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I'm reading The Critique of Judgment. It's killing me. It's been hours since I started reading and I still feel like I'm guessing--these run on sentences are going to cause me to have a breakdown.
If anyone has any suggestions for reading Kant, specifically, how to approach his vocabulary or style, I would greatly appreciate it. I have a synopsis that I'm absolutely dependent on.
I guess I'd really just like to know if anyone else has had trouble with Kant.
Posts: 516 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Good Lord, put that down and save yourself! Why read it?
Unless, you're in a class...in which case I sympathize. Tonight I have to read two chapters on modern communication theory.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Find a good work of secondary literature and follow along in that. Read the critic's explanation of what Kant is saying first, then read the Kant yourself and see if you agree.
Allison's book is great for this method, but it's only on the First Critique. I don't know what a good source would be for the Critique of Judgement.
Posts: 4600 | Registered: Mar 2000
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So far, I kind of agree, only in so far in that I think I get the overall picture. I really don't know why anyone would be confident about thinking they know anything about Kant's intent, given the foregoing. Are his personal papers written like this? Was he insane? Will I be soon?
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Actually, Kant was a big party animal, throwing lavish feasts for his friends and visitors. Very popular, but never traveled much.
He discussed a lot of his philosophy with people, but yes, he wasn't the best writer. He's still remembered because he's a brilliant philosopher. And yes, we're pretty sure we know most of Kant's intent, at least as far as we know (or care to know) anyone's intent.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Actually, I know a lot ofpeopel who thinkk Kant is a waste of time, including one Philosophy professer I had in college. Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Heheheh. Some people hold that opinion because Kant's work has largely been surpassed by those who come after, but a lot of that is because he laid such a thorough groundwork. I don't know why your philosophy professor does, though.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Start with what others synthetised about Kant's work. My highschool book noted his 4 questions, one of which is "What could I know?" (not what I do know, which is a subset of all the things that may be known). I think about this question as I am thinking about "What is information?".
Anyone has any suggestions for this last question?
Posts: 15 | Registered: Jul 2005
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And suddently the Drunken Philosophers song (Monty Python of course) is running through my head...
Posts: 1368 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:And yes, we're pretty sure we know most of Kant's intent, at least as far as we know (or care to know) anyone's intent.
I don't know, I would say that there are some very serious disagreements about what Kant meant in each of his major works.
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I've decided I'm quoting Monty Python's Drunken Philosophers if only because it appears that Immanuel Kant was a drunken fart who was very rarely stable....
Posts: 516 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Note the qualifiers, they were a bit of a joke -- we're not very sure how much we can know anyone's intent on a sufficiently complex topic.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Phew. Thank goodness I didn't make that faux pas....was it Heidegger who was a boozy beggar? One just Kant be too careful.
Posts: 516 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I enjoy reading Kant, but I think that could just be because I'm used to it.
If you're having a hard time, I suggest doing the reading after class. I know that sounds like being a bad student, but it actually works. You'll understand the material so much better after you get an idea of what it's about. (So actually, doing supplementary reading as others have suggested would probably accomplish this as well.)
Posts: 866 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Actually, I do have a serious suggestion about reading difficult texts.
Get a book you can mark up, or better yet, an electronic version. Edit it. Strike out the phrases that aren't absolutely necessary (examples, for example); strike out really long ways of saying things and replace with something simple. Eventually you get down to something readable. This is how I handle monster texts.
Posts: 1877 | Registered: Apr 2005
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bunbun, you're probably right about the translation. My Historical Theology professor switched translations of Augustine between the time I took the class and when I was a TA for it two years later. The first translation was a joy to read. The second time, I could barely get through it without banging my head on the table, and I'd already read the good translation twice and loved it.
edit: The "bad" translation wasn't necessarily a bad translation, just not smooth prose. It was much harder to read.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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That's a really good point--I am sure there are truer translations that will make sense to German language scholars and really poor translations that are easier reading for me.
Oh, BTW, I used the word "teleological" about a million times in my reaction paper, and hopefully correctly, at least in the Hegelian sense.
Posts: 516 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Thanks Will-that's an awesome idea, and really a great approach especially for Kant--he's the king of parentheticals and dependent clauses.
Posts: 516 | Registered: Aug 2004
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*adding Kant to my list of authors I won't worry about too much if I never get to -- thanks for the warning!
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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When I used to try and read Kant I could never make it through it so I went to websites and got summaries. I dont know if that would help you but it might. It always helped me and it would help you if you are just trying to get the basic points he is making.
Posts: 457 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Hey, now. If you are going to do any serious thinking on aesthetics [and, really, why wouldn't you?], you are going to need to read Kant.
This won't really help you, bunbun, but I've enjoyed two books that look at the conditions and arguments that led up to Kant-- give the critique of judgement a bit of history and context.
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