How much Philosophy do you read (beyond your undergrad course requirement)?

[gradcoffee]

How much philosophy did you guys read when you were an undergraduate? Do you read journal articles or books?

 

Do you have a systematic way of reading philosophy? Time-based (e.g. 1 journal article/day, 1 book/week) or other systems (e.g. achieving "competency" in sub-field X before moving to sub-field Y)?

 

Do you read across a variety of sub-fields? If you abhor a particular sub-field, would you avoid reading any works within that sub-field?

 

Any other reading advice for current undergraduates? Thanks!

 

[bar_scene_gambler]

I read a lot as an undergrad. I read books mostly, though occasionally I would look through JStor or something like that for interesting articles. I didn't have any system, which is to say that I read as much as I could when I could, but my work was always my primary focus. I tried to read a variety of topics, though most were either continental or related works. I would never avoid reading a work from another field of philosophy though, it's just difficult knowing where to start. For instance, though I have no particular interest in Hume or Plato, I've taken two advanced independent studies on Hume's corpus and Plato's Republic.

If I had to give you advice, I would say this:

1) Don't shy away from studying areas of philosophy which you're unfamiliar with or which seem unappealing at first sight. You may be surprised at how much you can be interested in.

2) Start language preparation early. Even if language requirements might be on their way out, you have no way of knowing what the future holds and you'll benefit from a knowledge of at least one philosophical language. I wish I'd started German earlier, but I decided to do Mandarin first and now I'm playing catch-up.

[catwoman15]

One thing that you could do, if you aren't already, is to read all of the works cited by a particular article that you really like. Then, the next article (out of the bibliography of the first) that you really like, you can do the same thing. This will help you get familiar with a very specific set of sub-specialty literature, but will also introduce you to relevant stuff that you wouldn't have otherwise read. As to how much you should read...grad students should read as much as possible, but for an undergrad, I would say, as much as interests you.

[Philhopeful]

I'd recommend starting with broad historical works or low level subfield introductions. The "Contemporary Introduction to.." series is a really good place to start. You can also try using syllabi of courses you haven't taken as reading lists. A lot of primary source books and articles will draw on past debates and terminology without flagging it, and it can completely change the way you read even the most basic parts of the source. I'm generally of the opinion though that one can't honestly identify interests until they have some grasp of the big picture though. 

 

 

I read in terms of time based goals, 360 focused minutes a day. If that sort of thing appeals to you, google paymo. Its an easy time tracking app.

 

I think I read about 60:40 in favor of independent reading.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Philhopeful

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

As an undergraduate I explored articles and books that were relevant to the courses I was taking. Psychology class? I'd explore philosophy of the mind stuff. Art/Creative Writing - I'd read some critical theory stuff plus Poetics.

My advice: start making connections early. How does X relate to Y sort of stuff.

[Table]

How much philosophy did you guys read when you were an undergraduate? Do you read journal articles or books?

 

I've read essentially no books outside of my course requirements and research projects. ("essentially" because I read a book the summer before my junior year that was not directly for anything, but I had finding a topic for my senior project in mind) We do use a lot of books in my classes, though I don't think I've ever read a philosophy book in its entirety in a class. I often read more of these books on my own. 

I do read a fair number of journal articles outside of my classes, though. (I also often read SEP articles for topics that are tangentially relevant to my classes) Most often, I find these articles from other articles' bibliographies, like catwoman said, or just searching for things on philpapers.

I also really like the philpapers bibliographies for finding articles. It's a great way to browse if you have a general topic you're interested in but don't have a specific "conversation" you want to follow by going off a specific article's bibliography.

 

Do you have a systematic way of reading philosophy? Time-based (e.g. 1 journal article/day, 1 book/week) or other systems (e.g. achieving "competency" in sub-field X before moving to sub-field Y)?

 

Do you read across a variety of sub-fields? If you abhor a particular sub-field, would you avoid reading any works within that sub-field?

 

I've never tried to do a survey of a sub-field on my own. If you want to, though, I think philhopeful's suggestion of doing the readings from the syllabi for a course you haven't taken is a great way to try to do it. 

 

My independent reading is pretty focused on my interests. I do wish there was an easy way to find exciting new articles regardless of field, but I don't know of one. Marcus Arvan at the philosopher's cocoon recently tried to get people to list what they thought were the best works of 2013 but there wasn't much participation. If anyone knows of a good resource for this I'd love to hear about it. 

 

I don't independently read things from sub-fields I'm not interested because, well, I'm not interested in them. (I'll sometimes read SEP articles for things that don't initially appeal to me to see what they're about, but that's really it.) There's only so much time in a day, and there's so much stuff I want to read that I am really interested in. As an undergrad, my independent reading has focused on getting more depth rather than breadth. I don't think this is a bad thing. Undergrad courses often give you a lot of breadth at the expense of depth.

 

Any other reading advice for current undergraduates? Thanks!

 

I think it helps me that I've always read a ton of shit all the time. Like non-philosophy stuff. When I'm not working, I'm usually reading online... long-form articles, blogs, etc. I've also been reading more non-phil books lately to get away from my computer.

I think this is useful for two reasons. 1, reading philosophy exclusively can push me into always reading in a very detail-oriented way, very slowly and carefully. Reading long articles about light topics keeps up your quick reading skills, and sometimes you need to be able to skim. 2, philosophers are unfortunately not always the best writers. I think stepping away from that and reading really well-written literature helps with my writing, but who knows. 

Edited January 3, 2014 by Table

[MattDest]

 

I read in terms of time based goals, 360 focused minutes a day. If that sort of thing appeals to you, google paymo. Its an easy time tracking app.

 

WHAT? You read *focused* for six hours a day? That's incredible. Is this normal for others in the forum?  Do you write daily also?

 

To answer the OP's question, my answers are pretty much the same as Table's (I've read a few books outside of curriculum, though). I think that going through an SEP article that interests you and exploring the bibliography is one of the most helpful ways to introduce yourself to a topic. I would also read widely. Even though you may initially find a subject matter unappealing, it might turn out that you end up liking it once you learn more about it. 

[bar_scene_gambler]

WHAT? You read *focused* for six hours a day? That's incredible. Is this normal for others in the forum?  Do you write daily also?

 

To answer the OP's question, my answers are pretty much the same as Table's (I've read a few books outside of curriculum, though). I think that going through an SEP article that interests you and exploring the bibliography is one of the most helpful ways to introduce yourself to a topic. I would also read widely. Even though you may initially find a subject matter unappealing, it might turn out that you end up liking it once you learn more about it. 

I didn't read for a full 6 every single day, as my schedule tends to vary widely, but occasionally I'd hit between 5 and 6 hours of independent reading. Mostly I'd be somewhere in the 3-4 range, but others have more time on their hands apparently. 

[Philhopeful]

WHAT? You read *focused* for six hours a day? That's incredible. Is this normal for others in the forum?  Do you write daily also?

 

 

 

Thanks! And I also count note writing and drafting, so its not exclusively reading. It should also be qualified to weekdays. I built up the habit slowly over the last year or so as a way of optimizing my time. When I first started recording my time I was barely doing 12 hours of consistent work a week. It gets a lot easier if you can work at the same time and place though--your mind starts adjusting for the right level of concentration on its own. 

 

Writing is my next priority. I'm hoping to do an hour a day. I find it a lot harder though because I never want to write anything until I feel like the idea is well formed.

[MattDest]

Thanks! And I also count note writing and drafting, so its not exclusively reading. It should also be qualified to weekdays. I built up the habit slowly over the last year or so as a way of optimizing my time. When I first started recording my time I was barely doing 12 hours of consistent work a week. It gets a lot easier if you can work at the same time and place though--your mind starts adjusting for the right level of concentration on its own. 

 

Writing is my next priority. I'm hoping to do an hour a day. I find it a lot harder though because I never want to write anything until I feel like the idea is well formed.

 

That's pretty amazing, I really envy this type of self-discipline (and open schedule!). Sorry to keep pestering you with questions, this is just completely alien to me. I know how exhausted I was after the GRE (which was, IIRC, ~4 hours of focused reading/writing) and wonder if it's that same kind of mental/physical taxation that you experience? I can't imagine keeping sedentary long enough to read for six hours every day. 

 

As for myself - my own time spent reading varies wildly, because I have to balance it with other things such as teaching, developing materials, grading papers, club/org business, classes, etc. 

[catwoman15]

WHAT? You read *focused* for six hours a day? That's incredible. Is this normal for others in the forum?  Do you write daily also?

 

 

I share the outrage at reading well for six hours a day. But writing daily is a habit I started quickly when I entered grad school. Not much, 300 to 500 words a day. At first, I was writing a lot of stuff I never used. The habit itself, though, has proved invaluable to my productivity (3-5 conference papers a year and all of my seminar papers).

[SelfHatingPhilosopher]

I share the outrage at reading well for six hours a day. But writing daily is a habit I started quickly when I entered grad school. Not much, 300 to 500 words a day. At first, I was writing a lot of stuff I never used. The habit itself, though, has proved invaluable to my productivity (3-5 conference papers a year and all of my seminar papers).

 

Yeah, I've seen this recommended in a few places, for instance:

http://philosopherscocoon.typepad.com/blog/2013/09/reader-question-about-work-habits.html

http://philosopherscocoon.typepad.com/blog/2013/03/more-research-strategies.html

 

Set yourself a daily requirement of writing so many words or writing for so much time. It doesn't have to be a lot, especially when first starting. You want a small, focused slot of time out of which you can make a habit. This can fit into a larger picture of how to balance your work and your personal life without becoming overwhelmed. If you set a small section of time to work, you'll be motivated to actually do work during that time slot without procrastinating on the internet or other things. The sort of extreme description of what ends up happening is you go from spending 7 days a week intermittently doing research and constantly stressing, to doing 4-5 hours of research Monday through Friday. Your evenings and weekends are completely free, and yet you're vastly more productive.

 

I remember reading that Sellars even had to do something similar. He and his (first, I believe) wife were both academics and needed to become productive scholars. So they held each other accountable in terms of just sitting down and writing every day. It didn't matter how much of it was garbage, it was simply to get into the habit. And eventually, as we all know, Sellars became the famous philosopher that he was.

[objectivityofcontradiction]

It is never enough, that is for sure. 

[Philhopeful]

 Sorry to keep pestering you with questions, this is just completely alien to me. I know how exhausted I was after the GRE (which was, IIRC, ~4 hours of focused reading/writing) and wonder if it's that same kind of mental/physical taxation that you experience? I can't imagine keeping sedentary long enough to read for six hours every day. 

 I divide it up into two hour intervals, so its not really that bad. Plus, idk about you, but a big part of my GRE exhaustion came from the timer. Especially on the math sections.

 

Also, thanks for the links Selfhatingphilosopher! I hadn't seen that blog before.

[maxhgns]

As an undergrad, I only read about those subjects that interested me. Since I wasn't particularly well versed in contemporary philosophy, it wasn't all that much... mostly just stuff on Schopenhauer and stuff on free will.

 

Now, I read all kinds of stuff. Since I'm no longer in coursework, it's all extra (plus there's the reading for whatever more or less random class I'm TAing). But a lot of my philosophical reading goes a little afield. Not to areas that I find totally uninteresting, but definitely to areas that aren't my AOS. I think it's important and useful to be fairly widely read, and so I make an effort to do just that.

[brettmullga]

Much of my reading is related to the courses I'm currently taking. For instance, for my Contemporary Ethics course, I read both Gauthier's Morals by Agreement and Scanlon's what we owe to each other though they were not part of the course work as primary texts. I prefer books to journal articles, unless it's an introductory article like SEP or part of a larger series. It usually feels as though something is lacking with most journal articles in the sense that I miss the big picture. It seems as though I jump between sub-fields often; however, I try to stick to more analytically/mathematical philosophy.

 

Though I read often, it is sporadic! I may take a day or two off and then log in a ten hour 'work' day.

 

My advise if one attempts the sub-field approach is to find interested friends/professors to discuss it with. I've found that relying exclusively on independent study leads to misconceptions and general confusion. 

 

For those interested in Phil of Science and Econ/Social Science (there aren't a lot of us), here are two blogs to check out: Unlearning Economics and Understanding Society. 

[Hopephily]

I don't really like to read. I'm more of a T.V. person. 

[bar_scene_gambler]

I don't really like to read. I'm more of a T.V. person. 

That does not bode well for the future. What will you do when you have a faculty position and you don't have required readings anymore?

[kant_get_in]

That does not bode well for the future. What will you do when you have a faculty position and you don't have required readings anymore?

 My guess is that he will watch TV. 

[Hopephily]

I was just joking (or trying to). 

[bar_scene_gambler]

I was just joking (or trying to). 

Oh! I'm sorry. I guess I missed it. My bad.

[Hopephily]

No worries-- it's my fault. I'm just not that funny.

[Happydays2]

I'm just not that funny.

I thought it was funny, I laughed

[Hopephily]

I thought it was funny, I laughed

 

Oh good, there's hope for me yet.