This course is intended to familiarize students with philosophical, scientific and critical traditions of the Western world. Students will follow the plotline of Jostein Gaarder’s 1991 novel Sophie’s World as an intellectual map of the history of ideas. This historical exploration of ideas is meant to provide them with a strong foundation for critical analysis of literary, linguistic and cultural texts. More specifically, students will be able to trace the philosophical underpinnings of literary-critical thoughts today.