Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Evaluation
Guidelines:
Express a Specific Viewpoint.
Materialism is good, is not specific.
Topics: Democritus Philosophy,
Fate/Stoicism, Socrates' Philosophy, Platos
Philosophy (Platonic Ideas), Realism,
Aristotles Philosophy, Hellenism, Descartes'
Philosophical Ideas, Dualism,
Parallelism/Epiphenomenalism, Spinozas
Rationalism, Empiricism, Lockes Philosophy,
Humes Ideas, Berkeleys Subjective Idealism,
Enlightenment, Rationalism, Skepticism,
Kants Copernican Revolution in Philosophy,
Romanticism, Hegels Absolute Idealism,
Kierkegaards Point of View (Existentialism),
Marx (Materialism), Darwin (Evolution),
Freuds Philosophy, Mysticism, Humanism,
Epicureans, The Myth of the Cave
Sophies World
by
Jostein Gaarder
Who are you? Where does the world come from? These are two questions
Sophie, a fifteen year-old Norwegian girl, receives in her mailbox one day from
an unknown stranger. Thus begins a mysterious adventure for Sophie, and an
adventure for any person of any age who reads her story. For Sophie becomes
the student of a fifty year old philosopher, Alberto, who proceeds to teach her the
history of philosophy.
She gets a very creditable and understandable review of the ideas of major
philosophers from the Pre-Socratic Greeks to Jean-Paul Sartre. Mixed in with
the philosophy lessons is a wonderful story complete with a mysterious cabin in
the woods, a magic brass mirror, a marvelous messenger dog named Hermes,
and even brief appearances by Little-Red-Riding-Hood and Winnie-the-Pooh.
And it is something of a shock to find out who Sophie and Alberto really are although it should have been completely obvious to anyone from the very first
page of the book.
The philosophy is wonderful and wonderfully presented. Sophie learns about Medieval
philosophy while being lectured by a monk in an ancient church, and she learns about
Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in a French caf. It all begins with a quotation
from Goethe: He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to
mouth. Could the world have come from nothing? It all seemed so illogical until
Democritus invented the most ingenious toy in the world. Next we see Socrates standing
in front of a market stall packed with various goods. What a wonderful number of things I
have no use for.
We learn about Plato and his theories about the existence of an ideal world of which we
see only the dim reflection. But many mathematicians and scientists think they can catch
a glimpse of that ideal world. Alberto then takes Sophie through Hellenism to the rise of
Christianity and its interaction with Greek thought and on into the Middle Ages. We even
learn about Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century Catholic Nun who was a preacher,
physician, botanist, biologist, and composer. (You can even buy compact disks of her
music.) He covers the Renaissance, Baroque, Enlightenment and Romantic periods.
Other important figures presented are Descartes (he wanted to clear all the rubble off the
site),
Spinoza (God is not a puppeteer), Locke, Hume, Berkeley (we exist only in the mind of
God), Bjerkely (How did that get in here?), Kant (the starry heavens above me and the
moral law within me), Hegel, Kierkegaard (its one thing to collect Barbie dolls, but
worse to be one), Marx, Darwin and Freud.
Democritus
460c.370 B.C.,Greek philosopher of Abdera.
Fate/Stoicism
In physics the foundation of the Stoic doctrine was the dogma that all true
being is corporeal. Within the corporeal they recognized two principles,
matter and force -- that is, the material, and the Deity (logos, order, fate)
permeating and informing it. Ultimately, however, the two are identical.
There is nothing in the world with any independent existence: all is bound
together by an unalterable chain of causation. The agreement of human
action with the law of nature, of the human will with the divine will, or life
according to nature, is virtue, the chief good and highest end in life. It is
essentially one, the particular or cardinal virtues of Plato being only
different aspects of it; it is completely sufficient for happiness, and
incapable of any differences of degree. All good actions are absolutely
equal in merit, and so are all bad actions. All that lies between virtue and
vice is neither good nor bad; at most, it is distinguished as preferable,
undesirable, or absolutely indifferent. Virtue is fully possessed only by the
wise person, who is no way inferior in worth to Zeus; he is lord over his
own life, and may end it by his own free choice. In general, the prominent
characteristic of Stoic philosophy is moral heroism, often verging on
asceticism.
His doctrine of the soul led him to the belief that all virtues
converge into one, which is the good, or knowledge of ones
true self and purposes through the course of a lifetime.
Knowledge in turn depends on the nature or essence of
things as they really are, for the underlying forms of things
are more real than their experienced exemplifications. This
conception leads to a teleological view of the world that all the
forms participate in and lead to the highest form, the form of
the good. Plato later elaborated this doctrine as central to his
own philosophy
Realism
Held that universals exist independently of both the human
mind and particular thingsa theory closely associated with
that of Plato. Some other philosophers rejected this view for
what can be termed moderate realism, which held that
universals exist only in the mind of God, as patterns by which
he creates particular things.
In epistemology realism represents the theory that particular
things exist independently of our perception. This position is in
direct contrast to the theory of idealism, which holds that reality
exists only in the mind. Most contemporary British and
American philosophy tends toward realism.
Hellenism
The term is also applied to
the ideals of later writers and
thinkers who draw their
inspiration from ancient
Greece. Frequently it is
contrasted with Hebraism
Hellenism then meaning
pagan joy, freedom, and love
of life as contrasted with the
austere morality and
monotheism of the Old
Testament
Dualism
The term "Dualism" was originally coined by Thomas
Hyde around the beginning of the eighteenth century. As
a metaphysical theory, dualism states that the world is
made up of two elemental categories which are
incommensurable. This includes distinctions between
mind and body, good and evil, universal and particular,
and phenomena and nominal. Dualism contends you
must have both of the two components in question,
rather than one or the other. In contrast to dualism two
other philosophical positions concerned with the
number of substances: monism and pluralism. Monism
is the view that there is one elemental whereas
pluralism maintains that there are many things which
constitute the world.
Spinoza, Baruch
163277, Dutch philosopher, b.
Amsterdam.
Empiricism
It is a philosophical doctrine that all knowledge is derived
from experience. For most empiricists, experience includes
inner experiencereflection upon the mind and its
operationsas well as sense perception. This position is
opposed to rationalism in that it denies the existence of
innate ideas. According to the empiricist, all ideas are
derived from experience; therefore, knowledge of the
physical world can be nothing more than a generalization
from particular instances and can never reach more than a
high degree of probability. Most empiricists recognize the
existence of at least some a priori truths, e.g., those of
mathematics and logic. John Stuart Mill was the first to treat
even these as generalizations from experience. Empiricism
has been the dominant but not the only tradition in British
philosophy.
Berkeley in his subjective idealism went beyond Locke, who had argued
that such qualities as color and taste arise in the mind while primary
qualities of matter such as extension and weight have existence
independent of the mind. Berkeley held that both types of qualities are
known only in the mind and that therefore there is no existence of matter
independent of perception (esse est percipi). The observing mind of God
makes possible the continued apparent existence of material objects.
God arouses sensations in us in a regular coherent order. Selves and
God make up the universe. Berkeley felt that his argument constituted a
complete disproof of atheism. He believed that qualities, not things, are
perceived and that the perception of qualities is relative to the perceiver.
He denied the existence of a material world beyond the mind.
Enlightenment
1.Opposition to Authority- It is essential to
Kant, Immanuel
17241804, German metaphysician,
The scientist, therefore, may be sure only that the natural events
observed are knowable in terms of the categories. Our field of knowledge,
thus emancipated from Human skepticism, is nevertheless limited to the
world of phenomena. All theoretical attempts to know things-inthemselves are bound to fail. This inevitable failure is the theme of the
portion of the Critique of Pure Reason entitled the Transcendental
Dialectic. Here Kant shows that the three great problems of metaphysics
God, freedom, and immortalityare insoluble by speculative thought.
Their existence can be neither affirmed nor denied on theoretical
grounds, nor can they be scientifically demonstrated, but Kant shows the
necessity of a belief in their existence in his moral philosophy.
Kants ethics centers in his categorical imperative (or moral law)Act
as if the maxim from which you act were to become through your will a
universal law. This law has its source in the autonomy of a rational being,
and it is the formula for an absolutely good will. However, since we are all
members of two worlds, the sensible and the intelligible, we do not
infallibly act in accordance with this law but, on the contrary, almost
always act according to inclination. Thus what is objectively necessary,
i.e., to will in conformity to the law, is subjectively contingent; and for this
reason the moral law confronts us as an ought.
Romanticism
Universal Romanticism-they were preoccupied with nature,
world soul, and artistic genius.
National Romantics-mainly interested in the history of the
people, in general. And the people were seen as an
organism unfolding its innate potentiality-exactly like nature
and history.
Romantic Irony-a writer could remind his reader that it was
he who was manipulating the fictional universe. Basically,
the writer will not end the main characters life in the middle
of the story, when he needs to do more in later chapters.
Existentialism
Centered on the individual and his relationship to the universe or
to God. Kierkegaard. In his concern with the problem of the
individuals relationship to God, Kierkegaard bitterly attacked the
abstract metaphysics of the Hegelians and the worldly
complacency of the Danish church. Kierkegaards fundamental
insight was the recognition of the concrete ethical and religious
demands confronting the individual. He saw that these demands
could not be met by a merely intellectual decision but required
the subjective commitment of the individual. The necessity and
seriousness of these ethical decisions facing man was for
Kierkegaard the source of his dread and despair. Kierkegaards
analysis of the human situation provides the central theme of
contemporary existentialism.
Charles Darwin
The concept of evolution developed in the mid-19th cent. by Charles
Robert Darwin. Darwin observed (as had Malthus) that although all
organisms tend to reproduce in a geometrically increasing ratio, the
numbers of a given species remain more or less constant. From this
he deduced that there is a continuing struggle for existence, for
survival. He pointed out the existence of variationsdifferences
among members of the same speciesand suggested that the
variations that prove helpful to a plant or an animal in its struggle for
existence better enable it to survive and reproduce. These favorable
variations are thus transmitted to the offspring of the survivors and
spread to the entire species over successive generations. This
process he called the principle of natural selection (the expression
survival of the fittest was later coined by Herbert Spencer).
He practiced
psychoanalysis which is a
description of the human
mind in the general as well
as a therapy for nervous
and mental disorders. Our
actions are not always
guided by reason. Irrational
impulses often determine
what we think, what we
dream, and what we do.
He focused on the
subconscious or the
unconscious. Which leads
to the idea of projection.
When we project, we
transfer the characteristics
we are trying to repress in
ourselves onto other people.
He developed a technique
called free association. In
other words, he let the
patient lie in a relaxed
position and just talk about
whatever came into his or
her mind.