/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.18182556]

>start reading philosophy
>need to read every paragraph at least 3 times in order to understand it
>realize I’m a midwit

[Anonymous No.18182564]

you're not a midwit, you just have /lit/-induced brain fog

[Anonymous No.18182584]

>>18182556
That is actually okay. I also read every paragraph two times and also write a summary of it (with my own thoughts on the subject if I have any). I find that my retention of texts has majorly improved because of this practice.

[Anonymous No.18182597]

>the virgin 200 wpm speedreader
> the chad slowly read aloud and occasional pause to ponder

[Anonymous No.18182647]

>>18182584
I’ll start doing this. I did it for novels but most of those I can understand more easily and remember well for the most part

[Anonymous No.18182681]

>>18182647
I don't think there is a point to do so while reading fiction as it is supposed to be enjoyed uninterrupted. When reading a novel, I try to imagine how this or that scene would look on a screen.

[Anonymous No.18182730]

>>18182556
Which book. Many are written for a specific audience of professional thinkers.
Go easy and take the books dedicated to wider audiences, also use secondary literature as a guide.

Many philosophers just write horribly. Their ideas are good but the prose is terrible and you are better off reading a summary.

[Anonymous No.18182750]

>>18182730
The Sonic Episteme. Whenever she starts talking about music aspects I can breeze through it easily since it’s something I understand wholly, but when she brings up concepts of other philosophers or academics (which is often) I get lost and have to reread most of it. I also don’t know if it qualifies as strict philosophy.

[Anonymous No.18182805]

>be me
>read Kant a lot
>engage into a philosophical discussion on a much slower imageboard
>that guy says that Hume has proved all causal relations to be illusionary thus Kant's theory is bogus
>i endavour to read all Hume's major works in order to find a refutation for that statement
>three months later I come back to the thread and explain that there is no repugnancy between Kant and Hume on causality
>nobody responds
>tfw when a random dude just tricked me into reading Hume

[Anonymous No.18183042]

I tried reading beautiful fighting girl because it's in my area of interest but towards the end the guy kept going on about psychoanalysis and I couldn't keep up anymore

[Anonymous No.18183065]

>>18182556
Totally normal, considering "philosophy" is mostly pseudointellectual gibberish with no basis in science or reality.

[Anonymous No.18183075]

>>18182805
But have you read Rabbi Salomon Maimon's Humean response to Kant?

[Anonymous No.18183102]

>>18183075
I will not be tricked again!

[Anonymous No.18183109]

>>18182805
but have you read karma sutra?

[Anonymous No.18183122]

>>18182750
I just read a summary of the book. What's her beef with Spandau Ballet?

[Anonymous No.18183173]

>>18183122
Haven’t gotten there, just finished the intro today so that’s why I made the thread lol.

[Anonymous No.18183208]

>>18182750
Check out picrel. Good overview of philosophy and the major philosophers. It will familiarize yourself with a lot of the ideas that people reference without you having to read the work of every philosopher.

[Anonymous No.18183217]

>>18182556
Stick with it. My first philosophical text was difficult but now ive read over 20 philosophers and lots of works. Not too difficult anymore. Just as lifting weights increases strength, so too do tough books increase reading capabilities

[Anonymous No.18183224]

>>18183065
Retard

[Anonymous No.18183561]

>>18183208
do even need to read the works of any of them if you just have summaries of all if their ideas? what's the value in reading their actual works?

[Anonymous No.18183594]

>>18182556
Perfectly normal OP. I did this a lot when I started read Plato and Descartes, since the type of language was so alien to me. Also you have to condition your brain to be able to quickly synthesize concepts and follow lines of thought through 100s of pages. Personally, I found it got easier and easier to read as you keep moving through more and more complex thinkers as you adopt the language of the philosopher and your mind basically goes through training in critical reading and thinking during the first year or two of reading. I still sometimes have to re-read a page of some difficult texts like Being and Time and its perfectly normal to do so, you aren't a midwit you just need to keep at it and continue to think about what you read. Best of luck on your journey OP :)

[Anonymous No.18183606]

>>18182805
>he didn't read Hume prior to jumping into Kant
???? Bro....

[Anonymous No.18183637]

I read death of the author and I eventually got it (I think) but my god why do they have to write like that? you can communicate these concepts in much simpler ways, eloquence isn't predicated on using long words.

[Anonymous No.18183639]

>>18183606
Yeah, I kinda did the reverse thing, working my way trough Berkeley right now. It's fun reading the empiricists from kantian standpoint.

[Anonymous No.18183720]

>>18182597
>the gigachad audiobook and pause to ponder, then writes an open article to start discussion

[Anonymous No.18183850]

It isn't reading slowly that makes you a midwit, but rather reading philosophy itself. Philopshy is peak reddit soi midwit territory.

[Anonymous No.18184019]

>>18183561
What's the value of learning anything beyond the surface level? It's up to you. If you really give a shit about a particular question, you'll want to truly understand someone's answer. If you needed an electrical engineer, you'd want an electrical engineer, not a guy who's watched a bunch of electroboom videos on youtube and wings it.

[Anonymous No.18184074]

>>18183850
>reddit
>soi
>midwit
Wow, three whole buzzwords to describe something you don't like in one sentence. Usually it's just one or two.

[Anonymous No.18184138]

>>18183850
>peak reddit soi midwit territory
wombo combo

[Anonymous No.18184161]

>>18183850
faggot

[Anonymous No.18184169]

>>18184074
>>18184161
Seething philosofaggots

[Anonymous No.18184314]

>>18183594
Not OP, but thx for the advice :D

[Anonymous No.18184323]

>>18182556
Is all right OP, they write to filter the unworthy, accept if you
Give up, be proud if your mind opens
You'll go further than /lit/ if you do not resent your choice

[Anonymous No.18184325]

>>18184169
I hardly read any, you're just an annoying shit.

[Anonymous No.18184427]

>>18184169
My dick's bigger than yours.

[Anonymous No.18184433]

>>18182556
no, you must read the whole thing three times; the first time just skip over what doesn't make sense and take note of what you like (in case you don't get around to a second reading)
getting the gist of it bets getting sick of it 1/3 way through

[Anonymous No.18184451]

>>18182805
>>18183606
>interested in ethics
>read After Virtue before going into Kant etc
>mfw