The Difficulty of Reading Philosophy
TLDR : I just can’t read those books.
I had an interesting conversation once with a friend of mine. He had studied philosophy for his bachelor’s, so naturally I asked for some advice on who to read.
While the answer he gave was fun, I did think as to why I hadn’t picked up many philosophy books during my time reading. It wasn’t a matter of genre, nor was it a matter of writing. I had suffered through bad writing before, and I had read many a book from many genres before. What then?
I suppose it was due to the fact that I already had many opinions in my head as to what my philosophy of life was. I rarely listen to anyone giving me advice about anything, and yet here I was actively seeking out advice on what life was all about.
Another thing is that I can’t sit through a pure philosophy book. Philosophy told through stories is infinitely more entertaining than some philosophical concepts that are stated and restated again in some books. Look at Fight Club, Interstate 60 (this is one of the best movies I’ve ever watched btw), the Truman show, Shawshank Redemption, 12 angry men (1957 black and white version) and many more movies that seem to make philosophy fun (while standing on their own as movies too). You don’t need to understand any philosophy to watch them, but they do change the way you look at the world.
Star Trek is another example of a show that combines philosophy and entertainment (old Star Trek, not the new trash that carries the same name). It's one of those shows that gave me an optimism for life, that allowed me to enjoy what it's worth and everything in it (I watch ST before I watched Soul from Pixar, so yay the moral of enjoying life was wasted on me, though it was a good movie). It also gave me a different perspective of failure and working in teams, so there’s that.
Back to the point. Sometimes I wonder if I should ever pick up a philosophy book. While I fancy the idea of having my own philosophy I can claim to follow, I very much shudder to think of having to wade through tons of nonsense to find it. Sometimes I wonder if I’m looking for direction, like a teenager searching for their identity or a middle aged person searching for religion. I suppose I’m better off without one.
Or maybe I’ll write my own book on philosophy.
