Final Reflections and Connections

I can easily relate to Hilde because she believes that the characters of her father’s book are real. This is because earlier on in the book, when I did not have the insight that I have now, I thought that Alberto and Sophie were the real main characters.  Even now that I have this further insight that they are just characters of her father’s book, I’m still not sure that Sophie and Alberto are fictional. They could easily be real people in the world of Hilde, just with their lives manipulated by her father. For example, Hilde’s father could have just taken some people from his life, he then could have changed their names to Sophie and Alberto and written a story about them. There’s still a chance that they are real people, even though it is believed that they are not. Some of the events that took place in the book however must be fictional since many of them are impossible. I really enjoyed how in the Darwin chapter Alberto described animals that survive as not the best animals. He compared them to a lottery, saying that we only see the winning numbers, but not the losing numbers. All of the losing numbers could have been the winning ones. This is the same for animals in the world. In an environment that is composed mostly of water, an alligator would most likely be better suited to survive over a tiger. This does not make alligators superior to tigers. The alligator just happened to win the “lottery” by living in an environment composed of mostly water. Had the tiger won the lottery, the environment would be composed of flat land with many trees and bushes and tall grass.

Reflections & Connections #4

In the chapter about Hume and Berkeley in Sophie’s World, there are many twists that came straight out of left field. First of all, it blew my mind when Hilde ripped open the ominous package in her room only to find a book written by her father entitled Sophie’s world. As soon as this happened, I knew that the book had trolled me hard. I thought something was up when Sophie started seeing and hearing weird things, but I thought nothing of it. I was absolutely sure that Alberto was somehow playing tricks on Sophie; hiding the cross underneath her pillow, and deceiving her into believe that Hermes could speak. It never even crossed my mind that Sophie’s existence may not be real. In the book, Sophie’s life and actions seem entirely plausible, and I would have never guessed that it was fiction. In the novel, if Sophie truly does not exist at all in the real world at all in the real world I will be thoroughly upset. I can relate the events occurring in the book to my life because all of my actions and all of the people in my life seem entirely real. Only until I was enrolled in the Honors Philosophy course and stated reading Sophie’s World did I start to question the reality of my existence. My life could be similar to Sophie’s and that is scary. I could just be a thought in someone’s head or words on a sheet of paper. My existence could be entirely false. I really really hope it’s not.

Reflections and  Connections #3

As I delve further and further into the novel that is known as Sophie’s World, I begin to notice many similarities between Spinoza’s philosophy and Sophie’s life. Although I have only just learned of Spinoza, many of his philosophies seem to be related to the events that occur in Sophie’s life; I feel a strong link between them. Spinoza had the belief that the universe was rational, and things that seemed irrational were really just complex versions of rational things. Sophie sees many things that are unbelievable and unexplainable and, most of all, irrational. In her world she sees dogs that can talk and finds messages inside of bananas. These things do not happen to your normal human being. Although it seems impossible to see and hear these things, Spinoza would believe that there were rational explanations. It seems pretty rational to me that Sophie could have been staring at Hermes’ mouth and she may have heard the words “happy birthday” come from someone else’s mouth. The senses of hearing and sight would link in Sophie’s brain and she would conclude that Hermes had spoken, when he really didn’t. Sophie could have been experiencing something entirely rational, but she may have convinced herself that it was irrational. So, as Sophie tries to learn Spinoza’s philosophy she literally experiences a situation relating to it first-hand. Although she doesn’t agree with Spinoza’s philosophy yet and believes that irrational things do happen I believe that she will shortly realize that her mind can deceive her and lead her to believe that irregular things happen. 

Reflections & Connections #2

As I read further and further into Sophie’s World, I become more and more creeped out. Alberto is cool and all, but it seems a little bit off to me that he spends so much time connecting with Sophie about philosophy.  Although he tells her many important things and introduces seemingly basic questions into her life, I just don’t like the fact that he is, for lack of a better term, targeting Sophie. The letters to Hilde and the gold cross underneath her pillow scare me the most. The chances of Sophie receiving Hilde’s letters would be very low, but it doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me that she receives letters addressed to Hilde and from Alberto. I believe that there is virtually no explanation for the letters except for Alberto. If you ask me, he is writing the letters to Hilde and purposefully sending them to Sophie in an attempt to teach her something. On to the cross. Sophie seems to have taken the cross straight out of her dreams, but I know that that is impossible. So, I thought that Alberto had broken into her room and placed the cross under her pillow himself. That would be very creepy and disturbing to me, as a middle-aged man should be no where near a distant 14-year-old girl’s room. However, I then realized that it is impossible for Alberto to have known that she had a dream about the gold cross. Could it be a coincidence? Could he have placed it there without knowing that she had a dream about it? For now I can’t say, but the most probable answer is that Alberto put the ross there.

Reflection

So far, I am very intrigued by the novel Sophie’s World. Personally, I can connect to Sophie. Although it may not be a very strong connection and although many others probably have it to, I have the desire to learn more and to ask more questions. I also really enjoy the first two questions that Alberto asks Sophie: “Who are you?” and “Where does the world come from?” Although these questions are very basic, these are the questions I enjoy to ponder the most. Although I may never know where the world comes from, I still like to think and imagine all of the different possibilities. The question “who are you?” makes me think a lot. I know what I am presently based off of what I have done and what I have failed to do; however I do not what I will come to achieve in the coming years. This amuses me, as it is a mystery to me even though I am the only one who knows the answer.            

Connections

Philosophy is everywhere; philosophy can be brought up in almost any discussion. A discussion of philosophy most frequently comes up with the question “why?”  I usually partake in extremely philosophical discussions deep in the night. Whether I’m with my good friends or with complete strangers, something about looking up into the stars late at night makes me wonder why. Why are we here? Why do people act the way they do? Why have we not discovered extraterrestrial beings? I also tend to think in a philosophical way when it comes to religion, politics, and science. Ethically and morally, I think religion is great for everyone. It establishes a standard of right and wrong and I think many people need that balance in their life. That being said, I do not promote religion. I think it would be awesome if that balance were maintained in politics. I’m greatly disappointed in the political system of America, as it has turned into a high-paying job instead of a civil service. I see nothing wrong with science. It may not be considered morally right in some eyes. However I think it is good to search for answers.