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Summer
Assignments
Read the novel Sophie's World
and complete the assignment. Read all of the questions
first to have a clearer purpose for reading.
Keep this paper and a notebook near you as your read, and work on
this assignment as you read. Trying
to read the entire book first and then do this assignment will end in
disaster, I assure you. Please
take my advice and work as you read.
Keep a reading journal (instructions included) to help you sort
out ideas and to keep your questions handy for you to answer as you
read. Advice about reading: this book can be dense; that is, it can be hard to
understand too much of it at one sitting.
Give yourself a good four to five weeks to read and complete this
assignment. If you'd rather
do it early in the summer, rather than later, please review the book and
the assignment before the first week of school in order to refresh your
memory. Assignment rationale: No book is ever written in a void. All authors
belong to their historical time (some to all time), and the beliefs and
philosophies of their time often have an influence on their books.
In order for us to have a more fully developed worldview, we read
this novel, in which Jostein Gaarder hopes to teach us something about
basic Western philosophy. I believe that if you have a basic grasp of philosophers'
questions, you will also have an understanding of artists' questions,
for they are often the same. The “Sophie” assignment: Topics 1-10 must be typed and are due the first day of class (for writing expectations see Hallmarks of Superior Composition handout). 1.
Choose one philosophy to disagree with and explain your reasoning
in no fewer than three paragraphs. 2.
Choose one philosophy to agree with and explain your reasoning in
no fewer than three paragraphs. 3.
Choose one philosophy to agree with and explain your reasoning in
no fewer than three paragraphs. 4.
Of all the big questions philosophers attempt to answer, which
are the most controversial or difficult and why?
Be sure to fully explain why. 5.
Give five general facts you learned by reading this book—facts,
not theories or suppositions. Did
any surprise you? Explain. 6.
Which philosopher did you choose to research?
Why? How do you plan
to present your philosopher to the class? 7.
Connect the novel about Sophie to the study of philosophy in
three ways: in other words, show how Gaarder illustrates his
"lectures" on philosophy with the novel of Sophie and
Alberto--what plot elements are used to illustrate the philosophy? 8.
How many realities are present in this book?
Sohpie and Alberto are fictional.
So are Hilde and Albert Knag, even though they are made to seem
real. Show the layers of
reality in an illustration if it is easier and label who
"lives" there. Otherwise, explain in writing, in a coherent
way, the various levels of reality.
Where are you in these realities? Where is Gaarder? 9.
After Romantic Irony is defined, examples of it arise in the
novel several times. Paraphrase the definition, then cite one example
and discuss its effectiveness. 10.
Write a 2-3 page (double space, times new roman, 12 -point font,
MLA format) reaction to your experience with this book.
What did you like, not like, feel frustrated with, in awe of,
etc.? Be specific. Make references to specific sections of the book or specific
passages. Choose
a philosopher from the list to
learn more about (most where presented in Sophie’s
World). The create a project in which you show (will sign up for
presentations on the first day of class): 1.
His/her historical time period 2.
His/her philosophical time period 3.
His/her philosophical classification (what philosophy are they
identified by?) and its meaning 4.
His/her beliefs 5.
His/her influence, impact, and accomplishment 6.
Any other pertinent biographical information Please
email me with your selection as soon as possible.
I will be eliminating philosophers as students choose them (no
repeat presentations). The
up-to-date list These must be PROJECTS! Not a report. This will be something that will be presented to the class in presentation style. You will only receive no more than a C if you merely “read” to the class. You do get points for creativity and presentation style. You must provide a MLA formatted reference sheet documenting where you found your information. Please utilize at least four different sources.
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