But I read a lot of right wing philosophy/economics/political thought and am notorious on this list as a fan of Hayek (for example). Hayek of course was an anti-Nazi and a libertarian. I also think very well of Nietzsche, a great writer and if not an authoritarian (too uninterested in politics for that) at least an anti-democratic and an anti-socialist.
What philosophers one considers unreadable depends on a lot of things. Training, patience, your purpose. Aristotle is brutally hard. Plato, a great proser stylist, is no breeze. The scholastics are dry as dust but some (Abelard, Aquinas, Occam -- not Scotus!) are clear as crystal, if you learn the moves. Spinoza's prety opaque. Your pal Hume is a great stylist but not so easy as he looks, also very conservative. Kant is great, but so is Hegel, and he tops the unreadability constest. ANd I recall a certain German emigre who wrote an unfinished Critique of Political Economy that has considerable stylsitic merit but if fucking hard to understand . . . .
--- Jerry Monaco <monacojerry at gmail.com> wrote:
> Andie
>
> Seriously, I have read all of these folks. They
> mostly speak gibberish in
> order to purff themselves up. It would be better if
> they remained silent.
> Better for the world and better for clear thought.
> And better for political
> activism. Practically everything that Heidegger
> said about science,
> physics, etc. is mainly anti-science.
>
> One can take Heidegger seriously as an example of
> reaction against
> enlightenment values. As for me give me Voltaire or
> Hume anyday.
>
> In the end the only unreadable philosopher worth
> reading is Kant. But I
> don't really feel like debating the declension of
> intellectual culture as
> represented by the anti-humanists and, as for
> Heidegger, a disgusting
> authoritarian.
>
> Jerry
>
> On 5/7/06, andie nachgeborenen
> <andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > Actually Heidegger's post Being & Time writing is
> > _really_ beautiful German. The translations do not
> do
> > him justice, nowhere near.
> >
> > And is your contrast supposed to to whom and on
> what
> > grounds? Quine, whose major thesis (the
> indeterminacy
> > of translation) no two people can agree on what it
> > means? Davidson, similarly opaque? Rawls, whose
> > writing is a crime against the English language?
> > Sellars? Give me a break.
> >
> > Foucault can write perfectly well -- his prose not
> > fancy, but clear and serviceable. Zizek has a nice
> > breezy accessible journalistic style. Merleau
> Ponty
> > writes like an analytical philosopher, for good or
> ill
> > (says one who was trained in that tradition).
> >
> > As you know, you can get a PhD in philosophy from
> a
> > top school without ever looking at a word of
> > Heidegger. I actually think he's a major
> philosopher
> > though, one of the 20th century greats, well worth
> the
> > effort of headbanging you have have top do to get
> your
> > head around the main points.
> >
> > --- Jerry Monaco <monacojerry at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On 5/7/06, Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hell, without Heidegger there wouldn't even BE
> a
> > > > Zizek. Or a Sartre, Foucault, Derrida,
> > > Merleau-Ponty,
> > > > Lacan, Arendt, Marcuse, Adorno and probably a
> > > couple
> > > > of dozen other thinkers I'm in too much of a
> hurry
> > > to
> > > > remember right now. What did Arendt call him
> --
> > > the
> > > > Hidden King?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Does that mean all these people might actually
> have
> > > to learn to write? I'll
> > > admit an affection for Sartre in his popular
> mode
> > > and Merleau-Ponty when
> > > writing about the senses.... But the world
> would
> > > have been better off
> > > without Heidegger. At least trees and graduate
> > > classes would have been
> > > better off.
> > >
> > > --- ravi <gadfly at exitleft.org> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > At around 7/5/06 8:46 am, Chris Doss wrote:
> > > > > > Cuz he's the most influential philosopher
> > > since
> > > > > Hegel?
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > You mean not Zizek?!! ;-)
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > Nu, zayats, pogodi!
> > > >
> > > >
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> >
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> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Jerry Monaco's Philosophy, Politics, Culture
> Weblog
> > > is
> > > Shandean Postscripts to Politics, Philosophy,
> and
> > > Culture
> > > http://monacojerry.livejournal.com/
> > >
> > > His fiction, poetry, weblog is
> > > Hopeful Monsters: Fiction, Poetry, Memories
> > > http://www.livejournal.com/users/jerrymonaco/
> > >
> > > Notes, Quotes, Images - From some of my reading
> and
> > > browsing
> > >
> http://www.livejournal.com/community/jerry_quotes/
> > > > ___________________________________
> > >
> >
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>
> --
> Jerry Monaco's Philosophy, Politics, Culture Weblog
> is
> Shandean Postscripts to Politics, Philosophy, and
> Culture
> http://monacojerry.livejournal.com/
>
> His fiction, poetry, weblog is
> Hopeful Monsters: Fiction, Poetry, Memories
> http://www.livejournal.com/users/jerrymonaco/
>
> Notes, Quotes, Images - From some of my reading and
> browsing
> http://www.livejournal.com/community/jerry_quotes/
> > ___________________________________
>
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