CHAPTER XXIV--THE ENLIGHTENMENT
(What did he contribute?)
NOTE THAT THIS PERIOD IN PHILOSOPHICAL
HISTORY HAD SEVERAL HEADINGS, EACH
CONNOTING AN ASPECT OF ITS INTENT:
CHAPTER XXIV--THE ENLIGHTENMENT
(What did he contribute?)
NOTE THAT THIS PERIOD IN PHILOSOPHICAL
HISTORY HAD SEVERAL HEADINGS, EACH
CONNOTING AN ASPECT OF ITS INTENT:
I. HENCEFORTH, THE NOVEL WILL EVOLVE DIALECTICALLY AS GAARDER SKILLFULLY BLENDS HILDE'S REACTION TO WHAT WE HAVE BEEN READING UP TO THE TURNING POINT CHAPTERS. HER REACTIONS ARE IMPORTANT:
A. RECALL ON PAGES 143 AND 210 THAT ALBERTO EXPRESSED CONCERN THAT HILDE'S DAD WAS BECOMING TOO OMNISCIENT HILDE AGREES, (P. 300.) HER FATHER, SHE CAUTIONS, REALLY IS LIKE ALMIGHTY GOD.
B. FURTHER, ON PAGE 252, WE RECALL THAT HILDE (FROM ALBERTO'S PERSPECTIVE) IS AN ANGEL TO WHOM THEY MUST TURN TO DISCERN THE MAJOR'S PERSPECTIVE. NOW WE NEED ARISTOTLE AND BERKELEY. WHY? IT WOULD APPEAR THAT HILDE'S FATHER IS THE FIRST CAUSE OF ALL HE SURVEYS.
C. NOTE THE REFERENCES TO HAMLET.- WHAT IS THE WHOLE QUESTION IMPLIED IN THE "TO BE?" (p. 301) SOLILOQUY? WHO ARE WE? REMEMBER THAT HILDE HAD DECIDED THAT SOPHIE WAS REAL. IS SHE? HILDE IS CONVINCED THE IMAGE IN THE MIRROR WINKS BACK WITH BOTH EYES. RECALL JUNG'S SHADOW ARCHETYPE.
D. WHAT DOES THE ENLIGHTENMENT HAVE TO DO WITH SOPHIE AND HILDE 'S JOURNEY? HILDE LIKE SOPHIE EVIDENCES ENLIGHTENMENT DISPOSITIONS. ON PAGE 303, SHE, BEGINS TO ASSOCIATE THE LOSS OF HER GOLD CROSS WITH SOPHIE'S DREAM INVOLVING SOMEONE LOSING A CROSS (P. 188). KEEP IN MIND THAT WE ARE NOW SEEING PREVIOUSLY EXAMINED REALTIES FROM HILDE'S PERSPECTIVE. ARE THEY REAL? WHY? HOW ARE BOTH THE REALISTS AND NOMINALISTS INVOLVED? DOES GAARDER HAVE A BIAS?
II. THE PERSPECTIVE SWITCHES TO SOPHIE'S STRUGGLE TO UNDERSTAND THE MAJOR. IS IT ALL A DREAM? RECALL WHAT DESCARTES SAID ABOUT GOD: HE IS NO...[WHAT]?
A. IMITATING DESCARTES, SHE DECIDES THAT STARTING FROM SCRATCH, (P. 305) MUST BE THE NEXT STEP, AND PERHAPS (P. 306) THAT INVOLVES KNOWING ONE'S SHADOW PART OF WHICH IS THE RATHER TERRIFYING NOTION, ONE REPRESSED BY COLERIDGE IN ANCIENT MARINER AND LATER BY SOME EXISTENTIALISTS SUCH AS SARTRE, THAT MAYBE THE CREATOR HAS LIMITS BEYOND WHICH THE CREATED MUST JOURNEY.
B. HOW THEN WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THAT UNIVERSE FROM WHAT WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR? IS IT REAL AND WHO INHABITS IT? WHAT PHILOSOPHICAL DRAMATIZATIONS ARE ACTUALIZED?...
GOD : UNIVERSE :: HILDE’S DAD : ____
WHAT CAN HILDE'S FATHER DO
WHICH COMPLETES THE ANALOGY, AND WHAT PHILOSOPHERS HOLD THE CLUES...
NOTICE THAT THE CHAPTER FORESHADOWS A PHILOSOPHER WHO WILL OFFER A SYNTHESIS THAT WILL BE TERMED THE "C---- REVOLUTION" IN PHILOSOPHY.
III. WILL SOPHIE AND HILDE REACH THE SAME CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF REALITY, AND WOULD THE JOURNEY END? SIMPLY PUT, CAN THE CREATED CONCEIVE A REALITY THAT THE CREATOR DOES NOT ANTICIPATE? THIS QUESTION WILL DOMINATE THE REMAINDER OF THE NOVEL.
A. LOSS OF THE GOLD CROSS--MOTHER FOUND IT, AND TOLD HILDE’S DAD.
B. HILDE BEGINS TO TALK TO HER MOTHER THE WAY THAT SOPHIE TALKS TO HERS. COULD SHE DO THAT IF SOPHIE WERE NOT REAL? EVEN ANTICIPATING SUCH INVITES EXISTENTIAL ANGST-- “I AM SCARED THAT NOTHING IS REAL.”--P. 305 WARNS SOPHIE WHO, ACCORDING TO JUNG, IS HILDE'S____?
IV. KNOX POSTULATES THE IDEA TO SOPHIE THAT THEY HAVE ALL BEEN INVENTED AS A PRESENT FOR HILDE, BUT...
A. CAN THEY PLAN?
B. ARE THEY REAL AS CREATURES OF FICTION? (P. 306). CAN WE DETACH OURSELVES FROM THE IMAGINATION OF THE CREATOR?--WHAT WOULD HUME SAY? SPINOZA? BERKELEY?
C. HILDE AGREED THAT THE MAJOR MIGHT NOT KNOW ALL OF THE DETAILS IN THE FUTURE OF SOPHIE AND ALBERTO--CHECK CAREFULLY PAGES 302 AND 308:
4. Apply his thought to Hilde and her father: the question is whether the creator chooses to limit his / her omniscience, and why?
D. MAJOR KNAG SENDS CARDS TO BOTH SOPHIE AND HILDE FROM LEBANON, CARDS WHICH OUTLINE THE ENLIGHTENMENT - ROMANTIC PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES. STUDY THE 7 POINTS ON PAGE 309. HOW DO EACH MIME SOPHIE AND HILDE'S QUEST:
V. ROMANTICISM AND THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION...ROUSSEAU
A. THE AGE OF REASON--the Enlightenment as we know is also defined as the triumph of reason over passion. Yet Alexander Pope in Essay on Man argues that "passions are the elements of life." How is this paradox dramatized in our novel?
B. CULTURAL OPTIMISM--this Enlightenment redefines the meaning of progress. Instead of hoping for happiness just in the afterlife, Enlightenment thinkers, such as the Natural Philosophers did in their time, hoped for happiness on earth NOW. Thus the EDEN myth acquires another perspective, a coming of age story for Sophie and Hilde.
C. THE PERFECT SOCIETY--note that much of the satire of the period comes from this belief--see the classical sources and Swift's writings listed below.
VI. DEISM AND REASONABLE CHRISTIANITY
A. UNDERSTANDING THE LAWS OF NATURE ALLOW US PERHAPS TO GLIMPSE THE DIVINE AT WORK. HOW?
B. WHAT IS GOD? Check the meaning of DEISM (p. 313).
C. HOW IS THE CHILD TO BE EDUCATED?
D. 1789--DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN--see the links below...
E. LIBERTY, FRATERNITY AND EQUALITY--in what sense must Sophie and company contend with the same forces (ideas) that led to the French Revolution?
VII. LETTER TO BOTH OF THEM--RELATING THE IDEAS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TO THE PEACE- KEEPING IN LEBANON AND TODAY THE WAR IN IRAQ.
SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS
An excellent philosophical introduction to Enlightenment philosophy is Pope's Essay on Man. For the text plus other authors, click here for Supplementary Readings:
The following authors should be consulted from that page:
THE CLASSICAL DATABASE: (AS THE PERIOD IS CALLED THE NEOCLASSICAL AGE), YOU SHOULD REVIEW THE 'GOLDEN AGE' OF PHILOSOPHY, ATHENS OF THE 5TH CENTURY:
PHILOSOPHERS: (POPE AND ROUSSEAU MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE BRITISH LITERATURE HOME PAGE)
HISTORY:
SCIENTISTS, NOVELISTS, ESSAYISTS AND SATIRISTS:
RESEARCH TOOLS:
IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE LOCATING A PRIMARY SOURCE,
CLICK HERE FOR TEXTS ON LINE.