To write well, one must think well. Conversely, good thoughts should be embodied in well reasoned arguments that are expressed in simple and impactful prose. Good writing should have both a body and a soul.
I have often jumped into a writing project armed only with a pithy phrase and a handful of metaphors; only to find out at the end that I have said nothing, albeit beautifully. Well thought out ideas are deserving of well formed prose. Thought should never be sacrificed on the altar of aesthetics.
I once had a professor at the University of Dallas end his instructions for an upcoming writing assignment with “Oh, and by the way, if you think you are going to write a brilliant paper with grammatical errors… it doesn’t exist.” His remark stuck with me although it did not save me from a returned paper bathed in red ink – revealing my apparent lack of brilliance. Brilliant papers require brilliant thinking and brilliant thinking requires attention to detail. Sloppy writing reveals sloppy thinking which always places the aesthetics of prose before the rules of grammar.
Another professor while giving a lecture on Merleau-Ponty began to draw a simple diagram to illustrate a point he was making. He misspelled one of the words in his diagram and came to a stop in front of it. His shoulders turned slightly as if he was going to turn back towards the class to continue but then he said, “I can’t let that go. Above all – truth!” I will never forget that image of that seasoned philosopher attending to the form so that the substance would not be betrayed. He equated truth with precision and attention to detail. For him, even the medium of truth must be truthful.
I recognize that I am not careful when it comes to writing. I misspell words, place commas where there should be semi-colons, and get mixed up when I use who and whom, effective and affective. Writing requires practice and habit. It also requires reading good writing and good advice on writing. The two books on writing that I continually return to again and again are On Writing Well by William Zinsser and The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White. For academic writing, especially philosophical writing, I have found the following books indispensible: A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (7th Edition) by Kate Turabian, Thinking and Writing About Philosophy by Hugo Bedau, and Philosophical Writing: An Introduction by A.P. Martinich.
I will continue to practice the craft of writing. I want to write well… well, at least better. But, one cannot do well what one does not practice. So, I hope to become a better writer by practicing writing better. And, perhaps, as a consequence, I will also become a better thinker.
