I really agreed with you when I was just glancing at the post trying to get a sense of what it was about, but then I looked at the comments and got convinced to try reading it in earnest, from the beginning. Then I flipped, and now I think the thesis is clear, the individual sentences are clear, and the writing is beautiful.
An unfortunate fact about some academic writing, specifically some writing in philosophy, in many of the humanities, and in some of the social sciences, is that there’s a lot of time-wasting, inscrutable papers and books. This kind of writing does not reward additional time and effort spent on reading it, or at least does so at such a miserly trickle that it’s not worthwhile. The preponderance of inscrutable texts makes it hard to tell, at a glance, what’s not worth reading and what’s written in sumptuous prose. This essay is sumptuous prose.
I really agreed with you when I was just glancing at the post trying to get a sense of what it was about, but then I looked at the comments and got convinced to try reading it in earnest, from the beginning. Then I flipped, and now I think the thesis is clear, the individual sentences are clear, and the writing is beautiful.
An unfortunate fact about some academic writing, specifically some writing in philosophy, in many of the humanities, and in some of the social sciences, is that there’s a lot of time-wasting, inscrutable papers and books. This kind of writing does not reward additional time and effort spent on reading it, or at least does so at such a miserly trickle that it’s not worthwhile. The preponderance of inscrutable texts makes it hard to tell, at a glance, what’s not worth reading and what’s written in sumptuous prose. This essay is sumptuous prose.