Reading Group Guide

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SOPHIE'S WORLD A Novel About the History of Philosophy

Jostein Gaarder

ABOUT THIS GUIDE: The questions and topics in this guide are intended to generate a lively discussion of this ingenious hybrid of philosophy and fantasy We hope your discussion will enrich your enjoyment of this unique novel. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION: 1.Is Sophie a special or unusual person, or can anyone become a good philosopher? 2.When Sophie first begins her correspondence course, she becomes disinterested in everyday activities, like playing badminton with Joanna after school. Is it possi ble to enjoy life's simpler pleasures while simultaneously pursuing the answers to life's great mysteries? 3.The rationalists believed that the basis of all human knowledge lay in the mind, while the empiricists believed that our knowledge of the world proceeded from the senses. Are you a rationalist or an empiricist? Can a philosopher be a bit of both?

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4.What do philosophy, religion, and science have in common? What distinguishes them from each other? Is philosophy incompatible with religion? 5.The existence of God is perhaps the most profound issue philosophers must address. Descartes believed that the concept of a perfect entity could only have originated from such an entity, rather than an imperfect entity such as a human being. This is how he arrives at proving the existence of God. We learn in Sophie's lesson on Descartes that his "leap" is considered the weak spot in Descartes's philosophy. Do you agree or disagree with this evaluation? 6.Do you agree with Descartes's assertion that the idea of God is innate, stamped on us from birth "like the artisan's mark?" 7.Was Marx a Marxist? Was Jesus a Christian? More to the point, do you believe that as ideologies are widely adopted they somehow become perverted? If so, why? 8.While discussing Marx's theory of alienation in the workplace, Sophie and Albert discuss Sophie's aunt who hates her job at a candy factory. Albert states that since Sophie's aunt doesn't like her job, she must not like herself. Do you think that self-worth is so closely linked with work? 9.What did Sartre mean when he said "man is condemned to be free?" Do you agree? 10.It should come as no surprise that existentialism gained popularity after the horrors of World War II. What are your thoughts on existentialism? Is it a "cop-out" of sorts, or is it a realistic articulation of the modern human condition? 11.Which theory has had the most profound impact on the way human beings think and live in the twentieth

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century: Darwin's theory of evolution or Freud's theory of the unconscious? 12.Which thinkers or ideas have shaped your own ideas the most? 13.Fantasy plays a big part in this novel, and it operates on many levels. Discuss these levels, such as fantasy's role in reinforcing the theme of wonder and the ways in which fantasy sustains momentum in the novel. 14.Did you find the elements of fantasy and mystery distracting with regard to digesting the many philosophical concepts that are covered? Or did you enjoy them as parallels to qualities inherent in the study of philosophy? 15.Jostein Gaarder searched bookstores for a good philosophy primer for young people. Finding nothing but "New Age trash," as he puts it, he decided to write Sophie's World. Do you agree with his assessment of New Age philosophy? Did you find the classical philosophy covered in the novel more complex, but ultimately more rewarding, than any New Age books you have read? 16.How does Sophie change during the course of the novel? 17.Has reading Sophie's World changed your view of the world? If so, how?