I enjoy reading philosophy, but Sometimes when reading some works, I get a little confused and a bit overwhelmed. what is the best way to read philosophy effectively?

I enjoy reading philosophy, but Sometimes when reading some works, I get a little confused and a bit overwhelmed. what is the best way to read philosophy effectively?

Line by line and sometimes not at all. Sometimes even the Author does not know what he means and aims to confuse.

Heidegger comes to mind.

And Foucault!............

What kind of philosophy are you reading? Is it technical, literary, prose? Or better yet, whose philosophy are you reading? I ask because understanding it depends on the sort of writing used. Needless to say, there is no right or wrong way to read, write or do philosophy (there are petty ways, but that's another subject).

Right now I'm reading Immanuel Kant, "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of morals."

Did you get really angry at Kant, throw the book at the wall, shout at the book, vent for a little bit, then pick the book up and continue reading? That's what I used to do....

Right now I'm reading Immanuel Kant, "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of morals."

Haha, Ding! Yeah, been there, done that. Kant's ethics are rather ambiguous, which is ironic, since his thesis seems pretty straightforward. It's when you try to apply his "categorical imperative" that things get messy.

You need a lot of secondary sources to understand Kant. Unless you are a genius, reading him without help or background is futile. Kant was addressing professional philosophers, not you.

Kant's Ethics

Kantian Ethics

Wow so it's kind of like going to a dinner party with alot of well known philosophers and they turn to to ask "what do you think?" Dazed and confused, the person asks for the restroom instead.

I enjoy reading philosophy, but Sometimes when reading some works, I get a little confused and a bit overwhelmed. what is the best way to read philosophy effectively?

What helps me is to start reading a primary work (like Kant's First Critique, for example), then as I come across ideas (Like his Copernican Revolution) I investigate that idea using Google.

Like Ding_an_Sich suggested, the best method is to find a teacher or knowledgeable friend and have ongoing discussions. If this is not available, secondary research is your next best option.

Another thing that helps me is to try to regurgitate the ideas on to paper. This helps you see what you are missing and forces you to investigate the ideas further.

I just read Kant's Groundwork, Flamvell Rose! Or, at least I tried to... Yeah, Kant is up there on the obscurity bar. He is often cited as one of the first purely academic philosophers, so he was influenced by professors who wrote technically, and somewhat esoterically. Take it a page at a time. Have you read about Kant's ethics previously?