<p>I am a freshman and a prospective philosophy major currently taking two philosophy classes, one in ethics and the other in continental phenomenology (the latter is causing most of the problem here).</p>
<p>However, one thing that I have discovered is that while all of the philosophers we read have positively AMAZING ideas, many of them have a way of writing them up in a way that is phenomenally boring. The modern ones are a little better, but the dead German guys (Kant, Husserl, etc.) are truly gifted at making their work unreadable.</p>
<p>I really want to get the most out of the reading, but I am way too strapped for time to ever read a long section more than once. Is there any way to go at it that will make it easier, or do I just have to suck it up?</p>
<p>That’s why phenomenology is the devil. It consists of Heidegger trying to fit the word “being” into a sentence as much as possible. You could maybe look up some videos on youtube about philosophers discussing phenomenology. But I guess you just have to suck it up and try to read the text a few times to really grasp it fully.</p>
<p>Focus on the words. Make sure you aren’t thinking about ANYTHING else, or that will distract you while you’re reading and you won’t retain it. If you can read while putting things in your terms in your head, that helps. At least repeat it in your head while you’re reading, to make sure you aren’t thinking about anything else.</p>
<p>Try to read the passage as many times as you practically can. Type the name of the work on google too, there tends to be secondary sources of difficult texts written in more understandable english.</p>
<p>Snarky tip #1: That’s why you shouldn’t do continental philosophy. It’s crap.</p>
<p>Not-snarky tip #2: You have to give Kant a break. Thinkers with newish ideas often struggle to express them clearly. They have to invent new terminology, etc. </p>
<p>Not-snarky tip #3: There is no substitute for reading it several times. Read it (at least) once before class - and make sure you are reading actively. Then, go to class and hash it out with everyone else. After class, read the text a second time so that you can really put things together in a way that makes the most sense to you, and focus on the passages the professor pointed out as particularly important.</p>
<p>Not-snarky tip #4: Reading philosophy is hard - even professional philosophers can spend hours puzzling over just a few pages. But there is really no substitute to slogging through it and trying to figure it out on your own. I know it’s tempting to look at Sparknotes, etc., but don’t do it. Whoever said you could do “Kant in 90 minutes” is just wrong.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean to exclusively read secondary sources, but any reader should feel free to use them as a supplement source. Sometimes secondary sources point out things you may not have noticed by strictly reading the primary text. But I do urge anybody majoring in philosophy to always focus on the primary first.</p>
<p>It’s filled with articles written by contemporary, well-respected philosophers. I can’t promise the writing is exciting, but it’s relatively clear and concise. And, it is less likely to contain glaring errors than something like Sparknotes.</p>
<p>Why does one major in any field? One finds it interesting.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, you’ll have to suck it up. Reading multiple times helps, even if you just skim or focus on certain passages after the first reading. Reading secondary sources and getting a better overall idea of the goals of the philosophers you are reading, and how their work is influential and relevant, is also a good idea; it really helps piece everything together.</p>
<p>I took a few philosophy classes, I too love the logic but hated the reading, my advice would be slog through it then look up whatever you’re confused about. There’s some that without outside explainations would just be impossible to get through - namely I recall one in my Ethics class where a female philosopher was writing up a pro-choice argument where a lot of the questions on the review were really just impossible to locate in text… to the point where I was spending half an hour reading back and forth trying to find “where [she] makes the argument that forcing a woman to carry a baby to term is like allowing a robber into your house” that if I recall was one of the easier ones to locate but the others would barely address the question… just insanely difficult to locate.</p>
<p>I’m actually considering minoring in Philosophy just for the hell of it (or just completing 1 class at the UC level to fulfil the prereqs for a useless AA and be done with it). The logic classes are some of the most fun I’ve ever had.</p>
<p>Unis arent meant for a ‘job’ they are institutions of knowledge. How many times do we have to go over this issue before message is received? Besides law, philosophy is often coupled with cs at most top unis.</p>
<p>@ MLDWoody
I’m going to use my background in ethics to go to law school and become a human rights lawyer. Now please leave until you have something helpful to add.</p>
<p>@Everyone else
Thanks for the advice. I guess the reading will get easier in time. I’m going to have to learn to do boring reading if I’m gonna go to law school anyway.</p>
I’m going to have to learn to do boring reading if I’m gonna go to law school anyway.</p>