Reading as a Philosopher - The Philosophers' Magazine 29/05/2019 18)02

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! DAVID W. CONCEPCIÓN " ESSAYS (/ESSAYS) # 22 MAY 2019

Reading as a Philosopher (/essays/76-the-meaning-of-

asshole)
David W. Concepción’s Top Ten Pointers
The Meaning of
Next to the large red “D” at the bottom of the term paper I wrote for a mid-level political science
course during my second semester in college, was written, “You think like a philosopher, not a
"Asshole"
political scientist.” Blithely taking this comment, the only comment, as sage advice rather than (/essays/76-the-
dismissive insult, I signed up to take “Theories of Human Nature” in the philosophy department meaning-of-asshole)
the next semester.

I remember having a profound but vague feeling that was a mixture of relief and exhilaration
during the !rst week of Theories of Human Nature. “I have found my people,” I thought. I didn’t
know that there is a !eld of study that counted as sensible the questions that were always in my
head. Even more amazing is that the type of thoughts I o"ered as answers, while ramshackle,
were the same type of answers philosophers provide. I changed my major before the end of the
semester.

But I had a problem. I did not know how to read philosophy. I did not know how to connect
reasons to conclusions, track changes in voice, decipher nuance, evaluate arguments, or use the (/essays/153-can-
text to critique my own views. I knew how to read so as to extract information that I might be psychologists-tell-us-
asked to regurgitate at some later point, but I didn’t know how to read as philosophers read. anything-about-philosophy)
While accurate basic information distillation is necessary for a meaningful philosophy reading
experience, it is woefully insu#cient. In my !rst philosophy course, I read every assignment Can Psychologists
slowly with a dictionary and thesaurus at my side. With the exception of Kant – which I knew I Tell Us Anything
didn’t understand – I discovered and rediscovered each day in class that what I had done, the About Morality?
way I had read, did not prepare me to engage the ideas in the way that was expected of me. As a
nascent philosophy enthusiast, I was spinning my wheels. What follows is a top 10 list of the
(/essays/153-can-
things I wish I had known when I started reading philosophy. psychologists-tell-
(1) There is no such thing as reading without quali!cation. Instead there is reading as a
us-anything-about-
philosopher, historian, cartographer, journalist, and so on. Even within a discipline there is no philosophy)
single way to read. In part, this is because there are many sub-types of writing within each !eld.
Perhaps the most prevalent form of writing among philosophers is argumentative writing. In
this form, the author defends a thesis by attempting to show that certain inferences from
something uncontroversial to something surprising are plausible. The author is also likely to try
to show that attempts to prove that an inference they make fails are unsuccessful. But some
philosophers work near the intersection of philosophy and literary criticism, where the phrase “I
argue that …” simply means “I believe that …” and where few inferences may be o"ered. Other
philosophers work near the intersection of philosophy and physics, where sentences such as “∀n
(Q(n) P(n))” might occur. Some philosophers quote a lot in an attempt to show that one

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Reading as a Philosopher - The Philosophers' Magazine 29/05/2019 18)02

interpretation of a text is superior to an alternative interpretation, while yet other philosophers (/essays/131-want-to-be-
attempt to prove a point in a way where quotations and footnotes are merely to notice that good-at-philosophy-study-
others have said something about the topic. And, a recent upsurge in experimental philosophy maths-and-science)
has given birth to yet another form of philosophical writing.
Want to Be Good at
I mention this variety to make it clear that what follows must be understood as incomplete. It
re$ects my training as an ethicist who works predominantly with article and chapter length,
Philosophy? Study
English language, twentieth and twenty-!rst century writing in a pluralist but analytic-leaning Maths and Science
tradition. (/essays/131-want-
In addition to di"erences in types of philosophical writing, there are di"erences in the goals one to-be-good-at-
might have when reading philosophy. Which goals one has in$uences how one should read. philosophy-study-
What excites me so much about reading philosophy is the opportunity to have my beliefs and maths-and-science)
values challenged. I read philosophy to identify, clarify, and test my current beliefs and values.
As such, reading philosophy is an act of creation, self-creation of perspicuous wisdom regarding
how to live well with others. As a step toward this wisdom making, I hope that the !rst-year
students in my philosophy courses become more intellectually humble and less dogmatic as a
result of reading philosophy. For most people, these goals are unattainable unless they give
themselves over to the strangeness and disquiet that so o%en comes with reading philosophy.

(2) The experience of reading philosophy is strange. It is strange, in part, because the subject
matter of philosophy is immaterial. This shouldn’t suggest that facts don’t matter in philosophy.
A mantra of an ethics teacher of mine was “Good ethics starts with good facts”. Right he was.
(/essays/142-donald-trump-
Rather, to say that the subject matter of philosophy is immaterial is to say that questions such as
deniability-and-!gleaves)
“What is justice?,” “Does the God of Abraham exist?,” and “What can I know?” are not answered
by plumbing the depths of empirical or even social objects. They are answered by drawing
Donald Trump,
inferences to increase the coherence among one’s set of beliefs, and, in the unusual case,
deriving corollaries from (apparently) self-evident truths. What is strange about this is that
Deniability and
philosophy is ostensibly a truth-seeking practice. Yet it seeks truth without assuming doctrinal Figleaves
foundations or the use of the scienti!c method; Philosophy tries to achieve an end without using (/essays/142-donald-
either of the centuries old means thought appropriate for the task. What’s worse, more o%en trump-deniability-
than not the attempt fails. Philosophy shows that many things which are thought true are not,
but it doesn’t establish very many truths. Philosophy is strange because it is more of a falsity
and-figleaves)
shedding venture than a truth building one. This strangeness con!rms for me that philosophy is
centrally about gaining wisdom and not truth, although one shouldn’t turn one’s nose up at a
truth if one is found.

The strangeness of philosophy has implications for the reader of philosophy. The philosophy
reader should not be searching for bits of established fact or even for evidence designed to
con!rm a hypothesis regarding an empirical (or social) fact. Rather, in a text, a reader of
philosophy should look for inferences or connections between highly plausible assumptions and
surprising conclusions that are di#cult reject.

(3) The experience of reading philosophy is o%en disquieting. When reading philosophy, the
values around which one has heretofore organised one’s life may come to look provincial, $atly
wrong, or even evil. When beliefs previously held as truths are rendered implausible, new
beliefs, values, and ways of living may be required. This philosophical cut at one’s core beliefs,
values, and way of life is di#cult enough. What’s worse, philosophers admonish each other to
remain unsutured until such time as a defensible new answer is revealed or constructed.
Sometimes philosophical writing is even strictly critical in that it does not even attempt to
provide an alternative a%er tearing down a cultural or conceptual citadel. The reader of
philosophy must be prepared for the possibility of this experience. While reading philosophy
can help one clarify one’s values, and even make one self-conscious for the !rst time of the fact
that there are good reasons for believing what one believes, it can also generate unremediated
doubt that is di#cult to live with. (4) To read philosophy well one needs courage.

Lastly, before moving to more concrete reading practices, let’s remember that when done well
reading philosophy is an instance of doing philosophy. If one uses the arguments found in a
philosophical text as the occasion to evaluate the plausibility of one’s own justi!cations for
believing what one believes, then one is doing philosophy. A%er reading philosophy one will
o%en have gathered some information and been entertained. But reading philosophy is at its
core an act of creation. Reading philosophy is most exciting when the reader puts themself at
risk by being open to persuasion. Sometimes nothing short of one’s identity is at stake.

So, philosophers read courageously, evaluating the plausibility of inferences, with an openness
to self-re-creation wrenched from a dissipation and reconstruction of truth. But how does one
read this way? There are two major steps: understanding and evaluating.

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Understanding. (5) Set the Stage. Before reading an essay about which I know very little I
sometimes !nd it helpful to read a Wikipedia summary. But too o%en Wikipedia is not detailed
enough. When I need more background information, I turn to the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy or the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Internet Encyclopedia is usually a
bit more accessible, while the Stanford Encyclopedia is usually more thorough. By gaining some
understanding of the conceptual terrain within which the essay I am reading resides, I can
usually make better sense of the !ne-grained discussion found in the essay.

Understanding. (6) Track the structure and voice of the argumentation. Philosophical texts have
conclusions, reasons, criticisms, and replies. First, discern what the author hopes to show. While
the conclusion is usually stated rather early, it might be at the end of the !rst section, and it
might not be explicitly stated until the concluding section of the essay. Second, !gure out why
the author thinks they are right. Typically, the initial argument should begin early in the essay,
but it might not be pulled together until the end. Throughout the paper, the author is likely to
consider objections to the assertions they make. It is important to notice the change in voice that
proceeds the explanation of an objection. For example, a reader might see “critics of this idea
might argue …” These o%entimes brief and sometimes only implied shi%s to the critic’s voice are
crucial for tracking the argument. In almost every case an objection will be followed by a return
to the author’s voice: “By way of reply …” Marking where the moves from argument, criticism,
and response take place make it much easier to pull the entire argument together.

Understanding. (7) Assess and note progress. Some passages are particularly thorny. As a result, it
is very common to read philosophy much slower than one reads other texts. Indeed, many
philosophers stop at the end of sections, and sometimes paragraphs or even sentences, to check
if they can restate the ideas in their own words. If it is di#cult to do so, some re-reading before
moving on is necessary. For the most di#cult texts, I create paragraph by paragraph summaries
as I go by writing a clause or a sentence that is a paraphrase of the central content of a
paragraph. By making sure that I understand a paragraph well enough to state its main point in
my own words, I know I am ready to move on.

Understanding. (8) Bring it all together. I !nd it very helpful to write out a summary of the
argument once I reach the end of an essay. This summary compiles the assumptions and
inferences the author believes leads to the conclusion, as well as the objections and replies
considered along the way. Typically, these summaries are quite abbreviated; they contain bullet
points and lists. The aim of such a summary isn’t to generate an accessible prose abridgment,
but rather to capture purely for my own use the major argumentative moves in the essay.
Without the argumentative moves readily at hand it would be di#cult to do the fun stu": it
would be di#cult to evaluate the text.

(9) Evaluate. At one’s leisure ruminate on what additional reasons there might be to think the
author is correct or incorrect. Consider whether one’s lived experience provides any insights
regarding the merits of the arguments? What are the implications of the author being correct?
For truth? For your beliefs? For how you should live? Talk with friends about the arguments,
especially those who are likely to disagree with you. Dra% additional criticisms and see if you
can imagine replies on the author’s behalf.

(10) Decide. A%er su#cient time, move from evaluating the arguments to your own conclusions.
Is the author right, wrong, or, more likely, partly right and partly wrong? About what, if
anything, ought you change your mind? Once you’ve decided what you think about the ideas in
the essay, pick up another one that contains new arguments that might change your mind again.

As for what to read, who knows? Read what excites you. I believe people who are early in a
philosophy reading career are well served by sticking to article and chapter length works until
they come across an author or topic they really like. If you aren’t sure where your interests lie, or
you’re looking for something unlike what you normally read, start by browsing the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. If you’re lucky there will be a book that collects essays around a
theme that provokes you. If you are really lucky, a favorited author will have a book that collects
the author’s essays, such that you get revised versions that have something of a thread, even as
they continue to stand alone.

Three of my favourites as I began my journey as a philosophy reader were Thomas Nagel’s

Mortal Questions (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/mortal-
questions/F0D076D52E53EB398DFBEF8E68FF15D1), Bernard Williams’ Moral Luck
(https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/moral-luck/84945A1EB61E73D5676E22B6F520B3C0),
and Marilyn Frye’s The Politics of Reality
(https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/197801/politics-of-reality-by-marilyn-
frye/9780895940995/). On the more literary side of philosophy are James Baldwin, Collected
Essays and Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There
(https://www.aldoleopold.org/about/aldo-leopold/sand-county-almanac/). Finally, when you

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really fall in love with a thinker, as I did with John Rawls, it’s time to pick up a tome. Rawls’ A
Theory of Justice (http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674000780&content=toc)
might just change your life.

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David W. Concepción is professor of philosophy at Ball State University, chair of the American
Philosophical Association, Committee on Teaching, and author of Reading Philosophy with
Background Knowledge and Metacognition. (https://philpapers.org/rec/CONRPW)

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