[laichzeit0]

One of the saddest things about modern college/university philosophy courses, I think, is how few people will ever end up reading any of the great philosopher's works in the original (nevermind even in the original language!). It's almost always condensed versions by another author of the "main ideas".

I had this experience when I picked up a copy of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding and read the thing in the original. I was completely shaken by the beauty of it.

It saddens me because 90% of the beauty is lost in favor of "just getting to the main idea". You lose so, so much. It would be like reciting Homer without an understanding of meter. All beauty would be lost.