Topics Philosophers

Question I find it hard to read Derrida. Is one supposed to grapple with every word, in the same way that one would do with maths, or to just surf along the text, going 'I can sort-of-understand' in the same way one would read some poems (I am sure I am offending some poets here, but just want to illustrate my point).

Accepted:
November 26, 2007

Comments

One reading strategy that was taught to me when I first began studying philosophy as an undergraduate, and which has served me well since, is to read slowly enough that you can paraphrase the key point of each paragraph or other "chunk" of text -- the idea is not to rush ahead until you have had time to understand and think hard about what you have already read.

If you do this, you will never read quickly -- but this style of slow careful attention is a great way to engage well in a philosophical text, a mathematical proof, or a complex poem. In my experience, reading Derrida in this way is more constructie than skimming his texts quickly.

Finally, the way you are "supposed" to read any text depends on your own goals -- this slow, laborious strategy is best for texts that you have already decided are worth serious investments of your time and attention. So, I recommend it in this case only if you have alerady decided that engaging intensively in one of Derrida's text is worth it to you.