: a good class design should give you a good grasp of what the class is only if you look at the instances.
Some questions have relative answers “What’s your favorite color” and absolute truth “What’s 2+2?”. Plato was interested in the latter.
Plato found mathematics very absorbing because mathematical states never change. They are therefore states we can have true knowledge of.
Plato believed the world was divided into two categories: senses (incomplete knowledge) and ideas (absolute knowledge). A person’s body is part of the world of senses, and a person’s soul is part of the world of ideas.
The point of Plato’s cave is that the relationship between the darkness of the cave and the world beyond corresponds to the relationship between the forms of the natural world and the world of ideas.
The Major’s Cabin
Chicken or the idea “Chicken”? Plato would claim that the idea of “Chicken” existed forever.
Good life: food -> warmth -> love -> care -> philosophy
Aristotle
While Plato shut his eyes to everything we see around us, Aristotle did the opposite – he relied on his senses to study nature. But at the same time, he used his reason as well and his preciseness resulted in various sciences used to this day. What Plato views as forms, Aristotle views as a set of characteristics.
Aristotle wanted to do a thorough clearing up in nature’s “room.”
He invented the science of Logic, e.g. instances of modus ponens.
Aristotle invented the “ask a question and get yes/no answer” game; Plato invented hide-and-seek; Democritus invented Lego.
He categorizes living creatures into plants, animals, and humans. So in a sense a hierarchy. At the top of this hierarchy is the man which has a spark of divine reason. However, there also must be a God who started all movement in nature’s world – therefore God must be at the top.
Three forms of happiness: pleasure/enjoyment, free citizen, thinker/philosopher. All must be present, but not to extremes (Golden mean).
Hellenism
There are some things that we know, and some that we can’t know but just believe. Upbringing, environment, and reason affect a person’s philosophy of life.
Sophie takes a test at school and performs well, despite not preparing for it. “The implication seems to be that learning how to think is much more critical to success than learning any specific set of facts”.
Sophists’ view of right and wrong: determined by the environment. Socrates’ view of right and wrong: every individual in common shares a sense of good and right.
Hellenism focused on religion, philosophy, and science, and it can be compared to today’s world: open civilizations, advances in sciences, various religions, and their “conglomeration”. Four main ways how a person should live their life:
- Cynics – True happiness is not in materialism but in being freed from the material, not worrying about anything (including the suffering of others)
- Stoics – Every person is a microcosmos, part of a macro cosmos. One must accept their fate, and happy events should also be accepted with peace and harmony (Stoic calm)
- Epicureans – Maximize the ratio of pleasure to its side effects (eating large chocolate vs medium). Live in isolated groups. Live in the present.
- Neoplatonism – The Soul and God are one. There is no darkness – it is merely a lack of light. Mystic experience is the unification of the Soul (I) and God, by seeking the path of purification and enlightenment
Every drop becomes the sea when it flows oceanward, just as at last the soul ascends and thus becomes the Lord.
Love thy neighbor as thyself because you ore your neighbor. It is an illusion that makes you think that your neighbor is someone other than yourself.
By reading these ideas, Sophie feels a glimpse of what it’s like to be everything: for a moment she could fly across all oceans and cities. Though after a few moments the feeling is gone and she is back in her body, feeling a little back pain from long reading the letter.
Two Cultures
Jesus was a jew, and jews are part of semitic culture, while Greeks and Romans are part of the Indo-European culture. Europe has roots in both cultures.
Early Indo-Europeans were polytheists (Dyaus was the god of sky, but so was Zeus – there were dialectal variants). According to them, history has no beginning nor end – it keeps repeating.
Deity is present in all things (pantheism) and man can become one with God through religious insight
Christianity, Judaism and Islam have semitic roots; all three religions share the idea that there is only one God. Unlike Indo-Europeans, Semites believe in one God. History exists so that God can show His Will in the world.
The purpose is not to be released from the cycle of rebirth, but to be redeemed from sin and blame. Moreover, religious life is characterized by prayer, sermons, and the study of the scriptures
A great many people at the time of Jesus were waiting for a Messiah who would reestablish the Kingdom of God in Israel. […] Jesus distinguished himself from the other “messiahs” by stating clearly that he was not a military or political rebel. His mission was much greater. He preached salvation and God’s forgiveness for everyone.
Jesus said that the “Kingdom of God” is loving thy neighbor, compassion for the weak and the poor, and forgiveness of those who have erred. God’s mercy is boundless, but we have to turn to God and pray for his forgiveness.
It is noted in the book that with Socrates we saw how dangerous it could be to appeal to people’s reason, and with Jesus we see how dangerous it can be to demand unconditional love and forgiveness.
Jesus is both a human and a God – the message of the Church is that God became a human.
The Middle Ages
The word ‘medieval’ is used negatively nowadays about anything that is over-authoritative and inflexible. But many historians now consider the Middle Ages to have been a thousand-year period of germination and growth. The school system, for instance, was developed in the Middle Ages […] But without doubt, Christianity gradually became the predominant philosophy of life. Therefore we usually speak of the Middle Ages as being a unifying force of Christian culture
Medieval philosophers addressed the question “Was there a contradiction between the Bible and reason, or were belief and knowledge compatible?”.
One of the most known medieval philosophers is St. Augustine who saw no difference between Christianity and the philosophy of Plato.
[…] He pointed out that there are limits to how far reason can get you in religious questions. Christianity is a divine mystery that we can only perceive through faith. But if we believe in Christianity, God will ‘illuminate’ the soul so that we experience a sort of supernatural knowledge of God. St. Augustine had felt within himself that there was a limit to how far philosophy could go. Not before he became a Christian did he find peace in his own soul. ‘Our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee,’ he writes.
St. Augustine believed that all human history is a struggle between the “Kingdom of God” and the “Kingdom of World”:
The struggle between good and evil was by no means new. What was new was that for Augustine the struggle was played out in history. […] He was more influenced by the linear view of history as we meet it in the Old Testament: the idea that God needs all of history in order to realize His Kingdom of God. History is necessary for the enlightenment of man and the destruction of evil
Another known medieval philosopher is St. Thomas Aquinas.
Aquinas believed that there need be no conflict between what philosophy or reason teaches us and what the Christian Revelation or faith teaches us. Christianity and philosophy often say the same thing. So we can frequently reason ourselves to the same truths that we can read in the Bible.
Aquinas believed in the existence of a number of ‘natural theological truths.’ By that he meant truths that could be reached both through Christian faith and through our innate or natural reason. For example, the truth that there is a God. Aquinas believed that there are two paths to God. One path goes through faith and the Christian Revelation, and the other goes through reason and the senses.
Most people will agree that human reason is certainly not capable of disproving the existence of God […] We can recognize that there is a God just by walking around in the natural world. We can easily see that He loves flowers and animals, otherwise He would not have made them.
It was an ancient Christian and Jewish belief that God was not only a man. He also had a female side, or ‘mother nature.’ Women, too, are created in God’s likeness. In Greek, this female side of God is called Sophia. ‘Sophia’ or ‘Sophie’ means wisdom.
Gaarder has therefore come up with a brilliant solution to the key problem that a novel like Sophie’s World must face—if it is to be a novel about the history of philosophy then some way must be found to work the philosophy directly into the plot.
Study guide
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