Reflection Of Sophie's World

One of the most basic philosophical questions, as well as at the same time being the most complicated, in the novel Sophie’s World is the question, who are we? This question alone is what embarks Sophie, the main character in the novel, on a never ending journey of questions and through the world of philosophy. As it is shown in Sophie’s World, the concepts of philosophy have been in constant change all throughout history, philosophers contradicting one another in a constant battle to achieve greatness, and proceeding in a constant never ending cycle of philosopher contradicting philosopher. Because of this non-stop constant change in philosophy, Democritus, one of the earliest philosophers, would have a

In life, ones fate is already set. The choices one makes influence everything else in their life. Often, fate throws unexpected situations at you and one must learn how to interpret the reasoning behind it. Many believers in fate think for every bad situation that occurs a positive one will follow. Fate is something that you can’t control. All actions whether they may be in the past, present, or future occur because they are meant to. Everything happens for a reason, and everyone handles situations differently.

Under these assumptions Candide says, “There can be no effect without a cause […] The whole is necessarily concatenated and arranged for the best” (6). This philosophy that everything is fated to be good omits the validity of free will that Candide later claims to have since he is man and therefore above the animal world, because no matter what man does in part to shape the entirety of his future, Candide was taught that the outcome is predestined to yield an optimistic and hopeful reality. The belief that everything happens for a reason and where the reason is good is incompatible with the act of free will. Therefore, any efforts of free will are futile because they cannot change the predetermined outcome, making its concept essentially nonexistent. This logical cycle strengthens and endorses readers’ ideas that free will is incongruous with faith.

There are many explanations about why the world and everything function the way they do. People come up with different answers because of their different beliefs. However, for a period of time, fatalism was widely accepted, and it began to enter the realm of literature. In the novel Grendel, John Gardner employs the motifs accident, mechanism, and time to demonstrate that fate controls all creatures' destiny.

In Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country For Old Men,” fate plays a significant role in the novel and is present in the lives of each of the characters he portrays. Fate, as defined in the dictionary, is “the will or principle or determining cause by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do.” The theme of fate is demonstrated in all of the characters in the novel, but most evidently in Llewellyn Moss, Ed Tom Bell, Carla Jean, Carson Wells, and Anton Chigurh. Fate is the main difference that lies between all of these characters. In his interactions with other characters, Anton Chigurh continually suggests that each and every choice we make determines our fate.

An individual’s legacy, in many ways, is predetermined by the primordial “Fate.” A sort of judge and guide that some people have subscribed to for centuries. This guide develops a certain permutation for an individual’s life which is only influenced by one’s ability to compose judgements and decisions about obstacles which appear everyday. This decision making process is cyclical in that it always leads to another question to answer or problem to solve. One decision may edge the next until it yields to fate, the ultimate philosophical judge. Fate is a permanent path and one is stuck on its course. The same could be said for the Wes Moores’ of the work The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. Throughout the work, the Wes Moores’ made complicated

Free will is an important feature of modern person’s life. It is “a philosophical term of art for a particular sort of capacity of rational agents to choose a course of action from among various alternatives” (“Free Will”). In other words, free will allows person to make a choice regardless of specific surrounding circumstances. Different systems of philosophy have controversial attitude to this term. Depending on affiliation with certain school, experts admit or reject the thought of existence of a free will. But, regardless of philosophical judgments, people often admit an importance of the possibility to make independent decisions and administer own life. Free will gives person an opportunity to decide in favor of long-term, more global purposes; and this choice can expose immediate perspectives to a risk. This particular situation was described by Sarah Orne Jewett in her short story A White Heron. A possibility of free will sometimes became a vital feature; Kate Chopin showed a literal reflection of this statement in her story The Story of an Hour. The author demonstrated what catastrophic consequences can cause an unexpected loss of desired free will.

People believe that genuine freedom of choice is not always possible because our decisions and actions are determined by factors beyond our control. This view is known as Determinism. There is also an extreme form of determinism known as ‘hard determinism,’ in which they believe that every demeanor can be traced to a cause, although they may disagree about what those causes are. The idea of determinism poses a difficult issue to the concept of ‘free will’. Are we able to make free choices if all our thoughts and actions are predetermined by our own past and the physical laws of nature? Majority of us would like to believe that we have the freedom of will and are able to make decisions based on our own discretion but, I personally believe that the deterministic view holds true to a certain extent and that most of our actions are a result of a force that is beyond our comprehension. My purpose in this essay is to explain and critically analyze Baron d’Holbach’s view on determinism.

Fate is something we have no control over. It can be what determines the death of a child or marriage of a couple. Fate is very controversial. If everything that happens is planned ahead it contradicts many things, one being religion. If it was fate that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit then the original sin would not be the fault of man, but of God for he would be the one who made Adam and Eve do it. It is something no one can

After reading the passage throughly, I feel that for the ancient Greeks fate was an important aspect to their daily lives it shaped and formed human life. Fate has evolved during the years mainly because for the Greeks it was seen something as an unstoppable force while now in days it has became our destiny. I’ve came to realization that fate was the will of gods. In other words, it was the reality revealed by the oracle at Delphi. Oracles to the ancient Greeks had a significance

The book Sophie’s World is about philosophy in a small girls world. The book tells many things about philosophy in the world and in history. She meets someone who starts sending her letters and gives her philosophy lessons. It’s an interesting book and makes you think about many ideas. Philosophy is a mysterious subject to the world.

In this essay I will explain why I think the strongest position of the free will debate is that of the hard determinists and clarify the objection that moral responsibility goes out the door if we don’t have free will by addressing the two big misconceptions that are associated with determinists: first that determinism is an ethical system, and secondly that contrary to common belief determinists do believe in the concept of cause and effect. I will also begin by explaining my position and why I believe that the position of the indeterminist does not hold water as an argument and the third

In Douglas Crimp’s article the Photographic Activity of Postmodernism there are several terms that have been brought up over and over again. Presence is one of them, “presence that is only through the absence that we know to be the condition of representation.” It reminds me of one of my favorite photographers --- Francesca Woodman. She once said that “I allow you to see what you couldn’t see --- the inner force of one’s body.” She recreates a space that is simulating the relationship between the infant (the subject) and the mother’s body. The child was safe and content before the alienation, but a sense of lost and insecurity occurs after leaving the mother’s inner.

In a way, they are all connected through Sophie's life experiences. There are forces behind all of the philosophy lessons, as well as in Sophie's life. These forces are able to influence and adjust how you view the world around you.

“Who are you? Where does the world come from?” (Gaarder 7). For Sophie Amundsen, these two questions would lead her onto a philosophy course with her teacher Alberto Knox. Throughout the course, Sophie receives mysterious cards to Hilde Møller Knag from her father who is a UN major. Sophie’s lessons in philosophy and her quest to find Hilde made Jostein Gaarder’s novel Sophie’s World. This book teaches its readers about the history of philosophy, which is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. After reading this book, my perspective has changed and I now realize the beauty in every individual thing, and have become more curious about the world surrounding me. The philosophers from the text whom I agree and appreciate the most are Locke, Kant, and Hegel.