Teacher's Guide.pdf

FARRAR, STRAUS AND GIROUX

TEACHER’S GUIDE

Sophie’s World

Accelerated

Reader

A Novel About the History of Philosophy

by Jostein Gaarder

“Extraordinary . . . The book will serve as a first-rate introduction for

anyone who never took an introductory philosophy course, and

as a pleasant refresher for those who have.” — Newsweek

“Brilliant . . . Unlike any other novel . . . Its depth of learning, its

intelligence and its totally original conception give it enormous magnetic

appeal . . . To be fully human, and to feel our continuity with 3,000 years

of philosophical inquiry, we need to put ourselves in Sophie’s world.”

— The Boston Sunday Globe

544 pages • 0-374-53071-8

TO THE TEACHER

With more than 30 million copies in print, Sophie’s World is a sharp, exciting,

entirely different novel that thrives on its contradictions. It’s a page-turning

adventure that is also a history of Western philosophy—from the discourse of

ancient Greece to debates about the Big Bang. It’s a refreshingly contemporary and

candid coming-of-age tale that’s also a sci-fi-like mystery. It’s an international

bestseller that is also an extended postmodern riff on the very idea of authorship.

In short, it’s just as engaging as it is imaginative.

As the book begins, 14-year-old Sophie finds two notes in her mailbox. One note

asks, “Who are you?” The other asks, “Where does the world come from?” From

here, with the quirky aid of an equally devoted and mysterious instructor, Sophie

sets off on a fantastic philosophical saga that will take her far beyond her small

Norwegian hometown. The letters give way to lectures, the questions give way to

quests, and the dimensions of Sophie’s world grow ever wider, deeper, and richer.

But who is Hilde? And why does Sophie keep getting her mail? When the enig-

matic philosophy instructor starts addressing Sophie as “Hilde” by mistake—or is

he doing this on purpose?—things begin to look more complex than Sophie could

ever have imagined. Yet the answers can all be found, or so it seems, in the many

different philosophies she has been studying.

PRAISE FOR

SOPHIE’S WORLD

“First, think of a beginner’s guide to philosophy, written by a schoolteacher . . .

Next, imagine a fantasy novel—something like a modern-day version of Through

the Looking Glass . Meld these disparate genres, and what do you get? Well, what

you get is an improbable international bestseller . . . a runaway hit . . . [a] tour de

force.” — Time

“Remarkable . . . A whimsical and ingenious mystery novel that also happens to be

a history of philosophy.” — The Washington Post Book World

“Just as remarkable for its playful premise as it is for its accessibility . . . The essen-

tial charm of Sophie’s World lies in the innocent curiosity of the young character,

and the clever narrative structure Gaarder designed to pique it.” — The Columbus

Dispatch

“From the opening Goethe quotation to the closing discussion of the Big Bang

theory, this is an extraordinary, exciting, provocative book . . . Gaarder presents

a didactic history of philosophical thought as part of a fictional mystery story that

both pulls readers along and breaks up the ‘heavy’ explanations into manageable

parts. Yet the plot is itself a philosophical conundrum, [and this] mystery, like the

human mystery, is not really resolved, and leaves readers wanting to know more.

Gaarder pulls off the difficult feat of blending philosophy and entertainment in

a way that will capture young adults’ interest and make them eager to explore

further.” — School Library Journal

PREPARING

TO READ

This teacher’s guide consists of three sections, all of which appear immediately

below: Reading and Understanding the Novel; Questions and Exercises for the

Class; and Terms to Define and Discuss. The first section will help students follow

along with Sophie’s World ; the second will aid in their exploration of, and reflection

on, this novel (as individuals and as a group); and the third will sharpen their

comprehension of Gaarder’s work via definition, term identification and review,

and vocabulary-building. Please note that the words in the third section are

presented in the same order as they appear in the book.

READING AND

UNDERSTANDING

THE NOVEL

1. Explain the importance of the title of this book’s first chapter.

2. Why does Sophie’s philosophy teacher tell her that “you are a Martian yourself ”

(p. 18)?

3. What is a “philosophical project” (p. 63)? Why does the philosophy teacher

assert that “no one philosopher concerns himself with the whole of philosophy”

(p. 32)?

4. Name the four basic elements (see p. 38) that were identified by Empedocles

and other natural philosophers of early Greece, and explain why these particular

elements were so labeled. What properties were assigned to each element?

5. Why does Sophie’s correspondent call the Lego block “the most ingenious toy

in the world” (p. 44)? What is he saying about Legos? Explain the metaphor he’s

making here. Further, when thinking about Legos in this regard, Sophie wonders,

“Why did people quit playing when they grew up”? How would you answer her?

6. When Sophie first starts receiving letters from the philosophy teacher, she finds

that each one is slightly damp, having “two little holes in it” (p. 49). Why is this

the case? Thinking of Sophie’s World as a mystery novel, what other “clues” did you

encounter over the course of the book? Were you able to use them to solve any

riddles? And were there any “red herrings” as well?

7. What does it mean to be “skeptical” of something? Or “cynical”? Or “stoic”?

How do these terms echo the thinking of various ancient Greek philosophers (see

p. 129)?

8. Socrates, we read, was widely seen as the wisest man in Athens, even though he

freely admitted that he “knew nothing about life [or] the world” (p. 69). Is this a

paradox? Why or why not? Explain.

9. Regarding the video cassette that Sophie watches in secret, how is Alberto Knox

able to bring ancient Athens back to life (see p. 73)?

10. Paraphrase the “Myth of the Cave” (p. 89) that Plato wrote about. What was

Plato saying in this allegory? What lessons might we draw from it?

11. Explain how and why Plato goes from describing the human body to describ-

ing the ideal government (see p. 91).

12. Why doesn’t, or why wouldn’t, Aristotle accept the validity of the “gingerbread

mold” (p. 107) that Alberto tells Sophie about? Further, how does Aristotle’s take

on the link between nature and reality differ from Plato’s take on this link?

13. What is the “Golden Mean” (p. 114)? How does this concept fit alongside

Aristotle’s views on the human diet, disposition, and so on?

14. In the “Middle Ages” chapter, Alberto says, “We can say that Aquinas

christianized Aristotle in the same way that St. Augustine christianized Plato”

(p. 177). Why did these great medieval thinkers aim to apply the teachings of

Christ to philosophers who had lived hundreds of years “ BC ”?

15. Who were Hildegard of Bingen, Albert the Great, and Sophia (see pp. 182-

83)? How are they reflected in these pages by more contemporary figures?

16. “You could say,” Alberto tells Sophie, “that a process started in the Renaissance

finally brought people to the moon. Or for that matter to Hiroshima and

Chernobyl” (p. 195). What is this “process”? What is Alberto saying?

17. Later in the “Renaissance” chapter, Alberto says, “Of all the scientific discover-

ies in the history of mankind, this is positively the most important”

(p. 205). What’s he referring to, and why is it so paramount? Furthermore, why did

the Renaissance lead to, as Alberto puts it, “a new religiosity” (p. 208)?

18. Why did “the Baroque period [give] birth to modern theater,” as Alberto asserts

(p. 225)? What was it about this particular moment in history that led to the likes

of Shakespeare?

19. Alberto calls Descartes “the father of modern philosophy” (p. 231)—but why

does he make this claim? What did Descartes bring to philosophical inquiry that

changed things so considerably, or that moved things forward?

20. What are the advantages of viewing all things, as Spinoza said, “sub specie aeter-

nitatis” (p. 251)? What insights does this provide? What does it tell us?

21. In the “Locke” chapter, Alberto tells Sophie about “the only thing a real philoso-

pher must never do.” What is it? Does Sophie ever do it? Or Alberto, or Hilde? Or

did you, as a reader? Explain.

22. “More than any other philosopher,” Alberto says, David Hume “took the every-

day world as his starting point” (p. 264). How did Hume do this? And what was

the result of such earthbound thought? How did he come to understand the

world—and what sort of philosophical thought has followed in Hume’s wake?

23. Things have changed dramatically, from a narrative standpoint and otherwise,

when the “Bjerkely” chapter begins. But how? What connections exist between

Berkeley and Bjerkely? Between Sophie and Hilde? Between Alberto Knox and

Albert Knag? Or even between Albert Knag and Jostein Gaarder?

24. What comparative comments does Hilde’s father make to Alberto and Sophie

about the French Enlightenment and the United Nations—and how does he get

these comments across (see pp. 309, 337)? More generally, what points about the

UN—its mission, its purpose, its politics—are made throughout Sophie’s World (see

pp. 143, 218)?

25. Explain the “red-tinted glasses” metaphor employed in the “Kant” chapter.

26. In the “Romanticism” chapter, Alberto quotes a character from Ibsen’s Peer

Gynt : “One cannot die in the middle of Act Five” (p. 350). What’s the meaning of

this line? What’s Alberto trying to say by quoting it?

27. “In a sense,” Alberto tells Sophie, “Freud demonstrated that there is an artist in

everyone” (p. 435). How did Freud’s writing and thinking make this point? And to

what extent, in your view, is this point valid?

28. What is the “theater of the absurd” (p. 454)—and how did it come about? What

were the playwrights involved in this movement trying to say, philosophically,

dramatically, and otherwise, with their work?

29. In the “Big Bang” chapter, we find that stargazing is actually a form of time-

travel. How could this be? Explain.

30. Looking back at the beginning of this novel, reread the quotation from Goethe

that precedes the first chapter. Explain this quote, and explain whether and how you

think it applies to Gaarder’s work.

QUESTIONS AND

EXERCISES

FOR THE CLASS

1. One of the great enigmas of philosophy is the so-called “problem of identity.”

How does this novel explore that question in particular? Also, on your own or in a

group, research the meaning of the literary term “metafiction”—and then describe

how Gaarder’s novel also exemplifies that concept. (Why is it, for instance, that the

story of young Hilde does not properly begin until the “Bjerkely” chapter?)

2. Many ideas and societies are addressed in Sophie’s World . But what about the

customs and background that Sophie herself grew up with? Discuss what you

learned about Norwegian (and Nordic) culture and history from reading this novel.

3. Early on, Alberto tells Sophie that various cultures have used myths to explain

the happenings or inventory of the natural world (see p. 24). Write a poem or short

story or two in which you create a few such myths of your own. That is, pick out a

couple of natural phenomena or patterns, and then create original myths that

provide narratives as well as “reasons” for them.

4. What is the Socratic method of discourse (p. 66)? Why do you think this form

of communicating has remained so popular and influential? And why does Alberto

note the “pedagogic responsibility” of Socrates (p. 90)? As a class, discuss or debate

a few questions—be they timely or ancient, local or universal—while employing the

Socratic method.

5. In the chapter titled “The Major’s Cabin,” this novel starts to take on magical or

fairy-tale-like properties, traits that only increase as the story progresses. Looking

over the full novel, which characters, themes, or motifs in this fantasy/fable vein

were new to you, and which did you recognize? (And what does Alberto mean when

he says, much later in the book: “Philosophy is the opposite of fairy tales” [p. 334]?)

6. What is the “party game” (p. 111) that Alberto says Aristotle effectively in-

vented? How is this game played, and what is its goal? Can you come up with

another game that might be based on the ideas or aims of any of the philosophers

described in this novel? If so, write down the rules, then try to play it with others.

7. Review Aristotle’s views on women (see p. 115). What did he think? Why was he

wrong? And why were several other philosophers whom we learn about here like-

wise so incorrect? As a group, point out a few of the thinkers in Gaarder’s history

who missed the mark on womanhood, explaining how each of them did so. But also

point out a few who saw women in a more balanced or levelheaded light.

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