Meditation 4

 

QUESTION:

 

Consider the discussion of error in Meditation 4. What is the difference between the will and the intellect (or understanding)? How does the interaction between the two explain error? What is the most important conclusion the meditator draws from his account of error? How does this conclusion fit into the project of the Meditations as a whole? In your opinion, is the role of God really essential to either Meditation 4 or the project as a whole? Please provide one reason for your opinion, and explain how that reason supports your opinion. (Your discussion should demonstrate that you grasp the details of Descartes’s conception of both the will and the intellect or understanding.)

 

 

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See below for general advice about writing. Also: I strongly suggest that you consult the rubric I use to evaluate your work before you get started.

 

 

 

You hear a lot in school about what counts as good writing. Advice abounds. And, unfortunately, much of it conflicts. This is partly because there is no secret formula. And there are few, if any, guaranteed techniques. Yet there is widespread agreement about many of the basic principles. I’ve tried to put some of those principles into the list of rules below. Following them should help you become a better writer—no matter how well (or poorly) you already write. I offer them as guidelines, not as hard-and-fast rules.

 

  • Don’t waste the first sentence. Say something clear and interesting.
  • Get to the point.
  • Provide every piece of writing with a beginning, middle, and end.
  • Write short paragraphs.
    • Don’t make them too short.
  • Write short—but not choppy—sentences.
  • Write plainly. (Use academic jargon sparingly.)
  • Avoid the passive voice unless it’s necessary. (It’s rarely necessary.)
  • Eliminate unnecessary words.
  • Read your work aloud. You’ll hear problems you don’t see.
  • Write formally enough to convey authority but casually enough to convey warmth and style.
  • Break any of these rules if writing well requires doing so.[1]

 

Allow me to close with a remark from the historian Christopher Lasch. It’s one of the most insightful things I’ve ever read about writing. “We learn to write well, if we ever do, by reading good prose, paying close attention to our own words, revising relentlessly, and recalling the connections between written and spoken language.”

 

HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR ALL WRITERS

 

Strunk and White. Elements of Style

Zinsser. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

 

 

 

HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR PHILOSOPHY STUDENTS

 

Weston. A Rulebook for Arguments

Mautner, ed. The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy

 

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