On bullshit: the value of clarity, precision and economy

2017-04-04T10:20:39+01:00February 8th, 2016|writing|

"Good writers are those who keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear." Ezra Pound I've always been of the opinion that saying what you mean clearly, precisely and without undue verbiage is something of a boon to understanding, but it would appear that to some such writerly virtues actually reduce meaning. For instance in this publication from Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain we're told that Today’s ‘clarity- mongers’ are not attacking metaphysics, as did past empiricist/analytical philosophers in the Anglophone tradition. Now, crudely, they don’t like what they can’t understand... philosophers’ ‘clarity’ might not be clear to others... Well-known analytical [...]