I consider myself pretty well-read. I go to lengths to include nonfiction and classical lit in my reading, and I very rarely have difficulty grasping a subject. If that sounds like bragging, wait a moment, because I’ll knock myself down a peg or two.
I can’t wrap my head around philosophy. Last year, I attempted to read The Myth of Sisyphus, and it was a nightmare. I could barely follow a paragraph, to the point that I felt Camus was insulting me for opening the book. I set it down and forgot about it until now.
I started Kierkegaard’s The Sickness Unto Death, and I scarcely finished the first page. That first page is a jumble of words with no meaning, circular definitions, and again, I feel like I am either stupid, or that the author vomited on the page and it made it to print. Here is a sample, to show what I mean:
“But what is the self? The self is a relation that relates to itself, or is that in the relation which is the relation’s relating to itself. The self is not the relation but is that the relation relates to itself.”
I understand both of these are translated works (I am using the Kirmmse translation), but I’ve read plenty of translations, and never encountered this level of…obfuscation? I don’t know what else to call it.
So is this just beyond my reading level, a complication in jumping languages, or was Kierkegaard experiencing a psychotic break?
by cats4life
14 Comments
In my experience with reading more philosophical texts is that you really have to power through it because a lot of things that make no sense at first get clarified the farther you get in—so things that will be stated outright with no context or clarity will later get explained or will just make more sense the more it comes up.
But I also feel there’s no shame in utilizing tools like spark notes or X for dummies alongside your read because a lot of these texts are extremely dense
Honestly that’s just how philosophy is from my experience. I’d start with easier things like the stranger by Camus and maybe meditations by marcus Aurelius, candide by voltaire or no exit by Sartre. Haven’t read it but Sartre’s being and nothingness and existentialism is a humanism are considered significantly harder texts. When I listened to the beyond good and evil audiobook by Nietzsche I could barely grasp every other sentence.
quantum mechanics isn’t the result of a psychotic break, but there are parts of it that are almost impossible for most people to wrap their heads around. it’s highly specialized subject matter that most of us just aren’t able to grasp. certain types of philosophy are the same way.
Start with some basic stuff and work your way up. Use aids to help you understand. Watch some entry-level philosophy surveys on YouTube to get familiar with logical models. And pick an area (ethics? Political? Etc) that interests you and focus on that.
It’ll get easier but it’ll never be easy.
I don’t know about Keirks writing, but the issue when talking about philosophy is that it is a subject not a genre and the way it is commonly written in changes from place to place to time and ideology to ideology. There is a good chance you are just reading big names that you are not wired to enjoy or understand.
I’ve read and understood Hobbs, Machiavelli, and Plato. Yet I have tried 3 times in 10 years to read Nietzsche and I couldn’t get past chapter one because of his writing style.
No, you’re not stupid. But if you opened a book in engineering or some of the sciences, you might be lost also. Some very dense subjects demand, but also reward, intense organized study.
there are a lot of philosophy intro’s on YouTube. I use them to get an idea about a philosopher before i try to read them. helps a lot!
Myth of Sisyphus is a very difficult read. The problem with translations is they obscure the difference between language used in its commonplace meaning and language used in a special, ironic, or technical meaning, and this is immensely important in philosophy.
I don’t know if we are stupid, but I am exactly in your same situation. And sometimes I have your same thoughts about lacking the necessary intelligence.
I remember at university studying for my History Bachelor’s degree, I used to get the highest grade in every single exam, but for my compulsory Philosophy exam (based on Hume, fuck him and his theories) I struggled like an idiot, failing to comprehend basic concepts that apparently were easy for my course mates.
When it comes to Philosophy, most things just seem nonsensical to me, exactly like you mentioned in your example.
We probably aren’t stupid, it’s just that our brains work in a different way and we enjoy and understand better other subjects.
The most difficult class I took in college was for my linguistics degree: Philosophy of Language.
It was abstraction upon abstraction.
you’re not stupid. pushing the rock up the hill again and again is supposed to be hard work. and futile. kierkegaard (probably) isn’t having a psychotic break.
i would guess you’re jumping into a new field without any of the prior knowledge or experience of the kind of thinking that helps it all make sense?
reading the relevant entries in somewhere like the stanford encyclopedia might help [https://plato.stanford.edu/](https://plato.stanford.edu/) or an overview like russell’s history of western philosophy (an old one, maybe there’s something more modern someone might recommend?)
Omg, try Jacques Derrida. Eg,
Of Grammatology. As I recall, pretty much every sentence is insane. The translator’s introduction is 79 pages long; which, I suggest, should be considered a warning. I keep my copy in the restroom – it’s good for a laugh, every time I ‘sit’.
Philosophy is something which most people have absolutely no exposure too but most works are written for people who are already very familiar with it. It’s not just reading level but specifically knowledge of philosophy and being able to think in that way.
I always recommend people start with Plato. It’s relatively straightforward to understand the arguments he gives and is near the beginning of western philosophy so you don’t need as much background knowledge.
I’m actually glad you said this because I recently got the myth of Sisyphus and expected it to be more straightforward like some of his other writing… I was wondering if there was something wrong with me or the ebook I bought 😆