Sophie’s World is an easy-to-grasp, well-curated collection of bite-size Western philosophy from the time of Socrates to Jean Paul Sartre. It also happens to be a charming mystery novel filled with fun and intrigue. How in the world do you mix Philosophy and children’s mystery together into something coherent and entertaining? Well, Jostein Gaarder did just that and then sold 40 million copies in 55 languages.
Given the book’s massive scope, which covers over 2000 years of philosophical thoughts, there’s plenty of broad-brushing and omissions. Yet its over-generalizations should not be seen as a shortcoming; rather, they’re precisely its strength. The real triumph of Sophie’s World is that there is no final exam, no pop quizzes, no 1000-word essay due next Friday dissecting what Kant meant by the Sublime. Instead, Sophie’s World is pure joy: a delightful tasting menu of philosophy with an engaging mystery to boot.
In the span of around 500 pages, we get introduced to:
As for the mystery novel aspect (spoilers ahead), it’s both simple and brilliant. It turns out Sophie is an imaginary girl who resides inside a novel a father is writing for her daughter birthday. Half way through the book, the perspective switches to the daughter, Hilde. There’s some blurring between reality and fiction as the perspectives switch back and forth between Hilde and Sophie. Eventually, Sophie realizes she is a character in a philosophy book and tries to escape. Ironically, the readers know that Hilde and Sophie have more in common than they realize.
All things considered, If you are looking for a nuanced, in-depth discussion of Socrates, Hume or Descartes, look elsewhere. Sophie’s World is a 30,000 ft zoomed-out aerial view of Philosophy, not a microscope peering into any thinker in particular. Indeed, the goal of Sophie’s World is twofold: 1.) to elicit interest in young readers, and 2.) to present philosophy not as convoluted and pointless pontifications, but as practical, perhaps even essential, part of our daily lives. And to those ends, Sophie’s World could not have been more successful.