Reddit Reddit reviews Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (FSG Classics)

We found 37 Reddit comments about Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (FSG Classics). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Literature & Fiction
Books
Literary Fiction
Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (FSG Classics)
Farrar Straus Giroux
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37 Reddit comments about Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (FSG Classics):

u/dvsdrp · 46 pointsr/Parenting

Why on earth would you send him to a therapist? Seems like a perfectly reasonable question to me, and I'm sure many kids would think about it at one point or another. Philosophers have been thinking about the nature of reality for thousands of years. Have you seen The Matrix? :)

A thought provoking question like that ought to start an interesting conversation and should be encouraged.

Can I recommend Sophie's World, which is a great book all about philosphy? It'll be too old for your son, but perhaps you'd like to read it yourself and in a few years, if he's still interested, pass it on to him.

u/My_Wife_Athena · 14 pointsr/books
  1. Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder
  2. 8/10
  3. History, Philosophy
  4. Sophie's World is a fictional narrative about the history of philosophy. It's intended for people who have no experience with the subject, so it serves as a rather nice introduction to the history of philosophy (and consequently philosophy itself). It even has a movie and PC game!
  5. Amazon
u/Humphrind · 11 pointsr/zelda

I'm upvoting you because I don't think you deserve to be downvoted into oblivion. But, c'mon. Compassion. Link is a cool name stand-alone and it's a good reference. Especially to all us Zelda fans in this subreddit. So now you get a story about names.

When my wife was pregnant, and we were thinking about names, I wanted to have a story behind the name. I wanted some meaning and eventually, I would like my child to ask me why I named them what I named them and I would like that to start an adventure of learning. I chose philosophy because I feel it is important. So I went after all my favorite philosophers and chose 2 names that I liked, Soren and Hobbes. Sure I like other guys, but I didn't like any names I could have chose from St Thomas Aquinas. (Tom never hit me as a good name)

My wife balked. She said we would never name our child after a comic strip. Though I am a big fan of Calvin and Hobbes, that's not the origin of the name and I really do like Hobbes as a name.

It ended up being a moot point because we had a girl. We named her Sophia after another philosophical reference. It's a very informative book that I read for a college philosophy course. I guess I figured that if I couldn't name her after a philosopher, I would name her after ALL THE PHILOSOPHERS.

Point of the story is this. Link's a cool name. We threw a lot of names out there all the while when she was pregnant. Another boy's name I considered was Nathan Jr as a reference to Raising Arizona (my name isn't Nathan)

u/scdozer435 · 10 pointsr/askphilosophy

The book I always recommend people start out with is Sophie's World, not because it's the most in-depth, but because it's the most accessible for a newcomer. It's also the most entertaining I've read. If you want something more in-depth, Russell's History of Western Philosophy is generally this subreddit's big recommendation, although I personally wouldn't say it's a great starting point. His reading of some thinkers is not great, and he's not quite as good at dumbing down certain ideas to an introductory level.

A good summary of philosophy will help you for a couple reasons. One, it will give you enough information to find out what thinkers and ideas interest you. If you're interested in a particular question or thinker, then that's obviously where you should go. Philosophy of religion? Logic? Aesthetics and art? Language? There's plenty written on all these topics, but it can be a bit overwhelming to try and just attack all of philosophy at once. Like any other field, there will be parts of it that click with you, and parts that don't really seem all that appealing. Find your niche, and pursue it. In addition to giving you an idea of where to go, a good overview will put ideas in context. Understanding Augustine and Aquinas will make more sense if you know that they're working with a foundation of the Greek thought of Plato and Aristotle. Descartes wrote his meditations during the enlightenment, and was a major contributor to much of the emphasis on reason that defined that era. Nietzsche and Kierkegaard's existentialist ideas become more powerful when you realize they're critiquing and challenging the technicality of Kant and Hegel. Ideas don't exist in a vacuum, and while you can't be expected to know all the details of everything, your niche area of interest will make more sense if you understand it's context.

As for easier texts that I'd recommend trying out (once you find an area of interest), here's a few that are pretty important and also fairly accessible. These are texts that are generally read by all philosophy students, due to their importance, but if you're just into this for personal interest, you can pick and choose a bit. Still, these are important works, so they'll be very good to read anyways.

Plato - Apology: not terribly dense, but an accessible text in which Socrates basically defends his pursuing philosophical thought. I'd recommend this as an accessible introduction that will get you to feel like philosophy matters; think of it as pump-up music before a big game.

Plato - The Republic: this is arguably Plato's most important work. In it, he talks about the nature of men, politics, education and art.

Aristotle - Nichomachean Ethics: a text that deals with leading a life in accordance with virtue. Aristotle's style is a bit dry and technical, but he's also very important.

Augustine - On Free Choice of the Will: a dialogue similar to Plato's in which Augustine argues that the existence of God does not conflict with man having free will.

Aquinas - Selected Excerpts: he wrote a lot, so you don't wanna try reading a whole one of his works. This selects his key ideas and puts them in bite-sized chunks. He's a big Christian thinker, arguing for the existence and goodness of God and related theological concepts.

Descartes - Meditations on First Philosophy: Descartes uses reason to prove he exists, along with some other things. Pretty easy to read, although it sparked a revolution in thought, making epistemology a central problem of philosophy.

Kant - Grounding for Metaphysics of Morals: one of his easier works, but it's still one of the more technical works I'm recommending, in which Kant demonstrates that morals are a priori.

Kierkegaard - Fear and Trembling: one of my favorite books, Kierkegaard writes about the nature of faith using the story of Abraham and Isaac as his starting point. A huge critic of Kant's obsession with pure reason, he is generally considered to be the first existential thinker.

Nietzsche - Beyond Good & Evil: Nietzsche is one of the more controversial thinkers in history. Also a critic of Kant, he is one of the most profound critics of religion. This book is one of his more important, in which he talks about his problems of religion, the culture around him, and at times points us in the direction he wants us to go. Know that he doesn't write in a terribly direct manner, so if you choose to read him, come here for assistance. He's a bit different to read, and can be challenging if you're not ready.

This list is by no means exhaustive, and having a good reference to help you along will be very helpful.

u/Snietzschean · 10 pointsr/booksuggestions

For future reference, /r/askphilosophy exists for these kinds of questions.

Now, if you're looking for something more narrative that will allow you to get your feet wet, you have a few different options.

Sophie's World is really quite enjoyable, though I suppose its intended audience is probably younger than yourself.

If you're looking for something more mature, you might try philosophical fiction like Camus' The Stranger or Sartre's Nausea. Both are a great way to get into something philosophical without having to worry too much about terminology or technical language.

If you're looking for something more analytic (logic, phil math, phil science, etc.), you might try something like Russell's The Problems of Philosophy. It's a pretty good read and it's short.

If you're looking for a general introduction to philosophy, something more mature than Sophie's World but focused on the history of philosophy as opposed to a particular area, you might want to look at something like Russell's The History of Western Philosophy. If you do get more involved in philosophy, you'll discover that the book has its flaws, and Russell was wrong about several of the philosophers that he discusses, but it's a good introduction to the history of philosophy that is easily accessible if you have the time to sit down and read it.

In terms of which one's are more fun to read, I'd say the philosophical fiction and Sophie's World are at the top, as the other two books are a bit more dry, but if you're looking for something substantive and not too technical, then all of these might serve your purposes.

I hope that helped in some way, and in future, if you have any philosophy related questions, don't hesitate to ask over in /r/askphilosophy.

u/Kaelosian · 7 pointsr/booksuggestions

One of the best books I've found for introducing people to philosphy is Sophie's World. There is a lot of justifiable criticism of this book, mostly because it tries to be a novel and does just an ok job and it tries to be a philosophy text and also does an ok job at that too. However, it's easily digestible and does a pretty good job of giving you a really brief introduction to a lot of classical philosophy.

u/cuchoi · 7 pointsr/books

Sophie's World is a novel about philosophy, great place to start

>A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print.

http://www.amazon.com/Sophies-World-History-Philosophy-Classics/dp/0374530718/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324856789&sr=8-1

u/bill_tampa · 6 pointsr/booksuggestions

I really enjoyed Sophie's World!

u/Pantagruelist · 5 pointsr/askphilosophy

Agree with Plato’s Republic as a good book to start with real philosophers. For an even more beginner kind of approach though, you can try Sophie’s World.

u/gettingintostuff · 5 pointsr/askphilosophy

Hey man I read this amazing book called Sophie’s world.

Completely written for kids in a story format. Goes from atomists to Marx and beyond. I seriously recommend it.

Seriously if you just get them to start it, and you’re done. lol.

https://www.amazon.com/Sophies-World-History-Philosophy-Classics/dp/0374530718

u/tsfn46290 · 5 pointsr/daddit

I would take Enders Game off of that list. I'd add Sophie's World

u/Slims · 5 pointsr/askphilosophy

I'm going to recommend something perhaps lighter and easier than the other posters so far (who have recommended great stuff): Sophie's World. It's a fiction novel that will also give you a crash course in the history of Western philosophy. I always recommend it to people who are just getting into philosophy but don't want to read the dense stuff. It's a wonderful book and it's fast and easy to read.

u/upquark22 · 4 pointsr/books

Have you heard of "Sophie's World"? It gives a decent overview of the history of philosophy (edit: Western philosophy/thought, I should clarify), is good for young adults and also tells a story. I read it a decade ago and still remember parts of it extremely clearly.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374530718/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1574530011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=037H7MED8TZ67V0HYKRA

u/martini-meow · 4 pointsr/WayOfTheBern

so not music, and for obscure reasons, this book is associated with the people who turned me on to Moxy Fruvous :)

https://www.amazon.com/Sophies-World-History-Philosophy-Classics/dp/0374530718

it's a great read!

u/psylent · 3 pointsr/booksuggestions

Sophie's World may be a good start.

u/PabloPicasso · 2 pointsr/DecidingToBeBetter

For that age group, the hive mind usually recommends Gaarder's Sophie's World. I prefer Scruton's An Intelligent Person's Guide to Philosophy.

u/XandarsMeteor · 2 pointsr/TrueAtheism

I would suggest not trying to find books that advocate for the "other side" but instead delve into different books on philosophy. It's the old adage, "Learn/Teach how to think, not what to think."

EDIT: Sophie's World

u/bombos · 2 pointsr/AcademicPhilosophy

Sophie's World might not be bad place to start. It's easy to read, and it covers a lot of ground. There have been a few responses to your classic logic inquiry, but I'm not sure religion and existence have been addressed. I think the answer depends on what kind of criticisms you aim to draw against which aspect of religion(s). The existence once, I think you should go existenstialist: Camus, Sartre, then Heidegger.

u/Phileas_Fogg · 2 pointsr/Parenting

Sophie's World about the history of philosophy.


Older science fiction books: I am talking about Verne and the juvenile fiction from Heinlein (Although Heinlein is iffy later on).

The Robinsoniana have all that thing about self-reliance, but you have to know things. What about historic novels about the discovery of science?

u/selkiee · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

Sophie's World

Not only does it have TWO strong female characters, but it contains a huge fantasy element. Oh and not to mention a nearly complete history of philosophy disguised as a fantasy novel. One of my favorite books of ALL time.

ETA: A post-apocalyptic short story that is AMAZING and guess what? It's online so you don't even have to buy it. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison. Enjoy!

u/stoic9 · 2 pointsr/askphilosophy

I usually prefer to get people interested in reading philosophy obliquely, through pop. philosophy or fiction with philosophical themes. So much depends on what you are interested in...

Fiction:
A good overview like Sophie's World

Military Ethics / Social Responsibility Starship Troopers

Science and Faith Contact

Somewhat easy philosophy

Ethics: The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill

Mind: Consciousness Explained

War: Just and Unjust Wars

u/WillieConway · 2 pointsr/askphilosophy

Have you read Confucius and confucianism? That's really where this stuff gets treated philosophically.

If you want a philosophical idea of childhood and consent rooted in Western philosophy, then you've got to read diverse thinkers of the past three centuries. John Locke has a lot to say about children, so maybe start there.

Also, I might be presumptuous, in which case I apologize--but are you a teenager? If so, you might benefit from reading a good introduction to philosophy. You can find several if you use the search bar, but I always recommend the novel Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. It is a story designed to introduce philosophy to teenagers.

u/samiiRedditBot · 2 pointsr/philosophy

I also enjoyed The Passion Of The Western Mind by Richard Tarnas. Personally, I think that Tarnas did of better job than Russel at giving context to the philosophical frameworks that these guys were working within, but that's just my opinion (I've read both books). Russell comes across like a professor giving you his specific interpretation - hence the bias slant - where as Tanas seems able to give you a little more perspective - not that I'm attempting to claim that he is completely without bias, himself.

You might also what to look into Sophie's World.

u/TranscendentalObject · 2 pointsr/askphilosophy

Hopping into Deleuze as your first philosopher must have been absolutely brutal. I can't think of a harder introduction. Read Sophie's World for a nice introduction to a whole slew of thinkers responsible for philosophy's foundation.

u/tatamongus · 1 pointr/ELATeachers

How about reading Sophie's World? It's a decent novel with philosophy lessons built in. The book is aimed at younger readers, but IIRC the philosophy is explicitly taught in bite-sized chunks for young thinkers.

u/entrelac · 1 pointr/AskReddit

If you're at all interested in philosophy, I highly recommend Sophie's World. It's fiction but it really gives you a nice grounding in the subject.

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/selfimprovement

This is wonderful thank you!

Highly recommended from my own bookshelves, in no particular order

u/noys · 1 pointr/TrollXChromosomes

This might be too early this year but I think a 13-year-old would like Sophie's World.

u/pianocrow · 1 pointr/introvert

You're welcome. Having my own history of social anxiety and being hurt, I can see a little of myself in both of you which is why I want to help as well as I can.

Regarding the virtual hug thing, I'd say you're definitely overreacting. It might just be that he didn't want to just exactly copy you, as that might imply him not having his own personality. It might be that he does not really feel such virtual signs affection are that important, since they are nothing like the real thing but just pixels on a screen. What is a virtual hug, anyway? And don't you think him reciprocating a virtual kiss far outweighs him not reciprocating a virtual hug? How is a virtual kiss a way of holding back?

Don't focus on little things that might be missing (the virtual hug), but on the big things you do actually have. You two are in touch everyday. You are one of only very few people he confided his childhood trauma to (that he had for a very long time not even talked about to his mother) and he sought your emotional support when he had a bad day. Plus he actively reached out to you for that. Don't you think these are huge signs he feels really close to you, that you very likely already are the most important person to him? I see his opening up as a big step forward. Telling you how "fucked up" his life is already requires a lot of trust and your continued support and affection following his confessions will boost his trust in you even further. Do you also confide in him? That will show him that you trust him as well. I think it is important that he knows that he also is an important source of support to you.

About whether his feelings for you are of a growing and romantic nature: Of course you never "know", but as your relationship already has a physical intimacy component to it, I highly doubt he sees you as "just a friend". And I wouldn't share deep feelings with someone I don't feel very close to and also see being close to in the future, so I'd also rule out that he still sees you as a temporary dating partner. Maybe he is just as anxious to "seal the deal" with you but thinks he might seem too desperate coming forward too early. Maybe he first wants to make sure you know about his flaws before he's comfortable to do so, so that you know what you are "getting yourself into" and will not get the feeling of being tricked into something. I can imagine he would be just as destroyed if he was left by you, as you would be if you were left by him. So don't be afraid, but patient. Patient with him, patient with yourself. Take the time to reflect on your own feelings for him. What exactly are they enforced by? Is it genuine happiness you feel when being together, or is it only alleviation of pain? Do you want a relationship with him (and why him) or do you rather need it (a need that could just as well be fulfilled by someone else)? The better you understand your own feelings, the better you can deal with and act on them.

Of course you can't see the future, nobody can, and you might fear that one day he might not need you any more. Remember that he might fear the same about you (he probably does). And the only way out of this fear is to work on your relationship and, to that end, on yourselves. As I said, the most stable relationships are those that both partners don't absolutely need, but want anyway. That's what you (and anyone else, for that matter) should strive for. Right now you both desperately need each other and that is okay, but in the long term you need to think about the question: If we were both happy about ourselves and didn't need permanent validation and emotional support from each other, what would make us want to be together anyway? At the latest when you have helped each other to defeat your self-esteem issues your relationship cannot simply be based on helping each other in bad times, but will have to thrive on the good times: the fun you have together, the compliments for achievements, the interesting conversations. For that to happen, you need to know yourselves. Know what brings you fun, know your goals and work towards them, know your interests. And as I already said, as long as you do it for yourself and not for anyone else, working on yourself will pay off in any case. It will help you with relationships and it will help you when being rejected. You said that you already have great conversations with your partner, that you both have similar goals in life, and that you try to work on yourself in therapy. That's great! You're moving in the right direction.

Do you think philosophy might be something that could interest you? You seem to worry a lot about the feeling of being worthless, especially upon being rejected. For a long time, I thought it would be impossible to see my life as intrinsically valuable; I thought that I would always need validation by others to be able to enjoy life in the first place. Learning about philosophy has helped me with that. I'm not yet where I want to be, but I'm definitely less anxious. If you feel like you could be interested, you might give this playlist a try and/or read Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder, a book written for young adults as an introduction to Western Philosophy. Another book I can recommend is Anne Frank's diary. Learning about her dreams and interests, her love of life and nature, and on the other hand her fears and her loneliness, and the sheer fact that she didn't get the chance to live the life she dreamed of, this all made my own problems seem somehow... less severe.

In any case: Chin up! I'm optimistic things will work out for you!

u/tominmoraga · 1 pointr/exmormon

I think I understand how you feel. Looking past Mormonism, it's easy to question the existence of God. I think we need to examine everything in a critical manner. I believe that God gave me some direct answers to direct questions that happened to conflict with things being taught by the LDS church. I felt that I'd had an epiphany of sorts and understood that God just wants us to help and love others. I think you do need to study, but more of the classic philosophers and less of the scriptures. I think you would really enjoy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Sophies-World-History-Philosophy-Classics/dp/0374530718

u/CoyoteGriffin · 1 pointr/AskReddit

http://www.amazon.com/Sophies-World-History-Philosophy-Classics/dp/0374530718/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1314657462&sr=8-1

From Publishers Weekly
This long, dense novel, a bestseller in the author's native Norway, offers a summary history of philosophy embedded in a philosophical mystery disguised as a children's book--but only sophisticated young adults would be remotely interested. Sophie Amundsen is about to turn 15 when she receives a letter from one Alberto Knox, a philosopher who undertakes to educate her in his craft. Sections in which we read the text of Knox's lessons to Sophie about the pre-Socratics, Plato and St. Augustine alternate with those in which we find out about Sophie's life with her well-meaning mother. Soon, though, Sophie begins receiving other, stranger missives addressed to one Hilde Moller Knag from her absent father, Albert. [...] Norwegian philosophy professor Gaarder's notion of making a history of philosophy accessible is a good one. Unfortunately, it's occasionally undermined by the dry language he uses to describe the works of various thinkers and by an idiosyncratic bias that gives one paragraph to Nietzsche but dozens to Sartre, breezing right by Wittgenstein and the most influential philosophy of this century, logical positivism. Many readers, regardless of their age, may be tempted to skip over the lessons, which aren't well integrated with the more interesting and unusual metafictional story line.

u/Qwill2 · 1 pointr/booksuggestions

If she's philosophically inclined, perhaps Sophie's World?

u/DiscontentDisciple · 0 pointsr/books
u/spanK__ · -4 pointsr/philosophy

Throw in Sophie's World, arguably the best education fiction philosophy book for an intro. Essentially reads as a History of Philosophy 101 textbook framed in a narrative that has it's own philosophical twist and turns, which helps drive home the material.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie%27s_World
http://www.amazon.com/Sophies-World-History-Philosophy-Classics/dp/0374530718