Mrs. Wilhelmus
AP English 8th period
5 August 2013
There were a myriad of influential and interesting ideas
introduced in Sophie's World. Some of the beliefs mentioned I had pondered or
heard of before; however, the ones that were special to me and reserved a place
in my mind were the ones that derived out of true creativity and belief. The
philosophers that dedicated their lives to providing explanations for subjects
that nobody else believed in were most inspiring to me, whether I agreed with
them or not.
A belief system
that I found intriguing and that stimulated some thought for me in Sophie's
World was that of Hegel. Hegel had the philosophical idea that throughout
history and in time, human reason changed. Seemingly, every human is endowed
and programmed with the same process of thought and reason. Hegel introduced
the idea that as time progresses, human reason does as well. For instance, a
medieval sixteen year old girl had different ideas of what was appropriate for
clothes, food, etc. than I do due to developments in fashion and technology in the
world. Although I assumed there were different ideas of appropriate ways of living
throughout time, I had never questioned the reasoning or logic behind it.
I was pleased to read information on how Plato expressed his belief
that women were capable and able-bodied humans. Also, I found it
interesting and agreed with how Aristotle categorized the chain of life
thousands of years before most humans ever thought of it. He believed that
humans were at the top followed by animals and so on. However, I did not agree
with his sexist philosophies on women and how he believed they were
"incomplete men".
Last,
the idea of fate is something I neither disagree nor agree with. Like many
philosophers, I agree that there is a set plan for our life and I believe that
God has predetermined this because I am Christian. In the same aspect, I
believe that the actions you take determine how content you are while you are
on this path. In other words, although your life has a set plan, your demeanor
and the level of success you achieve during this path is determined by your own
choices.
As
for what side of the rabbit's fur I'm on.... I'd like to think that whatever
path God has chosen for me is a great one. . and that along the way, I will not
be a "microscopic insect" deep down in the rabbit's fur. I'd like to
think that my perseverance and ambition will allow me to be successful where
others have not and maybe I can change the world or something cool like
that. Hopefully, one day I'll be the magician everyone queries about.
