德国哲学家黑格尔、康德、胡塞尔、海德格尔这些人的哲学以晦涩难懂著称。现在问一个问题：深奥的思想必须用晦涩难懂的语言吗？

Alain de Botton在《The Romantic Movement》中先引了一段黑格尔的文章：

The object is in part immediate being or, in general, a Thing – corresponding to immediate consciousness; in part, an othering of itself, its relationship or being-for-an-other, and being-for-itself, i.e. determinateness – corresponding to perception; and in part essence, or in the form of a universal – corresponding to the Understanding. It is, as a totality, a syllogism or the movement of the universal through determination to individuality, as also the reverse movement from individuality through superseded individuality, or through determination, to the usiversal.

然后评论道，世人往往认为晦涩难懂的文章会比清晰简易的文章道理更深刻（Yet a text which makes one suffer may be taken as somehow more valid, more profound ant truer than one which reads with clarity and fluidity.）

说这是学术上的一种受虐狂（Acdemic masochism），也是一种偏见：认为文章越好懂越被人所看轻，晦涩难懂的文字才可能传达深奥的思想（Acdemic masochism reflects a metaphysical prejudice that the truth should be a hard-won treasure, that what is read or learnt easily must therefore be flighty and inconsequential. The truth should be like a mountain to be scaled, it is dangerous, obscure and demanding. Under the harsh light of the library reading room, the academics’ motto reads: the more a text makes me suffer, the truer it must be.）。

皮埃尔·阿多在《作为生活方式的哲学：皮埃尔·阿多与雅妮·卡尔利埃阿尔诺·戴维森对话录》谈到海德格尔时，说他的书写风格“折磨”了德语，而为了模仿他的风格，对他的效法，也“折磨”了各种语言。并说这创造了一种时尚，一种书写哲学的非常晦涩的方式也许会终结，因为这会让许多读者丧失读哲学的勇气。