SOPHIE'S WORLD
(Sofies verden), by Jostein Gaarder (JG), translated from Norwegian into American by Paulette Møller (PM)Guestbook | Guestmap | Discussion forum | Inspired by...
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| 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) |
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CHAPTER 21: HUME (PP222-233) |
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| P222 L4: muggy T: sultry L12: Doesn't it matter to you (T: I suppose it doesn't matter) that L23: I see I don't have any time to waste (T: lose) T: I must speed up | ||||||||
| P223 L7: hardly anything T: very little L12: the way T: how L14: I'd better listen then T: I'll listen closely L16: woolly T: unclear L16: male philosophers T: men of yours L19: Hume proposed the return T: wanted to get back L20: spontaneous (T: direct/immediate) experience L30: Dumb T: Silly L33: complex T: compound L35: are associated T: have become linked L36: rejected T: thrown overboard L40: quantity T: extent L41: Commit it then to the flames C: H. was evidently no novel-reader | ||||||||
| P224 L2: still exists T: remains L2(cont): More fresh and sharply T: Fresher and more sharply L3: H. wanted to know how a child experiences the world C: Half-sentence omitted: T: before all the thoughts and reflections have occupied the consciousness/mind L8: train of thought T: thought processes L10: I'm with you T: sitting here L11: Hume ... man has two different types of perceptions, namely impressions ... the immediate sensation of external reality ... and ideas ... the recollection of such impressions C: 'Impressions' and 'ideas' are inter-dependent L17: Afterward T: Later L18: That impression insofar as it is recalled is T: This is L22: imitation T: copy L25: both an impression and an idea can be either simple or complex L27: The direct experience of an apple is ... a 'complex impression' C: Then sentence omitted: T: Similarly, the mind's notion of an apple is a 'complex idea' L31: preoccupied with T: absorbed by L31: you mustn't give up now over T: back away from L33: essential T: important L35: Okay, okay T: I give in L36: form complex (T: put together such) ideas L37: the physical world T: reality C: Then sentence omitted: T: In this way, false ideas and notions arise which are not found in nature L39: Pegasus, a winged horse L40: the mind has done a good job of cutting out and pasting (T: has cut and pasted) together all on its own C: Then sentence about 'wings' and 'horses' omitted L41(cont): Each element was (T: All parts were) once sensed and entered ... the mind in the form of (T: mind as) a real "impression" | ||||||||
| P225 L1: The mind puts things together (T: cuts and pastes) and (T: in this way) constructs false "ideas" T: or concepts/notions C: Can ideas be true or false? 'Unreal', perhaps, but 'false'? L3: is T: can be L4: All right, then T: Good L5: (idea) compounded (T: put together) in a way that does not correspond to (T: is not found in) reality L7: single (T: simple) ideas L8: idea T: concept L8: This would provide him with (T: Thus he had) a critical method L17: compounded T: made up L18: Heaven is made up of T: In heaven there are L19: angels by the score T: masses of angels LL20/22: single T: simple L23: "white-robed figure" C: Three notions, not one LL27/30: idea T: dream-picture L28: That's just what we did T: As you say L29: visualize T: dream L32: visualize T: imagine L34: very clever T: quite smart L34: having a T: and his LL37-39: infinitely T: perfectly/immensely L40: would T: could | ||||||||
| P226 L3: were little T: were children L6: Sometimes my mother calls God "Godiva", just to even things up N: Gud "Gudny" T: for the sake of balance L13: are valid T: have any validity L13: question T: concept L17: He'd be talking off the top of his head T: Then he'd be just a new windbag L19: I want this course to teach you T: want you to learn from this course L24: single T: simple L29: people T: person L31: So now I guess I must figure out T: Now I must ask L32: I guess T: suppose L34: Does that worry you? T: Is there anything which makes you feel unsure of yourself/insecure? L35(cont): I'm very changeable. I'm not the same today as I was when I was four years old C: Amazing! How changeable can you get?! L37: like T: as though L38: ego T: 'personality-core'. | ||||||||
| P227 L4: Hume pointed out T: Hume's point is L5: personal identity T: personality L5: perceptions T: views L7: movie T: cinema L11: give up the idea of having an unalterable ego? C: Sophie has not claimed to have an unalterable ego, only that 'I am me'. Alberto seems to have been jumping to conclusions L13: I guess it does T: I suppose so L19: formulate their ideas T: express themselves L21: keep people in a continual state of change T: change the person from moment to moment L23: There is nothing of which I can say "this is mine" said Buddha, and nothing of which I can say "this is me". There is thus no "I" or unalterable ego C: There is a changing "I" L26(cont): Yes, that was typically Hume T: amazingly like Hume C: TTR view of Zen Buddhism: He contemplated Zen and said What am I? I am not my hands My body I am not I am not my thoughts My feelings I am not I am not my soul My spirit I am not None of these am I and less For such is Zen I heard his curbing words and said Then what am I? I am my hands My body it is me I am my thoughts My feelings they are me I am my soul My spirit it is me That tree, that song, that world is me By seeing, hearing, knowing All of these am I and more For such is Man If you have heard my words then say Just what are you? Only a shrunken speck Hemmed in by birth and death And lost In alien space and time? Know then You are your world Real and boundless A source Of everlasting life L27: In continuation of T: Extending L31: followers T: disciples L33: Decay is inherent in all compound things T: in all that is compound C: Then, added by PM: Work out ... diligence L38: to prove T: trying to prove L42: An agnostic is someone who holds that the existence of God or a god can neither be proved nor disproved C: Not objectively T: who does not know whether there is a God | ||||||||
| P228 L4: knob T: lump L7: He only accepted T: He accepted as true only L12: final T: last L14: more T: rather L14: He made a point of the fact T: He pointed out L16: happenings T: events L22: a miracle is against (T: a breach of) the laws of nature L22(cont): But it is meaningless to allege (T: say) that we have experienced the laws of nature C: Right L32: horrible T: nasty L33: It's never wrong for a philosopher T: For a philosopher, it's never wrong L40: It is usual to say that the stone falls to the ground because of the law of gravitation. But we have never experienced such a law. We have only experienced that things fall C: Right | ||||||||
| P229 L6: This is the way the concept of ... "the unbreakable laws of nature" arises C: There are no such 'unbreakable laws' L13: Take children as Hume's verification T: 'truth-witnesses' L24: I see where you're coming from T: I see your point L25: awareness T: senses L31: know how impossible T: understand how crazy L34: I guess that's right T: You could say that L40: most distinguishing virtue T: foremost | ||||||||
| P230 L1: Every time I feel prejudice I get a bad feeling T: I show prejudice, I'm sorry about it L3: everything that happens must have a cause C: Causes. L11: So T: In this case L12: We can only talk of what we have actually experienced T: We are allowed to express certainty only if we have experienced it L14: pool table T: billiard-table L16: the only thing you have experienced is that the (T: black ball hits the white one and then that the) white ball begins to roll L20: other T: second L22: very central T: important L22: the expectation of one thing (C: i.e. event) following another does not lie in the things (T: objects) themselves but in our mind C: Right L27: motionless T: still L27: When we speak of the "laws of nature" or of "cause and effect", we are actually speaking of what we expect, rather than what is "reasonable" C: Right L29(cont): The laws of nature are neither reasonable nor unreasonable, they simply are C: They 'simply are' human creations L33: The world is like (T: as) it is C: The world is as we experience it L35: I'm beginning to feel as if we're getting off the track again T: feel again that this is not terribly important L36(cont): Not if T: It is important if L36: cause T: lead L36: Hume did not deny the existence of unbreakable "natural laws" C: But I do L38: in a position T: able L39: come to the wrong conclusions T: jump to conclusions L40: Like what? T: For example? | ||||||||
| P231 L2: it doesn't mean there's no such thing as a white crow C: If it's white, can it be a crow? We decide L4: can be T: is L5: hunting for "the white crow" is science's principal task C: Or should be - but, generally speaking, scientists believe in 'unbreakable laws' L8: In the question of (T: the relationship between) cause and effect L11: is lightning the cause of thunder C: Yes, if we say so. There is no 'real' reason, no definite and permanent 'in reality' as distinct from what we say and believe L13(cont): Not really T: Not quite L14: Both thunder and lightning are due to an electric discharge C: Then sentence missing: T: Even if we always experience that thunder follows lightning, that does not mean that the lightning is the cause of the thunder L14(cont): (So) in reality (C: See note to L11) a third factor causes them both C: Or a fourth factor causes the first three L17: A chicken which experiences every day that it gets fed when the farmer's wife comes over to the chicken run (T: comes across the yard) will finally come to the conclusion that there is a causal link between the approach of the farmer's wife and feed being put into its bowl C: So there is; the chicken is right L24: (But) one day the farmer's wife comes over and wrings the chicken's neck L26: Yuck, how disgusting! C: Ugh! What a fowl thing to do! C: The conclusion of the chicken does not invalidate the chicken's conclusion. To be precise, the chicken would have been wrong if it had concluded that when the farmer's wife came over, feed would always be put into its bowl L28: concerns T: tasks L31: How come? T: How is that? L32: You see a black cat cross the street T: cross your path L34: In science, it is especially important T: In science, especially, it is important L36: drug T: medicine L40: there has to be a third factor - such as the belief that the medicine works, and has cured them T: works - which has cured them | ||||||||
| P232 L1: area T: field L4: natural right T: natural right-thinking or natural (moral) law C: natural law: a law of nature or the sense of right and wrong which arises from the constitution of the mind of man (Dictionary) L8: If you decide to help someone in need, you do so because of (T: you are propelled by) your feelings, not your reason C: Why not both? L14: Everyone knows it's wrong to kill T: another human C: If only! And in self-defence? In war? L19: I don't know if I agree T: I'm not so sure about that L21: quite a good idea T: very effective L34: you can never draw conclusions from is sentences to ought sentences C: Right L37: speeches T: parliamentary speeches. | ||||||||
| P233 L2: population's living standards T: country's standard of living L6: the Senate T: Parliament L9: conventions T: 'approved laws' L11: So we have established (C: No) that we cannot use reason as a yardstick for (T: cannot show by reasoning) how we ought to act L12(cont): Acting responsibly (C: Worn-out cliché almost devoid of meaning but much used by politicians) is not a matter of strengthening our reason (C: How?) but of deepening our feelings (C: How?) for the welfare of others C: Not forgetting to promote our own welfare, which is a legitimate form of 'acting responsibly' L16: hair-raising T: monstrous L17: if you shuffle the cards N: blande kortene C: Meaning?! L20: there was something wrong with (the Nazis') emotional life N: det var noe galt med deres følelsesliv C: Eh?! L21: definitely T: first and foremost L27: crimes T: actions/misdeeds L27: not accountable for their actions T: at that moment L31: If a flood disaster renders millions of people homeless T: If many people need help because of a flood L35: in order T: proper/acceptable L37: mad that you can T: angry that anyone could L38: it's not your reason that gets mad T: angry C: Nor your sentiments; only the person gets angry L39: I got it T: I got the point. | ||||||||