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.

Connection #4

Humanism is a philosophy that views humans in a positive light. This philosophy stresses that humans can and should reach great potential. This definition of humanism which was started by Cicero can be directly correlated to the humanistic approach to psychology. The humanistic approach emphasizes that each person has potential. It also says that each person is good and has he power to control/ direct their own future. This approach to psychology is very optimistic and gives a very positive outlook on life to all. The philosophy of humanism was also one that was very positive towards humans.  This is very similar to the humanism philosophy and the beliefs of Cicero. Cicero wanted people to be their very best and out do others. Cicero also believed in doing things for the betterment of the community which can be related to the humanistic view of psychology also. The humanistic view of psychology involves the thought that people can control their future and be in charge of making things in their life better. This means that like Cicero the humanistic view encompasses the idea that you have the ability to change and ultimately better your community and life through your own behaviors. This is how humanism and the humanistic view of psychology connect.

connection #3

After reading about the Semites I made a connection to modern day Christianity especially in my church and Christian experiences.  The Semites considered hearing to be the primary sense. This is still very true today many things in my church revolve around sermons and recitations instead of artwork as it would have in the indo European culture. My pastor is quite easily one of the loudest speakers and all of his sermons are full of energy, also during sermons we do lot’s of reciting of verses aloud and together as a congregation. Also the way that the Semites lived is very similar to what I do today. I pray before meals and every night as a way to talk with God and feel close to Him. I read my bible often because that to helps to strengthen my relationship with God, which is another of the things that the Semites of that time did in order to feel close with God. An area that I think is a mix between both the indo European culture and the Semite culture is mediation, because I know a lot of Christians now like to mediate on the bible verses or just have deep mediation in order to feel close to God, so maybe this is a more modern trait of Christianity. Another thing that corresponds with my beliefs and those of other Christians today is that history is linear and that God can interfere with it whenever, and that history will eventually come to an end on judgment day. This is still a very strong belief within the Christian faith that holds true today. It’s very interesting to see how a belief system can remain the same over thousands of years.

Reflection #3

After reading more of Sophie’s world I have started to come up with my own thoughts on the connection between Hilde and Sophie. I am starting to think that Sophie and Hilde may be the same person in alternate universes. I think this because they have a lot of similarities. They both share the same birthday, both their fathers live very far away, and often times Sophie finds things that Hilde looses. Also Alberto called Sophie Hilde twice which further proves my theory about them. But there are things that make me think that maybe there not the same person. The fact the Hilde’s father keeps saying that he and Sophie will meet each other makes me wonder if may be they are 2 separate people, because I don’t think people from alternate realities can meet each other especially if they are the same person.

Then I was very confused be Alberto’s lesson on the middle ages in which he tell Sophie about people in the past who have similar names and situations to Alberto, Hilde and Sophie. Alberto tells her of the female philosopher named Hildegard, who had a vision where she saw, Sophia, the female side of God, and that the name of Aquinas teacher was the Albert the Great.  This is very confusing and strange to me and I’m not sure what it indicates. I’m just really interested to figure out the strange relationships f this book between Hilde and Sophie, and Alberto and Hilde’s father

Connection #2

After reading about the Cynics and how they believed that happiness can be achieved by everyone I felt really uplifted. They believed that happiness doesn’t depend on material things such as money, clothes, or power. They believed you found true happiness in the realization of the fact that you don’t need “external advantages”, but that it is within everyone reach to be happy. Stoics believed that you only needed the necessities in order to be happy and nothing more.

This reminded me of a song “price tag” by Jessie J who repeatedly states “ it ain’t about the money”. Her song describes how people have become so reliant on material things like nice clothes, shoes and cars to make them “happy” , but she says that life’s not about the money and people need to remember that. Jessie’s lyrics make it clear that she like the cynics doesn’t believe that happiness can be bought, but that in order to be happy you should live simplistically.  She sings about how all she needs is a place to stay and music in order to be happy, she’s not worried about having a luxurious house or anything else that’s over the top. Jessie’s lyrics also say that people need to just start enjoying life for what it is and slow down and appreciate the simple things instead of being preoccupied with what they have and don’t have. Also she talks about how she wants to make everyone happy and “dance” which to me means that she also thinks that everyone has the ability to attain happiness just like the cynics. Jessie J incorporates many of the ideals of cynicism into her song.Watch the video here.

Reflection #2

I think Sophie’s world has unfortunately taken a turn for the worse when it comes to the philosophical aspects. At first  I really enjoyed learning about the root of philosophy and the early philosophers, but now the lessons are no longer as captivating. While the plot had been rapidly picking up and leaving me wondering and captivated, the actual learning of philosophy has become long and boring. Sophie’s actual story has become very exciting and a little mysterious. Reading about her adventure to the cabin and the mirror image that blinked with both eyes was really cool and still has me wondering how she could see her reflection if she was blinking. I also am still very much intrigued by Hilde and who she actually is. I think Sophie’s life is very interesting; she’s a 14 year old girl receiving letters from a mysterious man.  The book has a great plot; aside from the over extensive talk of philosophy.

 On the other hand learning about Plato’s beliefs and ideals was painstakingly boring. Although there was an immense amount of information to learn about Plato I did find a little enjoyment in reading about his thoughts on ideal forms. I think it’s really interesting to think that everything we see is just a replica of a more perfect form that our souls have encountered.  Reading about Plato and Aristotle back to back was kind of interesting because you got to see how even though Plato taught Aristotle, Aristotle formed many different and somewhat opposing views to those of Plato.  Many of Plato and Aristotle’s views are exact opposites including they’re beliefs about the senses, innate ideas, and women.  Apart from that the most interesting things about these last chapters have all had to do with Sophie and her adventures to figure out who Alberto is and where the letters come from. Yes I know t is a philosophy book, but it could be more reader friendly and break Alberto’s long lectures up into smaller sections so that you don’t feel as if you are reading from a text book.

Reflection #1

After reading the 1^st few chapter of Sophie’s world I am full of questions. First of all I am confused about who Hilde is and how she fits into this story. After learning that Alberto Knox some how knows Hilde I am even more confused, I now wonder if maybe Alberto and Hilde are somehow related or if Hilde like Sophie is just one of Alberto’s philosophy students. I wonder where Hilde is and how her scarf arrived in Sophie’s room. I’m so confused.

I also wonder why there is so much secrecy in this story when it comes to the “philosopher.” Who actually is Alberto Knox? Why can’t Alberto personally deliver Sophie’s letters anymore? Why is it so risky for him to deliver her letters? Is he in hiding? I still want to know who this philosopher is. Was he once an actual philosophy teacher or it he truly just someone who is climbing the rabbits fur, wondering about the world, and trying to share his knowledge with others? Why had Alberto even decided to write these letter to Sophie in the 1^st place, I wonder how he even know her name and where she lives, and how he selected her of all people to begin to write to.

But besides my many questions I really enjoyed the beginning chapters of this book, especially those concerning the natural philosophers. I think it is astonishing that they made so many discoveries about the world, with out all the technology that we have now.

connection #1

After reading about Empedocles I immediately thought of a game that I played on my friend’s iPod called doodle god. In this game you “play as god” at the beginning of time and have to create new things. The only way you can create things is by combing four elements: earth, fire, water and air. You have to combine the four elements in many various ways to make new things such as lightning, clay and trees. In this game some of the combinations won’t make anything and you have to try new combinations. In this game everything is made up of earth, wind, water or fire in some way. The thought that everything is made out of the four basic elements is originally the thought of Empedocles.

The four basic elements in the game Doodle God

This game made me think of Empedocles because he believed that everything in the world is made up of four elements: earth, water, fire and air. He believed that you had to combine the elements in different ways to create new things. This game follows the mindset of Empedocles very closely in this game the only way to create things is by using the four elements, just as Empedocles believed.