in the end Democritus had solved it on his own by using his common sense.
Sophie could hardly help smiling. It had to be true that nature was built up of
small parts that never changed. At the same time Heraclitus was obviously right in
thinking that all forms in nature “flow.” Because everybody dies, animals die, even a
mountain range slowly disintegrates. The point was that the mountain range is made
up of tiny indivisible parts that never break up.
At the same time Democritus had raised some new questions. For example, he
had said that everything happened mechanically. He did not accept that there was any
spiritual force in life—unlike Empedocles and An-axagoras. Democritus also believed
that man had no immortal soul.
Could she be sure of that?
She didn’t know. But then she had only just begun the philosophy course.
Fate
… the “fortune-teller” is trying to foresee something that is really quite
unforeseeable ...
Sophie had been keeping her eye on the mailbox while she read about
Democritus. But just in case, she decided nevertheless to take a stroll down to the
garden gate.
When she opened the front door she saw a small envelope on the front step.
And sure enough—it was addressed to Sophie Amundsen.
So he had tricked her! Today of all days, when she had kept such careful watch
on the mailbox, the mystery man had sneaked up to the house from a different angle
and just laid the letter on the step before making off into the woods again. Drat!
How did he know that Sophie was watching the mailbox today? Had he seen
her at the window? Anyway, she was glad to find the letter before her mother arrived.
Sophie went back to her room and opened the letter. The white envelope was a
bit wet around the edges, and had two little holes in it. Why was that? It had not
rained for several days.
The little note inside read:
Do you believe in Fate?
Is sickness the punishment of the gods?
What forces govern the course of history?
Did she believe in Fate? She was not at all sure. But she knew a lot of people
who did. There was a girl in her class who read horoscopes in magazines. But if they
believed in astrology, they probably believed in Fate as well, because astrologers
claimed that the position of the stars influenced people’s lives on Earth.
If you believed that a black cat crossing your path meant bad luck—well, then
you believed in Fate, didn’t you? As she thought about it, several more examples of
fatalism occurred to her. Why do so many people knock on wood, for example? And
why was Friday the thirteenth an unlucky day? Sophie had heard that lots of hotels
had no room number 13. It had to be because so many people were superstitious.
“Superstitious.” What a strange word. If you believed in Christianity or Islam, it
was called “faith.” But if you believed in astrology or Friday the thirteenth it was
superstition! Who had the right to call other people’s belief superstition?
Sophie was sure of one thing, though. Democritus had not believed in fate. He
was a materialist. He had only believed in atoms and empty space.
Sophie tried to think about the other questions on the note.