I’ve been a long-time reader of the bi-monthly magazine Philosophy Now, but there was a piece in the most recent edition (written by George Sher, Professor of Philosophy at Rice University in Texas) that stood out to me as useful for fellow writers.
In his article, he explains why one should bother to write about philosophy. But I think many of his ideas are applicable to any type of writing. He put words to a lot of things I’ve felt before but couldn’t articulate as well.
If you, too, wrestle with the concept of "why bother?" when it comes to writing, this is some excellent food for thought.
Why should we write?
1. Simple curiosity.
One of Sher's first claims is that writing is a process that cultivates our natural sense of curiosity and provides a medium through which we can sort out our opinions, stances, and reasoning around various topics and ideas.
“The written word is useful because it preserves complex thought sequences for further examination…when we think on paper or the screen, our thoughts record themselves. Thus, when we are drawn into the questions that define our field, developing our answers (through writing) is often a natural way of scratching an itch,” he writes.
I think many times, humans have a tendency to overthink their writing, especially when it’s shared on a blog, in a newsletter, or even in a tweet. (Public forum = scary! Risk!)
We get in our own way, make it a very big deal, and talk ourselves out of publishing or sharing our work.
“One way to justify publishing essays that we don’t expect to make a lasting impression,” Sher writes, “Is to see them not as original or enduring contributions to human thought, but simply as an intellectual activity.”
Want to write more? Frame it as a way for you to get curious and sort through your opinions, thoughts, and feelings.
2. The act of making.
No matter how un-creative you feel as an individual, there’s a human urge in all of us to make things. We like to create! It feels good to create something with your hands that’s totally, uniquely you.
Aside from the curiosity “itch” writing scratches, it also does something for our soul/spirit/whatever-you-want-to-call-that-thing-that-makes-us-indidivuals. When we write, our brains get that sparkly feeling. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Sher went on to explain that by editing, finishing, and publishing those thoughts (in the form of writing), we create a jumping-off point for discussion, feedback, reactions, etc. (as all good art does.)
Writing and sharing it publicly makes our learning process more interactive, and I love that he called out how this can even happen at a very small scale (maybe only one other person reads and reacts to your writing) and still be impactful. To write is an act of humanity.
“Even if the product is mediocre or worse (and even if it doesn’t endure beyond the moment), the process of producing it has independent value,” he wrote.
Want to write more? Write for an audience of one. Forget that feeling of looking out at a crowd from the stage and approach the activity as if you would only ever show it to your best friend.
3. “Enriching the mulch.”
“We put our words down in order to make contact with other minds; to expose our thoughts to others…By simply injecting our ideas into the wider thought stream, we are contributing to the larger intellectual background against which all future thought takes place,” Sher writes.
I like this idea of “enriching the mulch” as a reason to write: That is, when we put our thoughts into writing in an easily sharable format, we add to and deepen existing conversations with our own unique points of view.
Sure, our original idea may get mixed in and blur into the homogeneity (like an egg yolk in a mixer that dissolves into the cake batter), but without said “egg”, the batter suffers.
That’s a whole lot of metaphor, but hopefully you get what I’m saying here.
Want to write more? Remember that sharing your thoughts, ideas, and unique perspectives adds richness and texture to conversations that are already happening. Chime in!
Bottom line: 2024 can be the year you write more, open yourself up, and share your ideas. I hope you do! If you need more help getting started, be sure to check out The Writing Lab.
