Commentary on a unique book: "Sophie's World" / Chapter 11

SOPHIE'S WORLD

(Sofies verden), by Jostein Gaarder (JG), translated from Norwegian into American by Paulette Møller (PM)

Commentary on a unique book

Chapters:
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 11: ARISTOTLE (PP88-101)

«		Like so many before and after him, Plato wanted to find a 'rock of ages' to cling to instead of learning to swim in an inescapably fluid world.	»

Title: a meticulous organiser who wanted (T: set out) to clarify our concepts

P88 L16: The case (T: matter) has already been handed over (T: reported) to the police L24: Sophie was relieved T: let out a sigh of relief

P89 L1: It would be prudent to be T: Better (to) be L6: not the only one T: the first L8: the self-same criticism was (T: the same objections were) raised L10: almost (T: all of) twenty years L20: describe as T: call L27: decisive (T: clear) differences L28: Plato was a ... mythologist T: myth-maker L33: largely T: mainly

P90 L7: man and society C: Then (unimportant) sentence omitted L9: Like the philosophers before him, Plato wanted to find the eternal and immutable in the midst of all change C: And like so many before and after him, he wanted to find a 'rock of ages' to cling to instead of learning to swim in an inescapably fluid world L10(cont): So he found (C: invented) the perfect 'ideas' that were superior (C: in his mind) to the sensory world C: Providing a basis for religion and (misguided) science L14: The idea 'chicken' (T: thus) came before both the chicken and the egg C: No L18: (Aristotle agreed with Plato) that the actual form of the horse is eternal and immutable C: No L19(cont): But the 'idea' horse was simply a concept that we humans had formed after seeing a certain number of horses C: Yes L20(cont): The 'idea' or 'form' horse thus had no existence of its own C: No separate independent existence L21(cont): To A., the 'idea' or the 'form' horse was made up of the horse's characteristics - which define what we today call the horse species C: Yes L25: the metaphor of the gingerbread mold does not hold up T: breaks down L27: A. did not believe in the existence of any such molds or forms that, as it were, lay on their own shelf beyond the natural world C: But most scientists follow Plato in (mistakenly) believing that their 'forms' (i.e. 'natural laws') exist prior to and independently of natural phenomena and human observations L29(cont): to A., the 'forms' were in the things, because they were (T: things, being) the particular characteristics of these things L33: the chicken's particular set (T: special) characteristics L34: The real (T: actual) chicken and the 'form' chicken are thus just as inseparable as body and soul C: A doubtful comparison. Are body and soul inseparable? L38: The highest degree of reality, in Plato's theory, was that which we think with our reason. (For) A., the highest degree of reality is that which we perceive with our senses C: Triangles and trees are all real; why insist on a hierarchy of degree?

P91 L3: reflections T: imitations L6: According to Aristotle, Plato was trapped in a mythical world picture in which the human imagination was confused with the real world C: In a sense, A. was right, but he was also trapped in his own mythical world picture, on which Western culture is largely based. Triangles and trees are, in different ways, products of the human imagination ("the faculty of forming images in the mind"), but none the less real for that. All things are parts of 'secondary reality' (TTR), the overlapping subjective worlds created by individuals and societies L9: A. pointed out (C: asserted) that nothing exists in consciousness that has not first been experienced by the senses C: Dragons, infinite straight lines and four-dimensional cubes all exist in the mind but they have not been experienced by the senses L17: A. held that all our thoughts and ideas have come into our consciousness through what we have heard and seen C: and touched, smelt, tasted C: Through, yes, but we use those ideas as a builder uses bricks L18(cont): But we also have an innate power of reason T: innate reason L19(cont): We have no innate ideas, as Plato held, but (C: 'We ... but' added by PM) we have the innate faculty ... L25: according to A., (reason) is man's most distinguishing (T: foremost) characteristic C: Humans, unlike animals, have the ability to act reasonably and unreasonably, rationally and irrationally. L26(cont): But our reason is completely 'empty' until we have sensed something C: Perhaps as 'empty' as a computer with only its operating system running, before the entry of any data L29: Having come to terms with (T: clarified his attitude to) Plato's theory of ideas, A. decided (T: stated) that reality (C: secondary reality) consisted of various separate things that constitute (T: which are) a unity of form and substance C: Things are separate only because we separate them. They do not exist as things (only as substance) prior to or independently of our ideas about them. The act of (mental) separation and definition is also an act of creation in 'secondary reality' (TTR) L31(cont): The 'substance' is (T: 'Substance' is) what things are made of (T: the material a thing is made of), while the 'form' is each (T: the) thing's specific characteristics C: We do not create (the) substance. Substance corresponds to 'primary reality' (TTR), the One-and-Indivisible L35: by the 'form' of a chicken, we mean the specific (T: special) characteristics of its species - or in other words, what it does C: and its structure: beak and comb are also characteristics of a chicken L36(cont): When the chicken dies ... the only thing (T: all) that remains is the chicken's substance ... but then it is no longer a chicken C: So one cannot eat a (dead) chicken

P92 L2: 'Substance' always contains the potentiality (T: the potential/a possibility) to realise a specific 'form' L3: 'substance' always strives towards achieving an innate potentiality T: 'substance' strives to realise an inherent potential C: 'Substance' is not alive: it 'strives' only in the sense that two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen 'strive' to become a molecule of water L4(cont): Every change in nature, according to A., is a transformation of substance from the 'potential' to the 'actual' C: Or from one 'actual' to another 'actual' L8: a little boy comes by T: visits him L10: sculptor has carved T: hewn L15: (The) block (of granite) had the potential(ity) to be formed into the shape of a horse C: plus many leftover pieces. In a sense, the original block ceases to exist when the first corner is hewn off: it has been divided into and replaced by two new things: a (smaller) block and a (granite) chip C: The same granite block also has 'cow potential' and 'dog potential' L16(cont): Similarly, A. believed that everything in nature has the (T: inherent) potential(ity) of realising, or achieving, a specific 'form' C: Or several 'specific forms'. A dead chicken, for example, has the 'potential' to be 'formed into the shape of' a wishbone if one cuts off and discards enough pieces L19: A chicken's egg has the potential(ity) to become a chicken ... (but) many end up as fried (T: boiled) eggs (or) omelettes ... without ever having realised their potential(ity) C: An egg has 'omelette' potential too - often realised L24: (The potential to) become a goose is not (T: does not lie) within a chicken's egg L31: You can ... hurl (a stone) into the air, but because it is in the stone's nature to fall to the ground, you cannot hurl it to the moon C: Is it in a rocket's nature to fall to the ground? Terrestrial or lunar ground? L34: the stone might take revenge and find the shortest route back to the earth T: revenge. It seeks to get back to the earth as quickly as possible - too bad for whoever gets in the way! L37: living and dead (C: non-living) things L38: potential action T: activity

P93 L1: Today when we talk about the 'cause' of anything, we mean how it came to happen T: how something happens L4: A. held that there were four different causes (T: types of cause) in nature L6: the 'final cause' T: (literally) 'purpose-cause' L9: purpose (T: or 'aim') played a role L10: A. also took into account (T: reckoned with) a similar (T: such a) purpose when considering (T: purpose for) the purely lifeless processes in nature L18: at the precise moment when T: just when L28: grapes grow so that people (C: and animals) can eat them L29: scientific reasoning today ... it is not the purpose of ... oranges to be food for us T: to feed us C: ?? L33: A. was wrong T: mistaken C: From the scientific viewpoint, yes. But from the (equally valid) Aristotelian viewpoint, contemporary science is mistaken L34: God created the world as it is so that all His creatures could live in it T: people and animals can live here L37: now we are talking about God's (T: aim or) purpose C: Or Gaia's purpose? L38(cont): (T: It is not) The raindrops ... have no interest in our welfare T: that wish us well C: But the raindrops are part of Gaia's 'operating system'. Does Gaia (still) wish us well? Perhaps, in threatening her well-being and even her survival, we have outstayed our welcome

P94 L1: The distinction between 'form' and 'substance' (T: also) plays an important part in A.'s explanation of the way (T: when A. describes how) we discern things in the world L5: The horses ... have something in common, and this common something is the horse's (C: or horses') 'form' C: OK so far L7(cont): Whatever might be (T: is) distinctive, or individual, belongs to the horse's 'substance' C: Whoa! My horse has four strong legs and a spectacular green tail. The four legs, being common to all members of the species 'horse', are part of the horse's 'form'. But they are also material/substance. The green tail is another matter. We have to decide whether my strange animal is a rather special and distinctive horse or whether he is so different that he is a member of a separate species, which must be given a different name. And the decision is ours, not nature's. The other horses seem to be agreed that Greentail is definitely not a horse, judging by the way they scatter madly in all directions as soon as they see him. Which is why he wins all his races and why the bookmakers are lobbying for him to be officially categorised as a separate species and banned from racecourses. Anyway, the now famous ('infamous', say the bookies) tail is not 'form' but it is, like the four legs, material/ substance L9: So (T: In the same way) we go around pigeonholing everything T: sorting things into different boxes L11: The same happens when Sophie Amundsen tidies up her room L17: We distinguish between things that are alive or dead (T: living things and dead things C: and non-living things), and we distinguish between vegetable, animal and human C: We make/create the distinctions L21: everything in nature belongs to different categories and subcategories C: which we define L26: Go into your room, Sophie. Pick up something, anything, from the floor C: Things still on the floor? After tidying up? For shame, Sophie! L38: therefore T: so really

P95 L1: We ought to give Plato the credit for having invented hide-and-seek C: and speleology L5: (Aristotle) founded the science of Logic T: It was he who established logic as a science L5(cont): He demonstrated a number of laws governing conclusions or proofs that were valid T: strict rules for what conclusions or proofs are logically valid L7: establish T: assert L11: A.'s logic was based on the correlation of terms T: relationship between terms L13: we may also add T: must (perhaps) admit L16: the rock of Mount Everest T: the stones on Galhøpiggen C: where the Norwegian trolls assemble on Midsummer Eve and hold boulder-throwing contests L28: mice are rather shy of humans when they suckle their young C: Like humans L31: A. ... points out that everything in the natural world can be divided into two main categories C: with fuzzy boundaries L32: non-living (T: lifeless) things, such as stones, drops of water, or clumps of soil C: soil is full of living things, and so are some drops of water L35: Non-living things can only change through external influence C: How about radioactive material?

P96 L2: There is a decisive (T: distinct) (C: fuzzy) difference between (a) living and (a) non-living thing(s) L6: does this difference consist of T: consist in L10: When A. divides natural phenomena into various categories, his criterion is the object's characteristics C: phenomenon = object?! L13: All living things ... have the ability ... to propagate C: Some are sterile. L16: all humans have the ability to think (C: not animals?) - or otherwise (T: in other words) to order their perceptions L19: So there are in reality no sharp boundaries in the natural world C: Right, but apparently at variance with L2 L24: (Man) has a specific characteristic peculiar to humans, and that is the ability to think rationally C: and the ability to think irrationally L28: there must be a God who started all movement in the natural world C: (Movement in) the natural world had no 'start', because the world/universe is infinite in time. As there was not and could not have been a First Cause, there is no logical need for God-as-a-First-Cause L31: A. imagined (T: saw) the movement of the stars and the planets (T: as) guiding all movement on Earth L37: According to A., man's 'form' comprises (C: ?) a soul, which has a plant-like part, an animal part, and a rational part T: man's 'form' is that man has a 'plant-soul', an 'animal-soul' and a 'reason-soul'

P97 L1: Man can only achieve happiness (C: the highest good?) by using all his abilities C: Including the ability to kill? L6: thinker T: investigator L8: for man to find happiness and fulfilment T: to live a happy life L9: imbalance T: one-sidedness L10: unbalanced T: and incomplete L20: will I achieve a happy or 'harmonious' life T: will I be ... person L24: real people T: proper/decent L26: the highest form of human fellowship (C: why a hierarchy of fellowship?) is only to be found in the state T: can only be provided by the state C: No. In the community, yes. 'Community' and 'state' are not synonyms L29: A. describes (T: names) three good forms of constitution T: 'state-forms' L35: rulers T: state leaders L37: run by a few people. An example of that would be (T: Today we would call that) a junta

P98 L7: Women were incomplete in some way T: lacked something L7(cont): A woman was an 'unfinished (T: incomplete) man' L8: man is active and productive T: active and giving L19: it shows how wrong things can go when men are allowed to reign supreme in the fields of philosophy and science C: So not much change since A.'s time L24: Jesus was certainly no woman hater C: Neither was A., on the evidence given. 'Belittle' and 'hate' are not synonyms L37: jeans T: trousers L38: question T: doubt

P99 L2: The problem was (T: not only) that the other (stocking) was missing. What's more (T: but also that) it had never been Sophie's L5(cont): She examined it carefully (T: for some minutes). There was nothing to identify the owner (T: no name on it), but Sophie had a strong suspicion about who the owner was (T: who it might belong to). She threw it up on to the top shelf L9(cont): Sophie turned her attention to the floor T: now it was the floor's turn L12: got started on T: tackled L18: neat T: in good order L19: it was ... important to keep her ideas orderly (T: in good order) L20(cont): She had reserved the top shelf of the closet especially for that kind of thing T: She had reserved her own (C: mental) 'top shelf' for such questions/matters L23: no sign of life (T: no sound) from her mother L36: in Nature's scale T: order

P100 L1: these eggs had the form of being (T: it was these eggs' 'form' that they could become) budgerigars L9: fraction T: part L10: You'll have to content yourself with the fact T: You can console yourself with the thought L16: gently brush T: glide over L18: compared to T: with L28: I can otherwise T: Apart from that, I can L31: Her mother lifted her head T: sat up L37: Oh, not again! T: Oh, you never stop! L40: Is that right? I never thought of that T: Really? I've never thought about it L41: big problem T: serious.

P101 L22: It was not by her, but written especially for her T: It was not she who had written it, but it had been written specially for her L24: She had no time to do her homework T: She hadn't had time to think about L24: They were probably going T: They might be going.