READING A PHILOSOPHICAL WORK   

by Michael S. Russo

Molloy College, Dept. of Philosophy

Welcome to the exciting new world of philosophical reading!

You may have heard that philosophical texts are extremely difficult to read and that they often require a great deal of effort to comprehend.  We are not going to try to deceive you into thinking that reading philosophy will be a “piece of cake” or that you won’t have to struggle a bit to understand what’s going on in a philosophical work.  Certainly the kind of reading that you will be asked to do in  philosophy will present a much greater intellectual challenge than you may typically be accustomed to—even in your other college classes. 

Our promise to you is that if you faithfully follow the suggestions in this guide, you should be able to navigate your way through the complex arguments in the typical philosophical work.  And perhaps—if you are very fortunate indeed—you may even become part of that elite group of college students who actually derive some kind of pleasure from joining the great philosophers in their pursuit of wisdom.

 

§ 1:		Introduction to Philosophical Reading
§ 2:		Reading as Explication
§ 3:		Reading as Elucidation
§ 4:		Reading as Evaluation
§ 5:		Reading the Great Works

Molloy College   |    Department of Philosophy     |    Sophia Project 

   © 2000, Michael S. Russo.       For more information contact:  mrusso@molloy.edu