Connection

Connection #7

Nihilism and existential angst make me think of Charlie Sheen. Charlie Sheen lives life without caring about the consequences. I think he has maybe come to realize that he’s going to die someday and might as well do whatever he wants while he’s here because once he’s dead he’s dead. I think he may also think that life has no real meaning and that there’s no point to it. These are all related to existential angst. Also I think he just really doesn’t care about anything anymore, which is made clear by his actions in the public eye. He does drugs and acts completely irrationally without any sort of remorse. His actions show that he is a nihilist and doesn’t think that anything matters or is important and he just doesn’t care.

Reflection #7

The ending of the book was very surprising. I thought that Sophie and Alberto were solely figments of Alberto Knag’s imagination, and therefore would never be able to escape. But to my surprise they ended up escaping during the chaos at the party, which was confusing to me. If Alberto Knag didn’t want them to escape then why did he give them the perfect get away? Also the things that happened at the party were all very strange especially Joanne’s behavior. I was really surprised to read that she was making out with some boy, and even more surprised that the parents and adults were cheering her on. It was actually really funny to envision this happening, because it’s just such a bizarre situation. The books end was really strange to me now that Sophie and Alberto are free, they can’t interact with the real world , which to me is worse then living in someone else’s world. At least in Alberto Knag’s world they could have friends, family and other human interactions but now that there in the “real world” they can’t be seen, or heard by other people except the other invisible people. I don’t agree with Alberto Knox when he says that they are now more real, because I think them being in the “real world” made them even more fake and imaginary.

Connection #6

Connection:

A modern day connection that I can make from philosophy to real world involves the ideals of Kant. The situation at Penn State reminds me of Emmanuel Kant. Although the head coach told his supervisors about what the other coach was doing, I wonder if it was with the right intentions. Kant believed that if a person did the right thing for the wrong reasons it had NO moral value. The coach may have done what looks “right” to us which was to tell, but did he actually do the right thing. After he realized that nothing was being done to stop the situation he didn’t do anything more to help stop the situation, he did only what was required of him and nothing else. I don’t think he actually did the right thing, because although he did as he was supposed to he didn’t actually do what was necessary to stop the situation which was to go to the police. Instead he let it continue to take place. This leads me to believe that his actions of telling his supervisors wasn’t really moral, because I think he just did it because it was what was expected not because he actually thought it was the right thing. Because if he was really interested in doing the right thing he would have done more to help stop the situation.

Reflection #6

Reflection:

I have liked the last few chapters of Sophie’s World. I especially like how Alberto Knag has been adding fantasy characters from Disney movies into the story to show Sophie and Alberto Knox that he is truly in charge of the story and ultimately their fate. I think that’s its cute how the different characters fit into the story. For instance when Alice in wonderland shows up the situation with the two bottles follows soon after. His use of allusions to Disney characters is very clever and makes the book more interesting. I also liked the philosophers I learned about in the last few chapters, they were very interesting. Learning about Kant’s ideas about lying was interesting. His views often seemed to contradict each other; Kant thought that lying was disrespectful to the person who was being told the lie. But at the same time he thought it was ok to deceive a person, which accomplishes the same purpose as lying. I also liked Kierkegaard’s thoughts on truth. I like the idea that the important truths are your own personal truths, and that truth is subjective.   

connection #5

Learning about the Blank slate theory make me think of many songs that prove that theory to be true , especially for love. Many songs talk about how you can’t truly have any knowledge of love until you’ve felt it. Many songs are very descriptive about how you feel when you’re in love and this is a feeling you can’t truly know until you have experienced love. A song that portrays this well is All The Boys by Keri Hilson. In her songs she talks about how she didn't know what love was until she met the right guy and experienced it.

I also thought of the noble savage theory which can be seen everywhere in music. The noble savage theory is that people start off generally good but are corrupt by their culture and society. A song that came to mind was Heart and Soul by Shwayze. This song talks about how a bad environment can completely change a person from being innocent to being money hungry and bad. This song really shows how people can easily become a product of their environment, which can quickly change them from good to bad. This song goes along perfectly with the noble savage theory.  

Reflection #5

These last few chapters have been really good and kept me thinking. If Sophie and Alberto are truly just the creations of Hilde’s father why do they tell her to rebel or mention how they try to escape? The fact that Alberto is still working on a way to escape still makes me believe that he’s real, because why would Hilde’s father write fort him to say that. Also why would Alberto Knag tell Alberto to suggest that Hilde rebel against her father, so maybe Sophie and Alberto really do exist outside of what Alberto Knag tells them to say and do? But then again when I think about this I realize how ridiculous it is to think that characters in books truly exist and have a mind of their own because they don’t. Characters in books are simply what the author makes them out to be. Characters thoughts and dialogues are what the author writes; they have no substance outside of the book. But maybe I am wrong and maybe Alberto and Sophie will find some way to escape the mind of Alberto Knag. I’m really excited to keep reading and see what happens to Sophie, especially because her birthday party is on the same day that Hilde’s father returns home.

Reflection #4

After reading and discussing Spinoza in class I had lots of wondering thoughts and often pondered his beliefs about God. Even though many considered Spinoza to be a materialist atheist, it seems to me like he very much believed in God. The definition of an atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in any form of God, but Spinoza viewed the whole world as a part of God. I think this is a really interesting belief because as a Christian I believe that God is omnipotent, but this is a whole new way of seeing how God is everywhere. Spinoza also believed in determinism and that God controlled everything through natural laws. This is also a pretty common Christian belief because many Christians believe that God does in fact have control over every aspect of life. Many Christians believe in predestination and that things are already planned a certain way. After talking a closer look and thinking about Spinoza I wonder why people even thought that he was an atheist. He shared many common beliefs with modern Christians today. I think maybe Christians rejected his beliefs and thoughts because he tried to critically read the bible and maybe the Christians were worried that he was “questioning” the word of God and they didn’t like it. But honestly Spinoza had many beliefs of Christians.