pontificate

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Once again just submitting to an observation as trenchant and cutting as Schopenhauer's, which can only be Schopenhauer's -

It is absolutely impossible for men of ordinary intelligence to make up their minds to write as they think; they resent the idea of their work looking too simple. it would always be of some value, however, if they would only go honestly to work and in a simple way express the few and ordinary ideas they have really thought. But instead they try to appear to have thought much more deeply than is the case. the result is, they put what they have to say into forced and involved language, create new words and prolix preiods which go round the thought and cover it up. They hesitate between the two attempts of communicating the thought and of concealing it. They want to make it look grand so that it has the appearance of being learned and profound, thereby giving one the idea that there is mych more in it than once perceives at the moment.

Never is it too late to realise.....

7 Comments:

At 9:07 AM , Blogger wicker said...

On the contrary.. schopenhauer is one of the most unread misunderstood philosophers

 
At 2:01 PM , Blogger wicker said...

ada thu... schopenhauer never wrote in english. All his criticisms were towards german literature at that time. That's the price he had to pay for seemingly appearing pompous in his ideas. He was ridiculed immediately which is so evidently observed from your reply

 
At 2:19 PM , Blogger wicker said...

I know i have put it out of context.. but it must be recognised that schopenhauer was frustratingly amazed at how the public was buying into hegel's verbose crap. It must be noted that schopenhauer was making a statement against those who utter senseless drivel. You dont need to have an absence of clarity to do that. He was by no means blowing his trumpet

 
At 5:54 PM , Blogger wicker said...

ada thu.. i was taking english or german as an example for your example concerning mother tongue. You totally missed the point when you raised the mother tongue issue. What a cupper!:D BTW.. my curry came out fair :D.

 
At 8:15 AM , Blogger wicker said...

spare the wrath :D

 
At 9:58 AM , Blogger Shashank said...

Wonderful blog.
Couldnt agree more.
I think it applies more to people from a country like India, with a heavily colonial,outdated mindest and a propensity to make the simplest of things sound grandiose and ultra-formal.

 
At 11:08 PM , Blogger aditya said...

what a person thinks is their personal realm. agreed that the way that it is brought out can be a lot more truthful rather than fully made up... but then hey give them credit....

 

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