“In the process of growing up we lose the ability to wonder about the world.” What does Albert Knox mean? I invite all you readers to look at your own life: think about how fast year 11 went by. I believe that you all feel the years going by quicker.
For me, I clearly remember my year as a Primary 1 student in CWBS as the longest year of all my existence. I remember looking up at the year “1996” every day, wondering why it was necessary to have a “year”, when it never changed. I have stopped wondering about many things in this world, which I have in the past. In Year 7, it probably took me great effort to learn the layout of KGV School, what time lunch started, and the best way to get to school with public transport. Is this the “desire to gain knowledge” Knox talks about?
As we grow older, we create new “macros” for more and more of our life. We wonder less, we even think less. I can honestly relate to what Knox states.
As the book tells us, important figures in history (adults) HAVE wondered about why we are here, what the world as we see is made of, etc. Sophie’s Worlds then shows us how what we are taught now is different from what the philosophers Thales, Anaximander, Miletus, or Anaxagoras believed. What we think of as facts are constantly approved, improved, disproved.
Depressingly, life’s big questions have no real answer. We probably learn this sometime as teenagers (this would explain the much stereotyped adolescent emotional-detachment). As we grow older, we learn that to wonder brings us no fulfillment. Socrates died as a result of his "wonderings"—what would we gain from acknowledging that we “knew nothing about life and about the world”? Most people in the world loose motivation to wonder. Some do not. Neither one is better. We need both for society to keep going.
On a rather side note, I believe Sophie’s World to be quite an unconvincing adaptation of a philosophy book into a work of fiction. Did the author intend it to be both?
For me, I clearly remember my year as a Primary 1 student in CWBS as the longest year of all my existence. I remember looking up at the year “1996” every day, wondering why it was necessary to have a “year”, when it never changed. I have stopped wondering about many things in this world, which I have in the past. In Year 7, it probably took me great effort to learn the layout of KGV School, what time lunch started, and the best way to get to school with public transport. Is this the “desire to gain knowledge” Knox talks about?
As we grow older, we create new “macros” for more and more of our life. We wonder less, we even think less. I can honestly relate to what Knox states.
As the book tells us, important figures in history (adults) HAVE wondered about why we are here, what the world as we see is made of, etc. Sophie’s Worlds then shows us how what we are taught now is different from what the philosophers Thales, Anaximander, Miletus, or Anaxagoras believed. What we think of as facts are constantly approved, improved, disproved.
Depressingly, life’s big questions have no real answer. We probably learn this sometime as teenagers (this would explain the much stereotyped adolescent emotional-detachment). As we grow older, we learn that to wonder brings us no fulfillment. Socrates died as a result of his "wonderings"—what would we gain from acknowledging that we “knew nothing about life and about the world”? Most people in the world loose motivation to wonder. Some do not. Neither one is better. We need both for society to keep going.
On a rather side note, I believe Sophie’s World to be quite an unconvincing adaptation of a philosophy book into a work of fiction. Did the author intend it to be both?
9 comments:
does wondering really bring us no fulfilment at all?
To answer your question I must first assume your question is implying that you disagree: that is your stance is wondering brings us fulfillment.
You have admitted you don't know why you are here. In all probability none of us will find out anytime in the near future, yet we have all wondered what our purpose of life is.
You will never know why you are here on this Earth. What is the Earth anyway? How do we fit into the big scheme of things? Is there anything after you die? Are we really just in something like the Matrix? Is there meaning to life?
You will never know. Typing this makes me quite unhappy already =(.
I guess we think alike James, I do not wonder and that is enough. Although there are those who say:
'oh no, we won't know how we fit into the big scheme'
There are those who don't care about the 'big scheme' and just care about salary, paying the rent and feeding the kids.
Also on a side note, I agree with your side note as up to the page number I have reached, I could generally read the book similarly (though not exactly the same) with Sophie removed from the book and only keeping the mailed Letters
Socrates is the one who started all this thinking. He died because he was accused of 'poisoning the minds' of the younger generation by telling them to question everything. Like I said on my post, if we don't think or question, we are nothing but walking cabbages (no matter how harsh the reality is).
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” - Socrates
"I believe Sophie’s World to be quite an unconvincing adaptation of a philosophy book into a work of fiction. Did the author intend it to be both? "
James,
Sophie's World is successfully thought-provoking and has received international acclaim as a long-time best-seller.
Gaarder did intend the book to be both fiction and about the history of philosophy. In fact, I think he strikes a good balance between the two and telling the story from the eyes of a teenage girl conveys a genuine blend of two seemingly unrelated purposes (fact and fiction).
Xiang Ding
To Euky: I think every actually DOES care about the big scheme. It's just that we never get answers.
To Jason: I am giving a reason to why people do not wonder about life’s big questions. People still think: about jobs, their life, their hobbies all the time. Reality is actually not that harsh, just ambiguous enough to make people lose interest in speculation.
Socrates view of what life is about is his and his alone. While he may have come up with some rather inspiring quotes, I prefer not to have other people tell me what I believe. Now that you have told me what Socrates belives, tell me: what do you believe?
To Xiang: I never said the book was not thought-provoking. Nor did I mention anything about the books commercial success. What I am trying to say is that the “fiction” part of the story seems forced, irrelevant, and often just for the sake to be there. Gaarder does this to try and soften the boring topic of philosophy. I just believe that he could have done better.
Just adding on to what Stephen said:
If you look at the value of wondering in terms of getting a concrete answer then yes, it brings no fulfillment.
However, though we do not achieve an answer, isn't wondering fulfilling by making us think more and undergo personal growth? And if there was a definite answer for everything, life would be kind of pointless. We need different ideas and approaches to things to define each and everyone of us as individuals.
I don't think people wonder less, just about different matters >.>.
wondering makes us "undergo personal growth"? maybe...
"if there was a definite answer for everything, life would be kind of pointless". It's up to us to find those answers. Better world then one without any concretes.
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