Summary of Sophie's World (Hegel, Kierkegaard and Marx)

[Nicole]

                    Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

                 Chapter 27 Hegel (1770-1831 in Germany)

       Sophie asks Hilde to rebel against her father, and Hilde decides she will teach him a lesson(p.356 L5-16), and then she reads on. Hegel, Sophie learns, was a legitimate child of Romanticism. He united and developed almost all the ideas that had surfaced in the Romantic period. But he was sharply critical of many of the Romantics, including Schelling. Beginning in 1799, he worked with Schelling in Jena during the time when the Romantic Movement was experiencing its most explosive growth. After a period as assistant professor in Jena he became a professor in Heidelberg, the center of German National Romanticism. He died of cholera in 1831, but not before 'Hegelianism' had gained an enormous following at nearly all the universities in Germany. Hegel believed the world spirit is just the sum of human interactions(human life, human thought, human culture). He thought truth is subjective and all knowledge is human knowledge, thus rejecting the existence of any 'truth' above human reason(In contrast, Kant admitted the existence of unattainable 'truth'). Hegel's philosophy is mainly a method for understanding the progress of history. He pointed out that human reason changed each generation, there were therefore no 'eternal truths' the only fixed point philosophy can hold on to is history itself. Thoughts must be judged in their historical context, and right and wrong change accordingly. But human knowledge is always increasing through history, so the history of human thought-or of reason is 'progressive'(According to Hegel, the study of history shows that humanity is moving toward greater rationality and freedom in spite of all its capers). He also believed that thinking evolves dialectically—one thought(thesis) leads to its opposite (antithesis) and then we combine the two thoughts to form a new idea(synthesis) that contains the best elements of both. Hegel also emphasized the importance of 'objective powers' such as the family, community, and the state over the individual, and believed that reason, or 'world spirit' manifest itself in the interplay of people, that is to say, in language. Thus it is the language which forms the individual, rather than vice versa. Hegel said that the world spirit realizes itself in three increasing stages—in the individual it is the subjective spirit, in the community and the state it is the objective spirit, and in art, religion, and philosophy it is the absolute spirit. The world spirit reaches the highest form of self-realization in the absolute spirit. And of these, philosophy is the greatest form of knowledge because in philosophy, the world spirit reflects on its own impact on history.

       The philosophy lessons and the plot line of the novel have become so intertwined that at this point it is difficult to separate them. We feel that Albert Knag is showing off his power by making Alberto say certain things and also causing section breaks to appear, but we are also made aware that Gaarder is behind everything. The fact that the author sometimes loses control of the work is interesting on two levels. On the one hand, it suggests that somehow Sophie and Alberto may really be able to do something that Albert Knag is not completely aware of. But that fact really suggests that authors sometimes feel as if books write themselves. When we write, we are all aware that often the words that come out seem very different from the thoughts we were trying to express. Sometimes authors state that their characters take on a life of their own. The author's mind has complete control over the characters, but perhaps the author does not always have complete control over his mind. Gaarder forces us to question everything and we cannot assume that anything is certain.

                Chapter 28  Kierkegaard (1813-55 in Denmark)

       Hilde is beginning to feel more and more allied with Sophie and Alberto, and has made up her mind to play a trick on her father when he lands in Copenhagen(p.368). Hilde is careful not to make her mother suspicious and then explains that she must get back to reading. Alberto is ready to tell Sophie about the next philosopher when Alice in Wonderland knocks on the door and gives Sophie two bottles to drink. She drinks from them, and the red liquid makes her feel as if everything were one big 'ego', erasing all contrasts and all individual differences. Alberto explains that it is Pantheism or Idealism, or the Romantics' world spirit. The blue bottle makes each object seem like a whole universe in itself. It is therefore individualism, for example Kierkegaard's reaction to the idealism of the Romantics: he had a sharp eye for the significance of the individual- every single one of us is a unique individual who only lives once. According to Alberto, both views are right, it's impossible to say that the Romantics are wrong in holding that there is only one reality, but they were a little bit narrow in their outlook.

       Kierkegaard reacted against Hegel and felt that Hegel's historicism and the idealism of the Romantics had obscured the individual's responsibility for his own life. Hegel was more interested in the broad scope of history, and this was what made Kierkegaard so indignant. He also was angered by people's ambivalence about religion. Kierkegaard felt Christianity is both so overwhelming and so irrational that it had to either be believed in or not, and that it is not enough to believe that Christianity is 'true'; having a Christian faith meant following a Christian way of life. He founded existentialism, the philosophy that is concerned with the existence of each individual. Both Kierkegaard and Buddha had a strong sense of only existing for a brief moment, so he felt only subjective truths are useful for him about an important question such as whether Christianity is true. Fundamental questions like this can only be approached through faith, and things known through reason, or knowledge are, according to him, totally unimportant. These three concepts-what Kierkegaard meant by 'existential', 'subjective truth' and 'faith' were formulated as a criticism of philosophical tradition in general, and of Hegel in particular. Kierkegaard was a nonconformist and argued against the conformity in society. He believed there were three different forms of life: an aesthetic stage, an ethical stage, and a religious stage, and we must decide to move between them. He who lives at the aesthetic stage lives for the moment and grasps every opportunity of enjoyment. Ethical stage is characterized by seriousness and consistency of moral choices, and this approach is like Kant's ethics of duty. Some leap to the religious stage; they choose faith(to him, Christianity) in preference to aesthetic pleasure and reason's call of duty, and he thinks it is the only path to redemption. But Kierkegaard also became significant to non-Christian thinkers. Existentialism, inspired by him, flourished widely in the twentieth century.

                   29. Chapter  Marx (1818-83 in Germany)

       Hilde calls some friends of their family-Anne and Ole in Copenhagen to ask for  help in her plan(p.381). On Thursday June 21, Alberto calls and tells Sophie he has almost figured out a way to get them out. She asks about it but he points out that it must happen when they are not talking because Albert Knag is aware of every printed word.

       Marx, Alberto tells Sophie, was a historical materialist. Marx and Kierkegaard took Hegel's philosophy as their point of departure. Both were influenced by Hegel's mode of thought, but both rejected his 'world spirit,' or his idealism. It is usually said that the era of the great philosophical systems ended with Hegel. After that, philosophy took a new direction. Marx said that until now, 'philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways, but the point is to change the world.' He wanted philosophy to have a practical-or political objective. He was not only a philosopher, he was a historian, a sociologist and an economist. He thought that, to a great extent, it was the material factors in society which determined the way we think, and material factors of that nature have certainly been decisive for historical development. He defined society in terms of 'the basis of society'(material, economical and social relations) and 'society's superstructure'(the way of thoughts and ideas in society). 'The bases of society' support the superstructure, but there is an interaction between the two, and so Marx is considered a  dialectical materialist. He pointed out that there are three levels in 'the bases of society. The most basic level is 'conditions of production'(natural resources), which determines the type of production, the nature of the society and its culture in general. The next level is the society's 'means of production'(equipment, tools, and machinery). The next level is 'production relations'(ownership of 'the means of production,' or the distribution of work). It can be concluded that it is the 'mode of production' in a society that determines which political and ideological conditions are to be found there. Marx didn't believe in a natural right that was eternally valid; those who have control of the means of production determine societal norms, and this is usually the ruling class. Marx emphasized 'the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles', and in his day it was between capitalists(bourgeois) and workers(proletariat). Change, he felt, was only possible through a Communist revolution, and it was necessary because the workers were not laboring for themselves—they were exploited by the capitalists. He published a Communist Manifesto in 1848, and the first sentence in this says; 'A spectre is haunting Europe-the spectre of Communism.' After Marx, the socialist movement split into two main streams, Social Democracy(slow revolution) and Leninism. Social Democracy, which has stood for a gradual and peaceful path in the direction of socialism, was Western Europe's way. Leninism, which retained Marx's belief that revolution was the only way to combat the old class society, had great influence in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa.