Current Events > Why are writing styles from the 1800s confusing to read?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Not exactly antiquated English like you read in Shakespeare, but I'm referring to writing styles academics use for philosophic journals. Why is the syntax so different from modern reading material? It just sounds unnecessarily complex and pretentious. It usually reads like someone took adderall and decided to write a journal after not sleeping for weeks on end. If I catch myself reading through material multiple times to interpret the meaning, does that mean my level of comprehension is poor? This is sort of giving me cognitive dissonance.

That's more the nature of philosophic writing in general than the era in which it was written.

Certain philosophers like Schopenhauer and William James are exceptions in that they made an effort to communicate in a more straightforward way, so when you read them today it's mostly easy to understand (aside from maybe their metaphysics).

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

So basically they use big words to get you to think bigly.

Back then a lot of writers were paid by the word leading to prose as purple as Barney the Dinosaur.

BloodMoon7 posted...

So basically they use big words to get you to think bigly.

Didnr work I gotted dummer

Smackems posted...

Didnr work I gotted dummer

If it didn't work, you wouldn't get dumber, you'd start thinking smally.

TodorokiHayato posted...

If I catch myself reading through material multiple times to interpret the meaning, does that mean my level of comprehension is poor?

Yes, but don't let that get you down. As with most any subject, repeated exposure will get you up to speed.

Thus, while the syntax and style of academic philosophical writing may indeed come across as unnecessarily convoluted and perhaps even pretentious, it is a deliberate choice designed to convey complex ideas with precision and depth. It is an art form in its own right, albeit one that demands a considerable investment of time and mental energy from its audience.

You just made me wonder how these writing styles are being translated into foreign languages? A language like Japanese won't have much of the same vocabulary let alone the same sentence structures that will help them convey similar thoughts. I have a difficult time imagining someone is bilingual enough to fully understand English and Japanese enough to translate the thoughts with precision.

u dont know enough words.

literally look up every word you don't know in a dictionary

smh

It reminds the of the dialog from Deadwood. Not the cursing lol. I'm like get to the point.