Reflection #1
The book Sophie's World explores the history of philosophy in an interesting way. It explores it through the plot of a man sending a girl, Sophie, anonymous letters that each hold a lesson in philosophy. Personally, I'm not sure if this story line is completely necessary to teach about the history of philosophy. Perhaps the purpose of it is to show the thoughts of a young person being exposed to these philosophical ideas. Personally, I think that there is a significant amount of details that take away from the actual philosophy part of the book. However on the topic of the philosophies presented, to me it seems very satisfying that there is a whole subject on asking questions about our world and existence, likely because I enjoy philosophy but don't have many opportunities to explore it outside of my own mind. One area I've never thought about were what the natural philosophers explored, how our natural world worked, what we were made out of, and what makes up everything. I found Democritus's theory of the atom very intelligent, especially when considering his environment and lack of available scientific knowledge. Its also interesting to realize the effect Greek culture had on philosophy, like the mythology used to answer questions and instances where superstition was the accepted reason for sickness.
Connection #1
I mentioned that I haven't thought about the questions on our natural world, and that in ancient Greece they used superstition to explain our world. These two are probably related, since there was a cause to find answers involving reason rather than mythology. But in today's world, to the average student, science can explain what makes up our world and what exactly we are made of. Biology is an entire subject based on living things and the things that make them up, including organ systems and cells. The book also talked about fate and explaining our world through superstition. Some ancient Greeks believed that sickness was a punishment of the gods, but in today's world we can explain sickness through likely causes such as bacteria or infections. Yet when it comes to fate, many people today still believe in fate and destiny. There are two constants between the present and past that might explain why this belief is still alive. The first one is that religion is still a big part of culture and there are numerous beliefs where fate, God's plan, and higher beings in control exist. The second constant is the fact that there is nothing to disprove the belief of fate/destiny, granted there is no way to prove it either but that just leaves it up to each person to think and decide for themselves. Perhaps culture and tradition have a huge part in that, especially from environmental and family pressures/influences.
