Sophie’s World: Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

Another week passes before Sophie hears from Alberto again. On May 25, she hears a tapping at her window—there’s a postcard stuck to the window. Sophie opens her window to retrieve the card. It’s been dated June 15, and is addressed to Hilde. Hilde’s father tells Hilde that they have a lot to talk about. He also mentions that he can hardly believe that Lebanon is the seat of so much conflict between religions, since the three monotheistic religions all stem from the same prophet, Abraham.

The phone rings, and Sophie answers it. Alberto Knox is on the phone—he greets Sophie by name. He tells Sophie that they must meet in person so that they can “attract Hilde’s attention.” Sophie agrees to meet Alberto at a nearby church the next morning. Sophie goes to sleep at Joanna’s house so that she can sneak to the church without worrying her Mom. She explains to Joanna that she’ll be waking up early to go out, but doesn’t say where.

The next morning, Sophie goes to the churchyard, where she finds a figure dressed in monk’s clothes. The figure, Sophie realizes, is Alberto Knox. Alberto begins telling Sophie about the history of the Middle Ages. During this time, Christianity largely replaced Greek philosophy as the source of knowledge and enlightenment in the Western world. The Middle Ages lasted almost 1,000 years. During this time, the first universities were founded, modern nation-states were formed, and a whole cultural tradition of chivalry and quests was born. The Middle Ages have a reputation for being gloomy and dark, but in fact, they were a time of great intellectual development in Europe—a time when Christianity worked out many of its internal contradictions and became the dominant cultural force on the continent.

During the Middle Ages, Alberto goes on, much of Plato and Aristotle was forgotten, though some of it survived. Important thinkers of the period, such as Saint Augustine (354-430 A.D.), tried to unite Greek philosophy with Christian teachings. Augustine argued that the world of ideas hypothesized by Plato was really the world of God. He also agreed with Plato that humans have souls that live forever, though he thought that the soul would either go to Heaven or Hell. In a way, Augustine returned to the old belief in fate: he said that God was all-powerful, and could send people to Heaven or Hell at will. But he also accepted that God created man with free will—the ability to make unique, unpredictable choices, independent of God’s control.

One of Augustine’s key ideas was the City of God(also the title of one of his most famous books). Augustine believed that in order to enact God’s plan on Earth, humans should establish institutions to enforce Christianity. In this way, Augustine paved the way for the Catholic church and the Vatican—the self-styled voice of God on earth.

Sophie says that she needs to get going soon, but Alberto begs to tell her about the other great Medieval philosopher, Saint Thomas Aquinas. After Augustine’s death, the Catholic church came to monopolize education in Europe—to be educated was to study the Bible. Most towns in Europe built churches, where the people of the town would go every Sunday to listen to a priest speak about Christianity. By the 12th century, however, a new force had appeared in Europe—Arab scholarship. Arabs in Italy and Spain reintroduced lost texts by Plato and Aristotle into the Western canon. This created a new interest in Augustine’s project of uniting Classical thinking with Christianity. The most important thinker of the time who embarked on such a project was Thomas Aquinas.

Aquinas was instrumental in reconciling Aristotle and Plato with Christianity. Parts of life, Aquinas argued, can be understood with reason and reason alone—for this, we need Aristotle and Plato. But other parts of thehuman experience can only be grasped with faith—this is where Christianity comes in. In some ways, Aquinas argued, Aristotle actually paved the way for Christianity without knowing it. For example, his concept of a God—a “first cause”—works as a valid explanation for the existence of a Christian God, even if Aristotle didn’t intend it as such.

As Alberto falls silent, Sophie asks him about Hilde. Alberto replies, “We don’t know whether there is a ‘Hilde’ at all.” Sophie finds this strange, especially since Alberto wanted to meet her to discuss Hilde. Alberto suggests that Hilde’s father is planting clues of her presence—a wallet, a scarf, etc. Sophie agrees, but tells Alberto that she must get going.

Before Sophie leaves, Alberto tells her something more about the relationship between Aristotle and Aquinas. Aquinas tried to broaden Aristotle’s classification of human beings as compared to animals. For Aquinas, angels must also be part of Aristotle’s taxonomy of life. Aquinas also adopted Aristotle’s view of women, i.e., that they were a lesser form of life. However, he argued that the inferiority of women to men was limited to the body—women’s souls, on the other hand, were equal to men’s.

Sophie asks Alberto if there were any female philosophers in the Middle Ages. Alberto mentions one, Hildegard of Bingen. Sophie finds this name interesting, since it resembles Hilde’s name.Hildegard, Alberto explains, believed that the soul was divided into a male and a female side—in Greek, the female side is called wisdom, or “sofia.” Sophie is delighted to learn that her name means wisdom. Alberto explains that Hildegard dreamed that she had a conversation with Sophia—the embodiment of the female wisdom. Sophie suggests that perhaps she, Sophie, will reveal herself to Hilde, just as “Sophia” revealed herself to “Hildegard.” In response, Alberto tells Sophie that she should be getting back.

Before Sophie leaves, she asks Alberto if there was anyone named Alberto during the Middle Ages. Alberto replies that Aquinas had a teacher named Albert the Great. With these words, he bows to Sophie and walks away. As Sophie walks out of the church, she notices a picture of the Madonna, and finds a small drop of water under the Madonna’s eyes—perhaps a tear.