SOPHIE'S WORLD
(Sofies verden), by Jostein Gaarder (JG), translated from Norwegian into American by Paulette Møller (PM)Guestbook | Guestmap | Discussion forum | Inspired by...
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
| CH = chapter, P = page, L = line, C = comment, N = Norwegian, T = (alternative) translation, usually closer to the original text, TTR = Two-Tier Reality (metaphysical system bridging East and West) |
||||||||
CHAPTER 2: THE TOP HAT (PP10-18) |
||||||||
|
||||||||
| Title: the only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder C: And experience. Children wonder, but ... | ||||||||
| P10 L9: People were only concerned with trivialities T: with more or less trivial things, but there were big and difficult questions which were more important than the usual school subjects L10: major problems C: including 'major' problems | ||||||||
| P12 L14: everyone needs ... to figure out who we are and why we are here C: We all have enough real problems, so why waste time and energy on pseudo-problems? L19: How the universe, the earth and life came into being is an ... important question C: Three questions. The universe and life did not 'come into being': they have always existed. How the Earth began is an important scientific question L24: How was the world created C: Was the world created? L27: We know of no culture which has not concerned itself with what man is and where the world came from C: But, in the light of modern knowledge, are they still sensible questions? L32: it is easier to ask philosophical questions than to answer them C: Alexander found a simple solution to the 'difficult' problem of the Gordian Knot L34: each individual has to discover his own answer to (philosophical) questions C: So there are no objective answers? L40: Philosophers' search for the truth resembles a detective story C: Nonsense | ||||||||
| P13 L3: even if it is difficult to answer a question, there may be one - and only one - right answer C: 'may', not 'must' L4: Either there is a kind of existence after death - or there is not C: Invalid 'exclusive-OR' logic L6: age-old enigmas have now been explained by science C: But the 'explanations' may not be definitive: yesterday's differ from today's and today's from tomorrow's L7: dark side of the moon T: far side C: The Moon, like the Earth, has no (permanently) 'dark side' L26: here we are in it (the world), we are part of it T: we go around on the Earth and we are part of the world LL27-35: C: Top hat and tales - rabbit tales, imaginative and (for a while) entertaining | ||||||||
| P14 L14: cookie tin T: biscuit tin L27: Babies have this faculty T: All small children L28: But as they grow up, the faculty of wonder seems to diminish C: So babies should make the best philosophers? L31: If a newborn baby could talk, it would probably say something about what an extraordinary world it had come into C: It would probably say "More milk" L36: We who are older and wiser may feel T: We who are older may feel | ||||||||
| P15 L15: But have you ever given any thought to the fact that you are a Martian yourself? C: Eh? T: But has it ever struck you that L22: I am a mysterious creature C: with mysterious black hair - due to Martian ancestry? L38: makes no difference to him T: makes no special change in his eyes L41: black in the face N: svart som en neger C: Tut-tut | ||||||||
| P16 L25: Most adults accept the world as a matter of course T: experience the world as something quite ordinary L38: Watch out! You are on thin ice T: If so, there is danger ahead L41: I want you to have an enquiring mind T: to live an alert life | ||||||||
| P17 L5: mailman T: postman LL6-16: To summarise briefly: A white rabbit ... food and drink C: to summarise briefly: nonsense L15: people ... stuffing themselves with delicious food and drink C: A minority of the world's population. Are the rest all fur-climbing philosophers? LL29-36: Sophie ... time C: Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit. | ||||||||
| P18 L4: Don't you think it's astonishing that the world exists at all? C: No, but it's astonishing that some philosophers do L18: You've made yourself comfortable deep down in the fur of a white rabbit that is being pulled out of the universe's top hat right now C: !! L23: An anxious expression came over her mother's face C: Very understandably L33: No more was said that evening about ... white rabbits C: "For this relief, much thanks ... " | ||||||||