The Empty World Theory

[Anonymous No.18656227]

I have asked my father for recommendations of books that have somehow influenced his thinking. He didn't exactly understand what I mean so I gave him lots of examples of philosophical ideas that were expressed in various books. I explained how various books have influenced me. Each time he didn't understand something, I clarified until he said that he did. The whole
'monologue' lasted maybe 30min. At the end of it he said that he cannot recommend me any books, and that I should look for books to read myself.

Does this seem fucking normal to you? A guy who has spent practically every moment of free time reading books (he apparently read something around a 1000 of them), is unable to recommend me any books that he hasn't read for esthetical qualities. Before you argue that he has memory problems or whatever, he does not.

Do these people not think about the contents of the information they consume? I am seriously confused about what do I do now. Do I just assume that every person around me is absolutely retarded and I use standard appeasement tactics to make them fuck off while not inciting any conflict? At any rate, how the fuck can you be able to describe the events of some novel, but not be able to understand what ideas the authors tried to express? He also said that he didn't understand 'The Trial' by Kafka, so tell me how the fuck can you be able to say that you didn't understand something without attempting to understand it?

[Anonymous No.18656249]

>>18656227
Maybe he isn’t lost and searching but rather an intuitive man that has all he needs figured out. I personally am more affected by realizations theough conversations with friends rather than through what i’ve read in books. And i’ve read a lot. And i’ve studied philosophy.

[Anonymous No.18656260]

Another thing I forgot to mention. He read these two books by Harari. He read books by Hawking.
How the fuck is he able to understand these books, but not be able to say what philosophical ideas were expressed in various books he read? I can talk about philosophical ideas that literal propaganda pieces such as 'Trilogy' (I even gave him it as an example) express. I can talk about philosophical ideas expressed by fucking Pokémon or whatever shit (it's impossible to create a book with no philosophical ideas in it). HE CANNOT TALK ABOUT ANYTHING

[Anonymous No.18656266]

>>18656249
He read 1000 fucking books. How is it possible that he is unable to do this? I'm seriously puzzled. How could otherwise normal people not be able to do such a basic task?

[Anonymous No.18656285]

>>18656227
>Do these people not think about the contents of the information they consume?

It's possible to read for pleasure and not expect to derive a philosophy from the reading.

[Anonymous No.18656286]

>>18656227
>>18656260
>HE CANNOT TALK ABOUT ANYTHING
He's reached a dimension of knowledge you wouldn't even be able to imagine. He's decades ahead of you. The fact that you can't understand why he's not able to talk about anything just shows how long of a way you have ahead of you. You might not even make it.
Maybe try actually reading instead of being a dumb faggot.
Also, you have to be over 18 to post here.

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!bGBGaUpA8kS No.18656300]

1. Seems a man of simple tastes (not sure)
2. Perhaps he does understand The Trial, but assumes he’s not smart enough (humble?)
3. Books to him are probably entertainment, and people in his early life shaped him, as the anon above says.

I’m usually reluctant to offer titles to anons blindly. I have no idea what they want or need most of the time. Maybe he feels the same. Book choices are too personal

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!bGBGaUpA8kS No.18656312]

>>18656260
Did he not go to school? Or maybe failed speech classes. He holds it all in and that thirty minute speech was all he could muster for you.

[Anonymous No.18656313]

>>18656227
>Does this seem fucking normal to you?
Monologuing your entire worldview to your father just for a book rec? No.

[Laura Numeroff !BmHtx5LcGM No.18656320]

Maybe your dad just enjoys reading and he’s not trying to impress people with all the deep thoughts he has reading them?

[Anonymous No.18656329]

>>18656320
Fuck you, fucking dumb nigger.

[Laura Numeroff !BmHtx5LcGM No.18656332]

>>18656329
Haha, really struck a nerve there huh?

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!bGBGaUpA8kS No.18656357]

>>18656332
Who knows who that is or why his nerve got struck though

[Anonymous No.18656364]

>>18656285
My point is that you derive philosophy automatically.
>>18656286
He is 30 years older than me. Excuse me for this short regression, which might have led you to believe that I'm not over the age of 18, but this is somewhat emotional for me. My entire life I have assumed that most people are more similar than not to myself. My father isn't a simpleton. He actually scored higher on a IQ test than myself at my age (it's tested if you want to have paper asserting that you have dysgraphia). I got 120, he got something above (didn't say a specific number).

>>18656300
No, he elaborated that he found it esthetically interesting. When he realized that it's written in a 'scientific manner' (he said that each word was specific and without any of them the line of reasoning wouldn't make any sense), it humbled him.
Prior to this conversation he was completely happy to say that 'The Trial', 'Master and Margarita', and some two sci-fi books were his favorite ones. As such, he wasn't hesitant to recommend me books. He was hesitant to recommend me books that have influenced his thinking.
>>18656312
>>18656320
Of course he went to school. He studied psychology and became a criminal psychologist.

By the way, I'm not >>18656329, so I don't know what's his problem

[Laura Numeroff !BmHtx5LcGM No.18656383]

>>18656357
He is the wayward seethcel, traipsing assmad through thread after thread, yearning for his jimmies to be rustled

[Anonymous No.18656384]

>>18656364
>My point is that you derive philosophy automatically.
Read Wittgenstein, fag

[Anonymous No.18656388]

>>18656227
I read for pleasure, because I enjoy it and I love to read a good book regardless of genre, story and style. The shit I have to deal with in my daily life is shaping me, not books.

[Anonymous No.18656417]

>>18656384
Could you elaborate?
There's no additional thought necessary for me to derive philosophy. I could even argue that without it you cannot understand the plot

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!bGBGaUpA8kS No.18656420]

>>18656364
He is influenced by every breath breathed, every bite eaten, every conversation had, every word read.
He keeps a nice library does he?

[Anonymous No.18656435]

[Anonymous No.18656437]

>>18656227
>these people
He's your dad, and you're an edgy teen with issues

[Anonymous No.18656444]

Never meet your heroes.

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!bGBGaUpA8kS No.18656460]

>>18656444
Checked and correct.

[Anonymous No.18656483]

>>18656460
but you are my hero butterfly

[Anonymous No.18656518]

>>18656364
>He studied psychology and became a criminal psychologist.
Might he be psychopatic or something similar? I don't say this as an insult. Some people have brains that are incapable of feeling emotions.
I remember reading an article about precisely a neuroscientist who was analyzing brain scans of his relatives (including himself)... and he discovered he was psychopatic.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-neuroscientist-who-discovered-he-was-a-psychopath-180947814/

[Anonymous No.18656525]

>>18656420
We are from Poland, so most of the books that he read were borrowed. Moreover, he sold most of the ones he bought. There's just 200 books left in the house in which he grew up (and that's his books, mother's, father's, sister's, as well as nephew's). Since the time when it became possible to download books of internet, he hasn't bought a single one. As such, his library is actually quite small (don't worry about him lying to me about the number of books he read, it's certain).

[Anonymous No.18656540]

>>18656518
No, you can't be a criminal psychologist and suffer from any mental disorders. These people are tested for all these things (he was even issued a gun, and it's pretty much impossible to get one in Poland). Besides, he is the most neurotypical person that I know of

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!bGBGaUpA8kS No.18656680]

>>18656525
>>18656540
He sounds great. Two hundred isn’t a bad collection at all. I guess a picture of it wouldn’t help as they’d be in Polish.

[Anonymous No.18656758]

>>18656680
>tfw when no knee-high socks oversized sweatshirt with nobra gf next to a messy bookshelf

Captcha: JH0HD

[Anonymous No.18656763]

>>18656758
nobra?

[Anonymous No.18656781]

>>18656763
no bra

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!bGBGaUpA8kS No.18656787]

>>18656763
Brassiere-less

[Anonymous No.18656826]

"Going on means going far, going far means returning"

[Anonymous No.18656870]

>>18656227
you sound like a child, anon. please, grow up.

[Anonymous No.18656902]

>>18656227
Philosophical ideas are not the be-all and end-all of understanding literature. With lots of books I've read, even some of my favorite books of all-time, I didn't think about or care about the philosophical underpinnings or ideas in them whatsoever, and while I could look at them through that lens, and analyze them that way because I have the underlying theory knowledge to do that, there is nothing special about that particular lens that makes it important over any other.
When reading a book, the things I think about are the writing-style, characters and motivations, the setting, and the implications of the systems presented within the story, and those are what make a story interesting and fun to read and think about, for me. For you, evidently, the philosophical underpinnings are very important, and for your father, philosophy is not.
It does not make someone retarded if they don't care about the philosophy of a story and if they never learned the theory required to analyze a story with a philosophical lens, that is fine. People enjoy books for different reasons, and your father is not somehow a lesser reader than you because you place importance on things he doesn't

[Anonymous No.18656977]

>>18656260
>>18656227
Your dad seems to have gotten the basic idea that you are missing, that is philosophical works are gay and pointless. Philosophy is to answer deep questions that only you yourself can answer for you satisfactorily.

He may read but he doesn't care what the author thinks because he has already likely completed his life's purpose and made peace with it as he has a child.

Meanwhile you sit here criticizing him because he doesn't care about understanding other people's incorrect answers for his life

In short, your dad already has his life philosophy and is whole while you are an empty shell trying to fill it with others' thoughts

[Anonymous No.18657258]

>>18656977
BASED.

[Anonymous No.18657513]

>>18656902
>>18656977
Character motivations are based off philosophical ideas and it's impossible to understand the reason for why they they act the way they do without at the same time thinking about their philosophy. The reason why people often remember the names of these fictional characters is because of the choices they've made. Many even discuss these characters.
Considering that most novels are driven by the characters, it's impossible to avoid philosophy.

It's also worth mentioning that my father refused to suggest even non-fiction, in spite of the fact that I rambled about 'What Algorithms Want' and how my study of economics have affected my life (esp. the latter, as the 'economic method' is very useful in daily life). Non-fiction is very applicable to real world (you guys might think that studying math is useless, but it really isn't).

At any rate, I'm going to sleep now, so if you'd like to discuss this phenomenon further with me, I'll be back in 6-8h

[Anonymous No.18657544]

>>18657513
My dad is an electrical engineer. He is very knowledgeable when it comes to math, physics, statics, etc.
That said when we discusd books we don't discuss differential equations 4th edition. We discuss fiction, Lord of the Rings, Foundation, Caves of Steel etc. He doesn't read math/science/economic stuff because there is no point to. He does that stuff daily and just wants to enjoy a story when reading. Screw the philosophy bs. Similar case for me as I'm an engineer fag now too. Only nonfiction I read is history

May be a similar case for your dad

[Anonymous No.18657589]

I wish I had a dad like you.

[Anonymous No.18657619]

is butterfly a virgin and a lesbian

[Anonymous No.18657626]

he's just not pretentious. you shouldn't really be using books as mere instruments for ideas

[Anonymous No.18657666]

>>18656364
>My entire life I have assumed that most people are more similar than not to myself.
This is wrong.
> My father isn't a simpleton. He actually scored higher on a IQ test than myself at my age (it's tested if you want to have paper asserting that you have dysgraphia). I got 120, he got something above (didn't say a specific number).
IQ measures only the innate ability to acquire knowledge. It says nothing about what knowledge people will acquire, nor what they will do with it.
In other words, your father might actually be a simpleton. A high IQ simpleton, yes, but a simpleton nonetheless.
He may also just not want to tell you what he thinks. There are things that ought not to be, and therefore cannot be, said out loud.

[Anonymous No.18657837]

>>18656227
I've read every reply so far. He doesn't want to recommend a book under your conditions because he can think for himself and doesnt need a book to tell him. Your father has a soul and you are soulless. You will never be able to understand because your understanding is only what other people have explained to you.

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!bGBGaUpA8kS No.18658198]

>>18657619
>a virgin and a lesbian
Born-again (I exaggerate) and yes, strict vagitarian

One more Froggo. Ask /fa/ for more info

[࿇ C Œ M G E N V S ࿇ !KNDY3cHnRY No.18658464]

>>18656227


YES, IT IS NORMAL; EIGHT OUT OF EVERY TEN INDIVIDUALS IS NONCONSCIOUS.

[࿇ C Œ M G E N V S ࿇ !KNDY3cHnRY No.18658478]

>>18658464
>... [ARE] NONCONSCIOUS.

[Anonymous No.18658530]

People content with what they have in life typically don't feel compelled to seek more from it, including ones own sense of understanding. I myself have tried numerous times to get my own dad interested in philosophy, but he's perfectly happy to spend his days repairing antique radios and learning new racial slurs as if to him there couldn't be anything more.

[Anonymous No.18658571]

>>18657513
>Character motivations are based off philosophical ideas
What nightmare world are you living in where this is true? Character motivations are based off of their goals, background, and means primarily. Noone in the real world whips out their internal philosophy any time they make a decision, and a character who only does this in a story reads as stiff and unrelatable.

[Anonymous No.18658578]

>>18658571
also, internal character philosophy and the external philosophy of the writer and story need not be one and the same. In fact, most stories involve many characters with contradictory personal philosophies.

[Anonymous No.18658602]

>>18656680
>>18656787
Wait, butters, is that your gf?
She cute

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!bGBGaUpA8kS No.18658624]

>>18658602
Naw. She’s a Polish girl who used to post these pics on /fa/. Now makes music with some guy

[Anonymous No.18658738]

>>18656227
>read a thousand books
>draw no conclusions whatsoever
Your father is a Pyrrhonist sage and he is immeasurably based. I wish I could suspend judgement to this degree.

[Anonymous No.18659347]

>>18656364
These people are basically soulless. More beast than man. My parents are the same. Most people are. Thinking people are getting rarer and rarer. This is part of the nature of things, i.e. to decay. Embrace elitism.

[Anonymous No.18659832]

>>18658624
Ah, was about to congratulate you

[Anonymous No.18659838]

>>18658571
>>18658578
You've misunderstood me. During the creation process, the author bases characters motivations off philosophical ideas. The rest are justifications for this

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!bGBGaUpA8kS No.18659865]

>>18659832
Aw. She’s a little young for me

[Anonymous No.18659868]

>>18656227
Many people read books like they watch tv shows. My mom does this. Most on /lit/ read books because they have some metaphysical hole they want to fill. So when they read old books they’re seeing if what the author is saying is compatible with their own thought process. They’re seeking an unshakable truth not evident in their normal life to rest their identity on.
>>18656364
IQ only measures spatial reasoning. Math basically. And proficiency in math does not at all exhaust every domain in which knowledge can be had. It is not the end all be all determinate of intelligence.

[Anonymous No.18660050]

>>18656227
>>18656227
Has he read any of the books that are typically associated with the 'Western Canon'? Has he read any authors from antiquity, such as any of Euripides's plays, or Plato, or Aristotle? Do not expect a man to be wise just on the fact that he reads books; only come to such a conclusion after examining what books he has read, especially in this age of abysmal intellectual quality

[Anonymous No.18660107]

>>18656435
sup normie

[Anonymous No.18660183]

>>18656383
t. cormac mccarthy

[Anonymous No.18660193]

>>18656977
/thread

[Anonymous No.18660831]

>>18660050
Some writers that he recalls having read:
Hemingway, London, Rice, Vonnegut, Twain, Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, Tolstoy, Mann, Kafka, Cortazar, Marquez, Gombrowicz, Wisniewski-Snerg, Fitzgerald, Carroll, Camus, Sartre, Asimov, Dick, Goethe, Shakespeare, King, Fallaci, Iwaszkiewicz, Miłosz, Casey, Gurdjieff, Uspenskij, Crowley, Steiner.

He said that he will make some kind of list later, so if this thread is still up by then, I will post it here. Also, he apparently hasn't read any Greeks.

All of them he read in Polish

By the way, I wasn't joking about him having read a 1000 books or maybe even more. He just said that he finished roughly 3 books/week when he was 8-14, as he was apparently reading them not only in his free time but also during school lessons.

All of this makes it even weirder that he can't recommend me any books that have influenced his views

[Anonymous No.18660841]

>>18656260
>read these two books by Harari. He read books by Hawking
He's an npc midwit

[Anonymous No.18660844]

I just realized that 3 books/week for 6 years is 936 so I asked him what exactly does he mean by 'something above 1000' and clarified that it's probably closer to 3000 than 1000

[Anonymous No.18660855]

Your dad sounds based, too bad he raised a pussy of a son who bitches about him on anonymous gay porn boards

[Anonymous No.18660874]

>>18660844
he clarified*, also apparently he read only Homer out of all the Greeks

[Anonymous No.18660882]

>>18660855
My father has read so many books because that was basically the only form of entertainment for many years. He clarified that the reason why he is so incompetent and has so many problems is apparently because he was always dissatisfied with the state of the world and tried to escape from it by reading books