《苏菲的世界》一书以小说的形式，通过一名哲学导师向一个叫苏菲的女孩传授哲学知识的经过，揭示了西方哲学发展的历程。由前苏格拉底时代到萨特，以及亚里士多德、笛卡儿、黑格尔等人的思想都通过作者生动的笔触跃然纸上，并配以当时的历史背景加以解释，引人入胜。评论家认为，对于那些从未读过哲学课程的人而言，此书是最为合适的入门书，而对于那些以往读过一些哲学而已忘得一干二净的人士，也可起到温故知新的作用。 14岁的少女苏菲不断接到一些极不寻常的来信，世界像谜团一般在她眼前展开。在一位神秘导师的指引下，苏菲开始思索，她运用少女天生的悟性与后天知识，企图解开这些谜团。然而，事实真相远比她所想的更怪异、更离奇…… 《苏菲的世界》，是智慧的世界，梦的世界。它将会唤醒每个人内心深处对生命的赞叹与对人生终极意义的关怀与好奇。 Book Description A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Sophie’s World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: “Who are you?” and “Where does the world come from?” From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined. Amazon.com Wanting to understand the most fundamental questions of the universe isn't the province of ivory-tower intellectuals alone, as this book's enormous popularity has demonstrated. A young girl, Sophie, becomes embroiled in a discussion of philosophy with a faceless correspondent. At the same time, she must unravel a mystery involving another young girl, Hilde, by using everything she's learning. The truth is far more complicated than she could ever have imagined. From Publishers Weekly This long, dense novel, a bestseller in the author's native Norway, offers a summary history of philosophy embedded in a philosophical mystery disguised as a children's book-but only sophisticated young adults would be remotely interested. Sophie Amundsen is about to turn 15 when she receives a letter from one Alberto Knox, a philosopher who undertakes to educate her in his craft. Sections in which we read the text of Knox's lessons to Sophie about the pre-Socratics, Plato and St. Augustine alternate with those in which we find out about Sophie's life with her well-meaning mother. Soon, though, Sophie begins receiving other, stranger missives addressed to one Hilde Moller Knag from her absent father, Albert. As Alberto Knox's lessons approach this century, he and Sophie come to suspect that they are merely characters in a novel written by Albert for his daughter. Teacher and pupil hatch a plot to understand and possibly escape from their situation; and from there, matters get only weirder. Norwegian philosophy professor Gaarder's notion of making a history of philosophy accessible is a good one. Unfortunately, it's occasionally undermined by the dry language he uses to describe the works of various thinkers and by an idiosyncratic bias that gives one paragraph to Nietzsche but dozens to Sartre, breezing right by Wittgenstein and the most influential philosophy of this century, logical positivism. Many readers, regardless of their age, may be tempted to skip over the lessons, which aren't well integrated with the more interesting and unusual metafictional story line. Author tour. From School Library Journal YA?From the opening Goethe quotation to the closing discussion of the big bang theory, this is an extraordinary, exciting, provocative book that has been a bestseller in Europe. Gaarder presents a didactic history of philosophical thought as part of a fictional mystery story that both pulls readers along and breaks up the "heavy" explanations into manageable parts. Yet the plot is itself a philosophical conundrum, not resolved until the aftermath of a hilarious, disturbing garden party in celebration of both Midsummer's Eve and the 15th birthday of the protagonist, a suburban Norwegian teenager. And even then, the mystery, like the human mystery, is not really resolved, and leaves readers wanting to know more. Gaarder pulls off the difficult feat of blending philosophy and entertainment in a way that will capture YAs' interest and make them eager to explore further. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA From Library Journal This novel has already been a best seller in Scandinavia and Germany, and though it is markedly different from the prototypical American best seller, it should also do well here. The framework of the story is the receipt by a 14-year-old girl of mysterious letters that present her with a history of Western philosophy, from the pre-Socratics through Jean-Paul Sartre. After reading them, Sophie is prompted to ask questions and to think analytically. She also tries to discover their source and other manifestations, such as the puzzling postcards a Norwegian UN soldier in Lebanon sends to his nearly 15-year-old daughter. Adults and mature teens will appreciate the mystery as well as the philosophy lessons found in this first novel by a Norwegian high school philosophy teacher. Recommended for most collections. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Ann Irvine, Montgomery Cty. P.L., Md. From AudioFile Have you always wanted an overview of philosophy but never had the time to pursue it? SOPHIE'S WORLD is the answer. It contains an abbreviated survey of Western philosophy. Kitt Weagant reads 15-year-old Sophie's part in wonder-filled tones, sparkling with inquisitiveness. Jacob Needleman reads Alberto Knox, the philosophy teacher, who presents the philosophy in bit-sized pieces. His voice is slow and steady, phrasing the sentences for easy comprehension. The second tape contains music, which separates the story from the discourse and is often distracting. Nonetheless, SOPHIE'S WORLD will aid the listener in discovering the secrets of philosophical thought. M.B.K. From Kirkus Reviews What if we were all just characters from a book written by Major Albert Knag as a philosophical present for his daughter Hilde's 15th birthday? This is the question that Sophie Amundsen must ask as she tackles the history of philosophy in what begins as a personalized correspondence course for which she never signed up. Coming home from school one day, Sophie finds questions in her mailbox, followed by typewritten pages about philosophy. She also gets strange birthday cards apparently intended for a Hilde Mller Knag in Lillesand, whom she has never met. Through these unusual circumstances, Sophie embarks on the study of philosophy with Alberto Knox--a middle-aged mystery man in a beret--only to discover that she is nothing more than the fictional heroine of a novel (called Sophie's World) about the history of philosophy. Hilde, on the other hand, whom we meet halfway through the book, appears to be a real girl whose father has written a novel entitled Sophie's World. She in turn learns about philosophy by reading about Sophie's study of philosophy, never suspecting that she is merely a character in a book--Sophie's World--written by a philosophy teacher named Jostein Gaarder to teach teenagers the beauty of philosophical discourse. In this long, self- referential novel (to use the word loosely), Gaarder presents philosophy in a clear, cogent way, using Sophie's and Hilde's experiences to illustrate his points. The reader who is expecting something other than a creative textbook, however, will be disappointed. Maybe Gaarder can fool Norwegian youths into learning philosophy, but savvy American kids won't be so easily hoodwinked. Index. (Philosophy/Fiction. All ages) Midwest Book Review Sophie, a Norwegian schoolgirl, is anticipating her fifteenth birthday when a card arrives in the mail asking the question: Who are you? With her unorthodox and mysterious mentor Alberto Knox, Sophie ponders the great questions of Western philosophy (ranging from the pre-Socratic Greeks to Jean-Paul Sartre) in this fascinating, humorous work. Ideal listening for teens and adults of all ages. Book Dimension length: (cm)20.9 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)13.9 点击链接进入中文版： 苏菲的世界

《大哲学家100:世界上最伟大的思想家生平及成就简述》就引人人胜地描述了100位哲学家的生活和思想，正是他们改变了我们看待世界的方式。善与恶的本质是什么？存在的意义是什么，我们又是谁?数千年来，众多的哲学家一直在努力思考这类问题，权衡每，一种思想与每一种理性的选择。我们称之为大哲学家的那些男男女女都是些什么样的人？苏格拉底有云："未经审视的生活，不值得去过。"与古希腊、中国及当代最有影响的哲学家一道开始审视生活，其乐无穷。

在经历了如此久的时光和如此多的毁灭之后，这部古典时代的著作几乎毫发无伤地留存于世，我们真要感谢上苍。 　　本书既致力于古希腊世界几乎所有重要思想家生平行迹的描述，又试图勾勒出希腊思辩的全息图。他对古希腊文献的丰富占有和熟悉，使他在上述两方面几乎接近了成功。此外，本书对希腊精神的还原方式，使我们得以亲近那个逝去的时代，感受希腊的光芒和人性欲求。总之，这部大约成书于古典时代晚期的著作，适时地开列整个古希腊时代的精神遗产清单，留存无比珍贵的文献资料，从这个意义上讲，它已足够配得上它在西方世界获得的荣耀。

正如作者所说，这部传记是“热爱哲学的宣言”。这本书不仅仅是一个哲学家的传记，而且是将传主放在了那个“哲学的狂野年代”的背景之中，在叙述叔本华平淡而不乎凡的一生的同时，也将其哲学与其他的前辈或同时代哲学家一如康德、费希特、谢林、浪漫派哲学家、黑格尔、费尔巴哈、马克思——的思想放在一起考量。叔本华作为历史理性的怀疑者、悲观主义的哲学家，与乐观向上、高歌猛进的“狂野年代”格格不入，因而注定了默默无闻、知音难觅。书中既有生动的叙述、饶有情趣的逸事穿插，又有纵横捭阖的哲学比较、严谨的思辨。因此本一髂不仅仅是一本单纯的记述生平的传记，面且还是一本思想的传记，从某种意义上说也是一本哲学史著作，它的价值也正在于此。正是由于这本传记，作者一举成名，也正因作者的生花妙笔，叔本华再一次赢得了读者的关注。

冯友兰所著的《中国哲学史》两卷本是第一部完整的具有现代意义的中国哲学史，陈寅恪曾评此书，以为“取材谨严，持论精确……今欲求一中国哲学史，能骄傅会之恶习，而具了解之同情者，则冯君此作庶几近之”，“此书作者取西洋哲学观念，以阐紫阳之学，宜其所系统而多新解”。 这部哲学史的基本架构已为中国哲学史界普遍接受，其中的许多观点，如名家应分为惠施之“合同异”、公孙龙之“离坚白”两派，二程思想不同，分别为心学、理学之先驱，又如程朱异同、陆王异同、朱王异同等等，均为前人所未发，后人所不能改，已成为学术界的定论。故此哲学史是中国哲学史学科的奠基之作。 全著分为子学时代和经学时代两篇，子学时代介绍了孔子、墨子、孟子、战国、老子、公孙及儒家的哲学文化，经学时代介绍了董仲舒、朱子及清代的哲学文化。