Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy

by Jostein Gaarder

  “It’s certainly surprising to see what people put up with without protesting.”

  “At times it can be right to feel: This is something I must get away from—even though I don’t have any idea where to go.”

  “If the house catches fire you just have to get out, even if you don’t have any other place to live.”

  “That’s true. Would you like another cup of tea? Or a Coke maybe?”

  “Okay. But I still think you were silly to be late.”

  “I can live with that.”

  Alberto came back with a cup of espresso and a Coke. Meanwhile Sophie had begun to like the cafe ambience. She was also beginning to think that the conversations at the other tables might not be as trivial as she had supposed them to be.

  Alberto banged the Coke bottle down on the table with a thud. Several people at the other tables looked up.

  “And that brings us to the end of the road,” he said.

  “You mean the history of philosophy stops with Sartre and existentialism?”

  “No, that would be an exaggeration. Existentialist philosophy has had radical significance for many people all over the world. As we saw, its roots reach far back in history through Kierkegaard and way back to Socrates. The twentieth century has also witnessed a blossoming and a renewal of the other philosophical currents we have discussed.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, one such current is Neo-Thomism, that is to say ideas which belong to the tradition of Thomas Aquinas. Another is the so-called analytical philosophy or logical empiricism, with roots reaching back to Hume and British empiricism, and even to the logic of Aristotle. Apart from these, the twentieth century has naturally also been influenced by what we might call Neo-Marxism in a myriad of various trends. We have already talked about Neo-Darwinism and the significance of psychoanalysis.”

  “Yes.”

  “We should just mention a final current, materialism, which also has historical roots. A lot of current science can be traced back to the efforts of the pre-Socratics. For example, the search for the indivisible ‘elemental particle’ of which all matter is composed. No one has yet been able to give a satisfactory explanation of what ‘matter’ is. Modern sciences such as nuclear physics and biochemistry are so fascinated by the problem that for many people it constitutes a vital part of their life’s philosophy.”

  “The new and the old all jumbled together . . .”

  “Yes. Because the very questions we started our course with are still unanswered. Sartre made an important observation when he said that existential questions cannot be answered once and for all. A philosophical question is by definition something that each generation, each individual even, must ask over and over again.”

  “A bleak thought.”

  “I’m not sure I agree. Surely it is by asking such questions that we know we are alive. And moreover, it has always been the case that while people were seeking answers to the ultimate questions, they have discovered clear and final solutions to many other problems. Science, research, and technology are all by-products of our philosophical reflection. Was it not our wonder about life that finally brought men to the moon?”

  “Yes, that’s true.”

  “When Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, he said ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’ With these words he summed up how it felt to be the first man to set foot on the moon, drawing with him all the people who had lived before him. It was not his merit alone, obviously.

  “In our own time we also have completely new problems to face. The most serious are those of the environment. A central philosophical direction in the twentieth century is therefore ecophilosophy or ecosophy, as one of its founders the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess has called if. Many ecophilosophers in the western world have warned that western civilization as a whole is on a fundamentally wrong track, racing toward a head-on collision with the limits of what our planet can tolerate. They have tried to take soundings that go deeper than the concrete effects of pollution and environmental destruction. There is something basically wrong with western thought, they claim.”

  “I think they are right.”

  “For example, ecophilosophy has questioned the very idea of evolution in its assumption that man is ‘at the top’—as if we are masters of nature. This way of thinking could prove to be fatal for the whole living planet.”

  “It makes me mad when I think about it.”

  “In criticizing this assumption, many ecophilosophers have looked to the thinking and ideas in other cultures such as those of India. They have also studied the thoughts and customs of so-called primitive peoples—or ‘native-peoples’ such as the Native Americans—in order to rediscover what we have lost.

  “In scientific circles in recent years it has been said that our whole mode of scientific thought is facing a ‘paradigm shift.’ That is to say, a fundamental shift in the way scientists think. This has already borne fruit in several fields. We have witnessed numerous examples of so-called ‘alternative movements’ advocating holism and a new lifestyle.”

  “Great.”

  “However, when there are many people involved, one must always distinguish between good and bad. Some proclaim that we are entering a new age. But everything new is not necessarily good, and not all the old should be thrown out. That is one of the reasons why I have given you this course in philosophy. Now you have the historical background, you can orient yourself in life.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I think you will find that much of what marches under the New Age banner is humbug. Even the so-called New Religion, New Occultism, and modern superstitions of all kinds have influenced the western world in recent decades. It has become an industry. Alternative offers on the philosophical market have mushroomed in the wake of the dwindling support for Christianity.”

  “What sort of offers?”

  “The list is so long I wouldn’t dare to begin. And anyway it’s not easy to describe one’s own age. But why don’t we take a stroll through town? There’s something I’d like you to see.”

  “I haven’t got much time. I hope you haven’t forgotten the garden party tomorrow?”

  “Of course not. That’s when something wonderful is going to happen. We just have to round off Hilde’s philosophy course first. The major hasn’t thought beyond that, you see. So he loses some of his mastery over us.”

  Once again he lifted the Coke bottle, which was now empty, and banged it down on the table.

  They walked out into the street where people were hurrying by like energetic moles in a molehill. Sophie wondered what Alberto wanted to show her.

  They walked past a big store that sold everything in communication technology, from televisions, VCRs, and satellite dishes to mobile phones, computers, and fax machines.

  Alberto pointed to the window display and said:

  “There you have the twentieth century, Sophie. In the Renaissance the world began to explode, so to speak. Beginning with the great voyages of discovery, Europeans started to travel all over the world. Today it’s the opposite. We could call it an explosion in reverse.”

  “In what sense?”

  “In the sense that the world is becoming drawn together into one great communications network. Not so long ago philosophers had to travel for days by horse and carriage in order to investigate the world around them and meet other philosophers. Today we can sit anywhere at all on this planet and access the whole of human experience on a computer screen.”

  “It’s a fantastic thought. And a little scary.”

  “The question is whether history is coming to an end— or whether on the contrary we are on the threshold of a completely new age. We are no longer simply citizens of a city—or of a particular country. We live in a planetary civilization.”

  “That’s true.”

  “Technological developments, especially in the field of communications, have possibly been more dramatic in the last thirty to forty years than in the whole of
history put together. And still we have probably only witnessed the beginning . . .”

  “Was this what you wanted me to see?”

  “No, it’s on the other side of the church over there.”

  As they were turning to leave, a picture of some UN soldiers flashed onto a TV screen.

  “Look!” said Sophie.

  The camera zoomed in on one of the UN soldiers. He had a black beard almost identical to Alberto’s. Suddenly he held up a piece of card on which was written: “Back soon, Hilde!” He waved and was gone.

  “Charlatan!” exclaimed Alberto.

  “Was that the major?”

  “I’m not even going to answer that.”

  They walked across the park in front of the church and came out onto another main street. Alberto seemed slightly irritable. They stopped in front of LIBRIS, the biggest bookstore in town.

  “Let’s go in,” said Alberto.

  Inside the -store he pointed to the longest wall. It had three sections: NEW AGE, ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLES, and MYSTICISM.

  The books had intriguing titles such as Life after Death?, The Secrets of Spiritism, Tarot, The UFO Phenomenon, Healing, The Return of the Gods, You Have Been Here Before, and What Is Astrology? There were hundreds of books. Under the shelves even more books were stacked up.

  “This is also the twentieth century, Sophie. This is the temple of our age.”

  “You don’t believe in any of this stuff?”

  “Much of it is humbug. But it sells as well as pornography. A lot of it is a kind of pornography. Young people can come here and purchase the ideas that fascinate them most. But the difference between real philosophy and these books is more or less the same as the difference between real love and pornography.”

  “Aren’t you being rather crass?”

  “Let’s go and sit in the park.”

  They marched out of the store and found a vacant bench in front of the church. Pigeons were strutting around under the trees, the odd overeager sparrow hopping about amongst them.

  “It’s called ESP or parapsychology,” said Alberto. “Or it’s called telepathy, clairvoyance, and psychokinetics. It’s called spiritism, astrology, and urology.”

  “But quite honestly, do you really think it’s all hum-bug?”

  “Obviously it would not be very appropriate for a real philosopher to say they are all equally bad. But I don’t mind saying that all these subjects together possibly chart a fairly detailed map of a landscape that does not exist. And there are many ‘figments of the imagination’ here that Hume would have committed to the flames. Many of those books do not contain so much as one iota of genuine experience.”

  “Why are there such incredible numbers of books on such subjects?”

  “Publishing such books is a big commercial enterprise. It’s what most people want.”

  “Why, do you think?”

  “They obviously desire something mystical, something different to break the dreary monotony of everyday life. But it is like carrying coals to Newcastle.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Here we are, wandering around in a wonderful adventure. A work of creation is emerging in front of our very eyes. In broad daylight, Sophie! Isn’t it marvelous!”

  “I guess so.”

  “Why should we enter the fortune-teller’s tent or the backyards of academe in search of something exciting or transcendental?”

  “Are you saying that the people who write these books are just phonies and liars?”

  “No, that’s not what I’m saying. But here, too, we are talking about a Darwinian system.”

  “You’ll have to explain that.”

  “Think of all the different things that can happen in a single day. You can even take a day in your own life. Think of all the things you see and experience.”

  “Yes?”

  “Now and then you experience a strange coincidence. You might go into a store and buy something for 28 crowns. Later on that day Joanna comes along and gives you the 28 crowns she owes you. You both decide to go to the movies—and you get seat number 28.”

  “Yes, that would be a mysterious coincidence.”

  “It would be a coincidence, anyway. The point is, people collect coincidences like these. They collect strange— or inexplicable—experiences When such experiences— taken from the lives of billions of people—are assembled into books, it begins to look like genuine data. And the amount of it increases all the time. But once again we are looking at a lottery in which only the winning numbers are visible.”

  “But there are clairvoyants and mediums, aren’t there, who are constantly experiencing things like that?”

  “Indeed there are, and if we exclude the phonies, we find another explanation for these so-called mysterious experiences.”

  “And that is?”

  “You remember we talked about Freud’s theory of the unconscious . . .”

  “Of course.”

  “Freud showed that we can often serve as ‘mediums’ for our own unconscious. We might suddenly find ourselves thinking or doing something without really knowing why. The reason is that we have a whole lot of experiences, thoughts, and memories inside us that we are not aware of.”

  “So?”

  “People sometimes talk or walk in their sleep. We could call this a sort of ‘mental automatism.’ Also under hypnosis, people can say and do things ‘not of their own volition.’ And remember the surrealists trying to produce so-called automatic writing. They were just trying to serve as mediums for their own unconscious.”

  “I remember.”

  “From time to time during this century there have been what are called ‘spiritualist revivals,’ the idea being that a medium could get into contact with a deceased person. Either by speaking in the voice of the deceased, or by using automatic writing, the medium would receive a message from someone who had lived five or fifty or many hundreds of years ago. This has been taken as evidence either that there is life after death or that we live many lives.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “I’m not saying that all mediums have been fakes. Some have clearly been in good faith. They really have been mediums, but they have only been mediums for their own unconscious. There have been several cases of mediums being closely studied while in a trance, and revealing knowledge and abilities that neither they nor others understand how they can have acquired. In one case, a woman who had no knowledge of Hebrew passed on messages in that language. So she must have either lived before or been in contact with a deceased spirit.”

  “Which do you think?”

  “It turned out that she had had a Jewish nanny when she was little.”

  “Ah.”

  “Does that disappoint you? It just shows what an incredible capacity some people have to store experience in their unconscious.”

  “I see what you mean.”

  “A lot of curious everyday happenings can be explained by Freud’s theory of the unconscious. I might suddenly get a call from a friend I haven’t heard from for many years just as I had begun to look for his telephone number “

  “It gives me goose bumps.”

  “But the explanation could be that we both heard the same old song on the radio, a song we heard the last time we were together. The point is, we are not aware of the underlying connection.”

  “So it’s either humbug, or the winning number effect, or else it’s the unconscious. Right?”

  “Well, in any case, it’s healthier to approach such books with a decent portion of skepticism. Not least if one is a philosopher. There is an association in England for skeptics. Many years ago they offered a large reward to the first person who could provide even the slightest proof of something supernatural. It didn’t need to be a great miracle, a tiny example of telepathy would do. So far, nobody has come forward “

  “Hmm.”

  “On the other hand, there is a lot we humans don’t understand. Maybe we don’t understand the laws of nature either. During the
last century there were a lot of people who thought that phenomena such as magnetism and electricity were a kind of magic. I’ll bet my own great-grandmother would have been wide-eyed with amazement if I told her about TV or computers.”

  “So you don’t believe in anything supernatural then.”

  “We’ve already talked about that. Even the term ‘supernatural’ is a curious one. No, I suppose I believe that there is only one nature. But that, on the other hand, is absolutely astonishing.”

  “But the sort of mysterious things in those books you just showed me?”

  “All true philosophers should keep their eyes open. Even if we have never seen a white crow, we should never stop looking for it. And one day, even a skeptic like me could be obliged to accept a phenomenon I did not believe in before. If I did not keep this possibility open I would be dogmatic, and not a true philosopher.”

  Alberto and Sophie remained seated on the bench without saying anything. The pigeons craned their necks and cooed, now and then being startled by a bicycle or a sudden movement.

  “I have to go home and prepare for the party,” said Sophie at last.

  “But before we part, I’ll show you a white crow. It is nearer than we think, you see.”

  Alberto got up and led the way back into the bookstore. This time they walked past all the books on supernatural phenomena and stopped by a flimsy shelf at the very back of the store. Above the shelf hung a very small card. PHILOSOPHY, it read.

  Alberto pointed down at a particular book, and Sophie gasped as she read the title: Sophie’s World.

  “Would you like me to buy it for you?”

  “I don’t know if I dare.”

  Shortly afterward, however, she was on her way home with the book in one hand and a little bag of things for the garden party in the other.

  The Garden Party

  ... a white crow…

  Hilde sat on the bed, transfixed. She felt her arms and her hands tremble, as they gripped the heavy ring binder.