Luiseach

I've read Gaarder's book twice so far.

Here are my questions for those of you who have read Sophie's World (1995), and who are familiar with the history of philosophy (or with philosophy in general):

In your view, how well does Sophie's World deal with philosophy?

What do you think about the incorporation of philsophical 'lessons' into a literary text?

Finally, and this is more of a general question, what is the relationship between literature and philosophy anyway?

xorbie

First off, I have not read this book, so I am just going to answer your final question (hope this is ok). I think the relationship between philosophy and literature is that literature presents a very good medium through which to present philosophy. First off, it is far more accessible and interesting to the average reader, who may not be well versed in logic. It also brings down philosophy to a more human level, by showing the emotions and people involved and not just a bunch of statements that often fail to actually convince people of anything.

Another thing is that it changes the presentation of the philosophy from a deductive proof to and inductive one. Basically, instead of using a lot of formal logic, you can use a "real life" situation(s) to show how your philosophy is right. Of course, the book needs to be relativey realistic for this to be effective at all, but I think that for many writers, fiction is a great medium through which to present their philosophy, from the grandoise to the more mundane.

Luiseach

No problem at all...the really crucial question is the one you addressed, so that's great. Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

Okay....so this suggests that philosophy is less accessible than literature?

If it's true that the relationship between philosophy and literature is one of, respectively, 'message' and 'medium,' where does the 'philosophy' end and the 'literature' begin? (This is a question within a question ----> I'm trying to find out if there really are important differences between philosophy and literature...).

Ah. Your suggestion that literature can present philosophy in an 'inductive' rather than a 'deductive' manner is interesting, because it implies that literature is being used not just as the vehicle for philosophising, but rather that it is itself a form of philosophising.

What do you think?

xorbie

I certainly think so.

To a certain extent, yes. Several psyhcology curriculum's nationwide rely heavily on novels to teach students, because the people and situations therein are so realistic. This demonstrates that it is possible to philosophize based on a novel, however I don't think this is what authors go (can't speak for them though).
I think it is a good way however for a writer to say "I have a vague notion of my philosophy, let's see what happens when I put it in a book." Putting it into such real world scenarios can, in my opinion, help organize one's thoughts.

Hope this helps.

mimi

I read Sophie's World when I was young, maybe 13, and was completely blown away. I haven't read it since, but from what I can remember it was the way in which it questioned reality which affected me the most.

I also read another of Gaarder's, can't remember the title, it was about a boy and christmas cards or letters or something??? But I remember enjoying that one also...

I think when philosophy is explored through novels, we can identify with the characters and this allows us to apply the principles being explored to our own lives. I remember thinking "what the hell am I supposed to be doing with my life?" (both a very depressing and liberating experience halfway through year 12 ) after studying The Outsider. There is a huge difference between this and something like Nausea, Sartre's equivalent, which I found terribly laborious (maybe because I didn't have a study guide at hand!).

Bottom line - novels (in contrast to essay-type writings) are a great introduction to philosophy, especially for young minds.

VivaHedone

I read the book, also at 13, and really enjoyed it. Also I read Maya, by the same author. Not quite as good, but I would still recommend it, as it expresses the 'flawed wonder' of our existence quite eloquently. I especially like the idea of humans as 'angels incarnate' - a concept I first struggled to understand but now sympathise with. Basically, it expresses the sentiment that human consciousness is a beautiful, neo-godly thing, yet is tragically trapped inside our frail physical bodies.

Mistress of Tales

I've read everything Gaarder has written, ezcept for the last half of Maya.

THe one about the Christmas cards is called Julemysteriet in Norwegian, so it might have been published as the CHristmas Mystery in ENglish. I use it as a christmas calendar - one chapter every day in december I love it. Of course, it only goes to 24 since that is when we celebrate in Norway...

I liked Sophie's world, but I didn't love it... It was practically like Terry Pratchett's science-books; one chapter of story, one chapter of dry schoolbook-stuff, and so on. But a bit better than that, of course. Just like Pratchett manages to make you understand science a little bit better than school books do, Gaarder makes philosophy a part of your own world, not some distant sphere of smarter-than-you-people.

I wouldn't say that litterature's task is to "dumbify" things like philosophy, ethics, science and so on, but to change it from sterile facts and ethereal ideals, to things we can grasp and turn over and over in out own minds, making it a part of us.

Kent Stevens

Many philosophical and theological ideas are represented as stories. People can relate to stories better than how they can react to an abstract theory such as utilitariansim.

Plato got into literary devices as part of the book that he wrote called the Republic. The parable of the cave is supposed to represent the theory of ideal forms and how certain people have a true understanding of the world.

The bible or similar religious books are mostly story after story. These stories illustrate the attributes of the gods such as love or wrath.

Modern examples of literary works that detail philosophy are 1984, Brave New World, and Animal Farm.

Science fiction such as that written by H.G. Wells make it easier to understand some scientific ideas.

Stories make abstract philosophy or science more approachable and more easy to remember as well.

tronvillain

I hate that book so much. Back in high school the mother of a friend of mine raved about it and lent it to me since I was interested in philosophy, but reading it was less pleasant than listening to nails on a chalkboard. Anyway, philosophy can be quite interesting when incorporated into fiction (especially science fiction, since it offers more fantastic hypothetical situations), but does philosophy really have "lessons"?