Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-5

Reading Check

1. Where is Sophie’s paradise?

2. What branch of philosophy was popular in ancient Greece?

3. What does Sophie use to help realize the theories of Democritus?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the importance of humanity’s capacity for wonder?

2. Why is it necessary to study past philosophers’ ideas, even those that have since been disproven?

Paired Resource

“Wonder” by Sarah Arvio

• This poem explores the beauty of wonderment and asking questions we may never get the answers to.
• This poem connects to the What It Means to Be a Philosopher theme by exploring the most fundamental aspect of philosophy.
• Predict the types of questions you predict Sophie will start to wonder about as she develops the mindset of a philosopher.

Chapters 6-10

Reading Check

1. Who is Knox’s messenger?

2. What does Knox gift to Sophie?

3. Where does Sophie see the girl in the mirror wink with both eyes?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is fatalism?

2. What logic does Sophie use to determine that Plato’s theory about the world of forms may not have been accurate?

Paired Resource

“Plato On: The Forms”

• This brief video explains Plato’s world of forms theory.
• This resource connects to The History of Ideas by laying the foundation of philosophical thought and inquiry.
• How is Sophie’s use of logic to disprove Plato’s theory demonstrative of her growing abilities as a philosopher?

Chapters 11-15

Reading Check

1. Where were the postcards that Sophie and Joanna find mailed from?

2. Which culture and which philosophical movement influenced Christianity?

3. How is Knox dressed when Sophie finds him at the church?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What sort of inequalities existed in the field of philosophy in ancient Greece, and how does Sophie view and respond to learning about these inequalities?

2. What is the significance of Sophie’s name?

Paired Resource

“Aristotle and the Political Role of Women”

• This scholarly article explores the impacts of Aristotle’s sexist views of women on the course of history, science, and Western civilization.
• This resource connects to The History of Ideas by examining how ideas and theories can impact humanity for centuries afterward.
• What evidence in the world today can you see of the effects of Aristotle’s sexism?

Chapters 16-22

Reading Check

1. Who does Sophie think Hilde’s father looks like?

2. What does Knox cite as the three most important inventions of the Renaissance?

3. What type of figure does Sophie start to suspect the Major might be?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why did Hume believe that we can never be certain of God’s existence or of future events?

2. What does Hermes do that shocks Sophie, and what does it suggest about the evolving nature of Sophie’s world?

Paired Resource

“Even Theories Change”

• This article outlines how scientific theories build on each other over time, often disproving previous hypotheses.
• This resource connects to The History of Ideas by exploring how theories connect with and build on each other.
• As Knox teaches Sophie about philosophy from the Renaissance to the Baroque, do you notice any patterns that emerge as philosophical, scientific, and religious theories are put forth? How do these theories build on each other?

Chapters 23-26

Reading Check

1. What possession is Hilde missing?

2. Why does Hilde’s father call on the phone?

3. Who knocks on the door, to Sophie and Knox’s surprise?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Hilde pity Sophie?

2. How did ideas about the nature of God shift in the Romantic period?

Paired Resource

“Understanding the Absurd Art of Michael Cheval”

• This article examines the paintings of Michael Cheval, whose art features depictions of absurd realities.
• This resource connects with What It Means to Be a Philosopher, as examining the unreal becomes a part of Sophie and Knox’s philosophy and manner of escape.
• Why does the world that Sophie and Knox occupy become more and more absurd? How does this absurdity relate to their realization that they are characters in a story?

Chapters 27-31

Reading Check

1. On which significant date is the birthday party supposed to take place?

2. What does Knox believe is the purpose of evolution?

3. How does Knox plan to infiltrate the Major?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Hegel’s theory of the development of knowledge relate to the narrative arc of Sophie’s World?

2. What was Freud’s major contribution to philosophy?

Paired Resource

“Freudian Theory and Consciousness: A Conceptual Analysis”

·        This scholarly article details Freud’s theories of the unconscious and psychoanalysis.

• This resource connects to What It Means to Be a Philosopher through its exploration of the importance of the interplay between consciousness and unconsciousness from historical and sociological perspectives.
• What do you think might result for the Major after instilling Knox and Sophie with knowledge of Freud’s theories?

Chapters 32-35

Reading Check

1. Who does Hilde hear in her dream?

2. What does Joanna do at Sophie’s party?

3. Where do Sophie and Knox find themselves in the end?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How do Sophie and Knox manage to escape, and why does their plan work?

2. What cliffhanger does the novel end on?

Recommended Next Reads 

The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder

• Taking on the same motifs of mystery and connecting to the past, this novel centers on a boy who must solve a riddle within some old letters.
• This work connects to The Unity in All Existence by exploring connections of past and present and the infiniteness of familial ties.
• Shared topics include mystery, history, and traditional forms of communication.

The World According to Anna by Jostein Gaarder

• In another mystery novel that dabbles in philosophical questions, protagonist Anna must work to prevent a horrible future from unfolding.
• This work connects to The History of Ideas and The Unity in All Existence by exploring connections between current actions/attitudes and the distant future.
• Shared topics include mystery, time travel, and philosophy.