[HN Gopher] Schopenhauer: On Reading and Books
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       Schopenhauer: On Reading and Books
        
       Author : hiq
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2021-11-28 07:50 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (fs.blog)
 (TXT) w3m dump (fs.blog)
        
       | blockwriter wrote:
       | Reading The World as Will and Representation presented me with
       | several insights on the under considered nature of this era's
       | technological revolution. The philosophical issues presented by
       | this era have likely been considered in full generally, but
       | hardly enough specifically. "The animal feels and perceives; man,
       | in addition, thinks and knows; both will. The animal communicates
       | his feelings and moods by gesture and sound; man communicates
       | thought to another, or conceals it from him, by language." Coding
       | strikes me as a language that is not readily interpretable. A
       | language that is not readily interpretable is wholly
       | inexpressive, or else it is expressive only by dint of extreme
       | contrivance. This special case, and the outsized power it
       | produces in those that are fluent in it, leads to no few
       | deleterious ends. If one wants to discover another facet of
       | code's esoteric purpose, Schopenhauer is a good read.
        
       | zwieback wrote:
       | Boy, he sure complained a lot! The idea that reading for pure
       | entertainment is a bad thing seems hilariously misguided to me.
        
       | time_to_smile wrote:
       | I always enjoy reading Schopenhauer, but I think it's a bit naive
       | to ignore the context in which Schopenhauer is writing (this btw,
       | is not meant as a criticism of the post or it's author, this is a
       | very enjoyable write up). Schopenhauer is in world filled with
       | academics who he largely feels do not appreciate his own
       | brilliant work. He's concerned with people reading all day
       | instead of digesting what they've read, and his quite happy to
       | dismiss most people who dismiss him as idiots. He's likely
       | envisioning hordes of academics lapping up Hegel's most recent
       | piece as he writes this.
       | 
       | I don't think there are very many people left in the world who
       | read in the way that Schopenhauer is criticizing in this essay.
       | 
       | I can only imagine the horror Schopenhauer would have faced on
       | seeing modern day "infotainment", and how little people read or
       | think in our current information environment.
       | 
       | However, he most certainly would have had a hilarious Twitter
       | account.
        
         | another_sock wrote:
         | However, he most certainly would have had a hilarious _until
         | banned_ Twitter account.
        
         | B1FF_PSUVM wrote:
         | I think that XXI century Schopenhauer would shake his head in
         | dismay at how much of an optimist XIX century Schopenhauer was.
         | 
         | I don't know if he would now bother to rile up the herd. It's
         | not very amusing, and it might get him stomped.
        
       | randito wrote:
       | If you like thinking-about-thinking and mental models, the fs
       | blog (and books) are a great read.
        
       | cafard wrote:
       | But Schopenhauer also writes that "Thus we shall find that author
       | profitable the occasional use of whose mind when we think affords
       | us sensible relief, and by whom we feel borne whither we could
       | not attain alone. Goethe once said to me that, when he read a
       | page of Kant, he felt as if he were entering a bright room."
        
       | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2021-12-01 23:01 UTC)