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Jose asked:
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I get a little frustrated at times because in philosophy there are so many words I don't understand.
The worst part is that I lack discipline when it comes to studying. Sometimes I think that maybe
philosophy is not for me. Can you give me some advice?
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I have sympathy with you because I used to be a lousy student. Lazy and undisciplined, it took a final
essay deadline, or the imminent threat of exams to get me off my back-side. Even now, I have to
psych myself up to read an article or a book. I don't find academic study a 'natural' thing to do.
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Your impatience and frustration seems to indicate that you are trying to tackle too much, too quickly.
Scale down the task. If your teacher gives you a book to read, read one chapter. If they give you a
chapter, read a section. If they give you a section, read a page. And if your teacher gives you one
page to read — well, you can read a page, can't you?
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Buy a good philosophical encyclopaedia. Three that I recommend to my Pathways students are the
Oxford Companion to Philosophy edited by Ted Honderich, the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
edited by Robert Audi, and the Concise Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, which is based on
the eight volume Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy edited by Edward Craig. Take your pick.
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The encyclopaedia will help you with philosophical terms, or names of philosophers that you have not
encountered before. But don't make the mistake of thinking that all difficulties of understanding can be
traced to unfamiliarity with the vocabulary of philosophy. It is a lot harder work reading a piece of
philosophy than it is reading just about any other subject. That is why you should expect to encounter
difficulties, and not bite off more than you can chew.
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I don't know whether or not philosophy for you. If you genuinely feel a need for philosophy, then
philosophy is for you. There will be times when a piece of assigned reading, or an essay, defeats you.
Expect that to happen. It happens to us all! Try again, or scale down the task, or put that topic on hold
while you look for a more accessible point to grapple with the subject. Persist, and your persistence
willpay off.
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Geoffrey Klempner
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