system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Frustrated with how much of the philosophy I read I forget; how do you retain information from harder texts?

For example, right now I am reading Rawl's A Theory of Justice and am on chapter 2. I've reread chapter 1 a few times but even with this I forget the more nuanced arguments. Sure, I can remember his basic statements on equality but the purpose of the book itself (from my understanding) takes mostly well known principles like equality to a more abstract/higher level so there's not much to gain from just looking at an online summary. It's those abstract/ higher level arguments I struggle with retaining; Rawls is definitely not an easy read for me either. 

I do well when there's imagery and such in a book because then I can connect events/arguments but when it's just primarily a sequence of arguments one after another I have to frequently look back at the notes I took when reflecting, and even then I'll forget many of the premises after a week. 


The point is, while I can summarize, say a piece of history or the plot of a novel and have no issues, I struggle with memorizing  deeper/higher level arguments Philosophers make. I'm not reading Rawls for a class so I don't have the benefit of lectures/ writing papers on him for better retention.   In my general note taking process I try to write in the margins and summarize what I think the author is saying. 

I guess I'm looking for a better way to read/ process/ take notes for harder philsophy texts I read. 

EDIT: Thanks for the advice, I will definitely try more exercises that force me to engage with/understand the material like explaining it in layman's terms.
gpt
Try writing summaries in a way that someone who hasn't read the text will understand. Also try to compare and combine theories. It's easier to remember things that you are sure you understand. The best way to know if you understand something is being able to explain it. That's the point of the exercises of summarizing, comparing and combining.

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You could also try to draw conceptual models of theories as a visual aid.