Prompt Five

Rachel Johnson

AP English 11

Mrs. Wilhelmus

August 15, 2013

                                                         New Thoughts

                        The novel Sophie’s World was a vast difference from other books I

 had  read in the past.  The way the author makes you think was outstanding and I

have never been in a situation where  I have had no idea what to think or have been

stumped on what side to pick. It was very interesting to learn how all of the

philosophers came about and their views on the world.

                        There was one philosopher in particular that I did not care for and

that was Aristotle. His views on women were very degrading and made women

seem like they were just object with no purpose instead of human beings. However,

I understand that during his time all women were viewed this way. It just surprises

me that a philosopher could not be more open to women and to get away from the

stereotypical  views around them. On the other hand there was one philosopher that

I could relate to was Plato. He  was more open minded to women and to be a

philosopher I feel like you need to be open to new ideas that even you might not be

comfortable with but then how can you expect other people to adopt you beliefs.

                        As to where I reside on the rabbit’s fur is a changing occurrence from

day to day. Some days I feel confident to where I think I can explore new ideas 

while some days I want to stay in my comfort zone.  I think I reside somewhere

towards the top because I try to get of my comfort zone just by trying new things.

Prompt Four

Rachel Johnson

AP English 11

Mrs. Wilhelmus

August 15, 2013

                                                            Perception

                        In the “Kant” chapter it is based off the findings of the philosopher

Immanuel Kant.  In modern philosophy he thought that our world was viewed

differently by everybody. It was considered that every human sees a concept

in a new light based on their surroundings and this can even affect their

morals he suggested.

                        While in this chapter Sophie is given an experiment to be able to

learn what Kant was trying to accomplish in his thinking. Sophie had to put on

red-tinted glasses and look around a room. While looking around everything was

red but in different shades. While some areas were dark others were light but even

though the shades were different everything was red this shows that while the

everything is red there are some differences and based on how you perceive your

environment around you could differ from person to person.

                        This experiment can be portrayed into my own life because I perceive

things differently from other people.  Growing up with a twin I have always had to

share everything. For me even having to share my birthday as opposed to someone

who does not is different because they get a day that is all to themselves. People that

grew up an only child never know what it  is like wanting something to just be your 

own and that’s where personality plays a factor as well because my twin and I are

different and don’t have to share that. Luckily for me I had a brother and not a sister

and I always had somebody to play with when others did not.

Prompt Three

Rachel Johnson

AP English 11

Mrs. Wilhelmus

August 12, 2013

                                     Reason or Belief

            During the medieval times the church played a huge role in the every

day society. To believe in God was normal and it was an unspoken subject to go

against in what the church was teaching. The Christianity religion helped people

answer those tough questions such as where do we come from and believing in

God gave people the answers they wanted without any trouble in them believing

it to be true or not. During this era people were afraid to believe in philosophy

teaching because most of the facts were based on scientific reasonings.

            When people started to look at philosophical thoughts there were

uproars in the communities because in essence they were going against the church

and God.  For this reason people were hesitant to listen to the teachings of Aristotle

and Plato since they were before the huge conversion of Christianity so their

thoughts were all based on science.

            New philosophers emerged  and they were Aquinas and St. Augustine. They

believed that  the teachings of Christ and the philosophers before them would  make

more people believe in philosophy. There were similarities in both Christianity and

philosophy so blending the two worked in favor for them. They blended the

teachings so people could still believe in God and not be scrutinized by the Church

but in return they could start thinking in philosophical ways

Prompt Two

Rachel Johnson

AP English 11

August 12, 2013

Mrs. Wilhelmus

                                                Gender in Philosophy

            My reaction to Aristotle’s views wasn’t too much of a shock. I wasn’t that

surprised because for centuries women have always been looked down upon.  It

is no new concept that women always get the negative characteristics such as

being the weaker sex, less dominant, and the need to be submissive to male

figure. I was not pleased with his views on women however.

            Throughout the novel and all of the philosophers we learned about it is safe

to conclude that most of the philosophers in Sophie’s World had very little respect

for women and gave them miniscule amounts of credit for being anything other than

a way to keep the population growing. The philosopher that gave the best answers

to the gender discrimination was Plato. He believed that for a society to be able to

go about properly there needed to be women and that they played a role in

every day life. By no means was he saying that they were just as equal to men. Plato

saw women in the role he thought best suited them and that was caretakers and

being maternal. Giving women any credit during that time era was almost unheard

of.

            With all of this being said it’s not a shock to realized that most of the

philosophers were men in that time period. Women were looked at as property of

the husband and basically had no rights. If they had no rights there was no way men

would care what they had to say or thought about. 

Prompt One

Rachel Johnson

AP English  11

August 2, 2013

Mrs. Wilhelmus

                                   

                                                My Own Questions

         The way I would respond to the questions “Who are you?” and “Where

does the world come from?’ I would have to first carefully consider what the

questions truly meant.  At a glance that is a simple question because we all “know”

our names and identify with family, our town, and school. However to know who

I truly am has to be an individual journey that can change from day to day. For

example I know who I am because I feel confident in myself as my own person when

I can keep my own standards and values  and not be influenced into following my

peers.  Only you can truly know who are because what people put to the outside

world are mainly facades and not the real them. To respond the question “ Who are

you” I would have to say I am confident, have high values, intellectual, and an open

minded person that likes to try new things whenever there’s an opportunity

available.

            The response I would have to give to the question “Where did the world

come from?” I would say that the world was created by God. Others may say it was

the big bang or  that it had always just been around but my belief is that God created

the world.  Even though I believe that it was created by God I am not the kind of

person to put down other peoples opinions but I like a simple answer to this

question and that’s what believing in God gives me.