It's hard to distinguish something that's hard to understand due to unclear writing from something that's hard to understand due to complex ideas

Negation: It's not hard to distinguish something that's hard to understand due to unclear writing from something that's hard to understand due to complex ideas 0 0 0

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1 Consequence

2 Mentions

Arguments

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Consequences

Argument #449b96af 1 0 2

If it is true that...

Unclear writing about big ideas can seem attractive to inexperienced but ambitious students 1 0 2

and

It's hard to distinguish something that's hard to understand due to unclear writing from something that's hard to understand due to complex ideas 1 0 2

Then it must be true that...

Traditional philosophy seems attractive because it appears as difficult as math but broader in scope 1 0 2

Mentions

Paul Graham/How to do Philosophy

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Related Propositions

Writing about a topic often reveals gaps in one's understanding of it 1 0 2 Writing about complex topics can be a challenging task even for experienced individuals 1 0 2 Writing is not the only way to explore ideas, but it often reveals new insights regardless of other exploration methods 1 0 2 Expressing ideas through speech can also be a test of understanding, but writing generally presents a stricter challenge 1 0 2 If writing makes ideas more precise and complete, then those who have not written about a topic may not have fully formed ideas on it 1 0 2 Ideas can feel complete until one attempts to put them into words and discovers their incompleteness 1 0 2 Unclear writing about big ideas can seem attractive to inexperienced but ambitious students 1 0 2 People often stay quiet when things are hard to understand, even if they suspect they're nonsense 1 0 2 In certain fields, ideas need to be both correct and novel 1 0 2 In order to write better, you should take great pains to be clear 0 0 1