dròm_et_rêve wrote:... I would never describe myself as 'perfect!'...
i also dislike to use this word in its exact meaning for "the perfect" do not exist, but here, due to my unfamiliarity of proper vocabulary to express my admiration, i used it by expedience.
dròm_et_rêve wrote:...Whom do you like (or, whom did you like) reading, generally and as regards to philosophy? I like reading older books, as I find that, if something is good enough, it will be here in fifty years' time. ...
i agree with you in the selection of books, i seldom read books by current chinese authors except for some special professional works. as for western works, really, i have read some literature such as Frankenstein, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Great Expectations, scapegoat, and so on, most of which were read a long time ago and mostly for pleasure.
i think reading has significant influence on one's character and thus the life and fate. but what can considerably determines your reading pattern is your previous inclination(paradox? since such inclination may partly be the result of previous reading), social environments, and sometimes, economic status.
Although my family is no very rich, but my parents rather emphasize my education and they have the ability to free me from worrying about the expenditure before i finish my education. therefore, this maked it possible for me to navigate freely in the sea of knowledge, while some of my classmates have to concern more about job relating skills to improve their material lives.
when i was junior in university, for some reason, i was interested in western history, and to follow my learning habit, i began to read on ancient history of west civilization. to start, i choose a relatively easy one---- the stories in the bible( although what the bible described could hardly be called history, i regarded it as the beginning of a civilization, which, no matter to what extent it is fictive, could give me a good sense on the condition of the early stage of western culture).
later, since there were so many toponyms unfamiliar to me in books on ancient history , i turned my focus to european geology. before long, i found it was so insipid to remember those placename one by one, i gave up in this direction and returned to western culture.
when i was in middle school, i already got my intense interest in politics, and because our government attached great importance to ideology propaganda in education, we were taught with many ideas and concepts on philosophy, which mainly are of Marxism( later, i realize that what is taught in china is not Marx's original thoughts, but is adapted to a large extent). Although i did believe in these philosophy ideas, what appeared more attractive to me was those concepts. so when i entered university, i desired to cater my curiosity about what the exact meanings and detail explanations these concepts are in different system of philosophy. This was the beginning of my feeling to follow my intellectual inclination. also, my early step to learn western philosophy was read on ancient Greek thoughts and intruductive works of western philosophy.
Sophie's World...
, it;s too late tonight, i'll continue later.
