it's a beautiful wednesday morning What a great day 2 be alive!!! i'm off school for today so it's time for me to catch up with my revision and homework n whatever... just ate an apple and made some flashcards hooray
i'm pleased to say that since my last update i've actually gone through with everything i said i would! i went for the short film screening and it was amazing i really love watching local films and honestly i'm not so experienced with short films as a medium but i think i have a greater appreciation of them now. there was also a qna session after the screening and the programme curators were so lovely i found it very insightful. on that note i've also been reading more and consuming meaningful media in the past week. i read a few academic essays and just started on a new book called 'the politics of experience'. also idk why but i started listening to podcasts again LOL ive been kinda interested in critical theory so i found this pod called acid horizon and i listened to a few episodes. i find it kinda dense but it's a good intellectual exercise!
speaking of critical theory i struggle so much with learning philosophy like i swear it's something i've been wanting to get into for years and years but it's hard to find a starting point. the classics aren't very accessible for beginners and honestly the community is full of jerks who aren't very helpful either...
i've tried to work my way around it by reading philosophical fiction (which honestly has been wonderful, i just finished siddartha by hermann hesse) and i guess it has worked to some extent like i have a grasp on some of the ideas but i still can't get the bigger picture iykwim. i feel like im working backwards because im reading a lot of books (both fiction + nonfiction) that are admittedly less dense and easier to digest, but ultimately are more modern and always reference the classics and hallmark works of major philosophers so i'm also just kind of lost when they do that.
philosophy jerks are all kinda elitist and pretentious so they'll just tell you to suck it up and read but i don't think that's particularly helpful or effective. like i've been really interested in reading hegel's phenomenology of spirit but i've heard it's a nightmare to read and i don't know how work around that. and to a certain extent i guess they're right because the work is meant to be read as it is but i just wish there would be some more accessible approaches or discussions in the community
sorry that was kind of a rant but hey i know im making progress and ill get there someday. anyway learning about philosophy (and often other humanities) is never linear and it's meant to be that way
- j