I minored in Undergrad. I thought the program would be easy because the credit hours required was lower compared to other similar program's requirements. Boy was I wrong. When I took metaphysics the reading list in the syllabus was roughly as large as your average English Lit. course, but I probably spent twice as much time on that 300-level three hour class as I ever spent on any other similar class. I pride myself in my reading comprehension skills. Even today I typically only have to read the majority of things once before understanding it. I think I re-read everything in that class at least twice if not more depending on the philosopher.
Not questioning your intelligence or your studies.
But I wouldn't presume to understand a paper in, say, topology or number theory, without a degree in mathematics.
Philosophy has the appearance of accessibility, because it uses ordinary language. But without an MA in Philosophy, a working knowledge of Latin, and some notion of context (Renaissance culture and Judaism) I wouldn't expect to understand Spinoza.
Sure, I wouldn't either. When I said the majority of things, I meant literature, documentation, and common legal documents, not so much advanced theoretical papers or if I'm being completely honest, most things in mathematics. I re-read those too.
I have a BS in Math and a great deal of papers that are in topology or number theory are basically inscrutable to me without significant effort to get the relevant background information.
Math and philosophy are both extremely challenging subjects with deep wells of information to draw from.
