Williams College philosophy chair questions whether writing is the highest form of thinking
soumitrashukla9 · x · 2026-09-30
- The philosophy department chair at Williams College challenges the consensus that writing is the highest cultivation of thought: the evidence is thin, writing is merely cognitive scaffolding for memory and self-regulated learning, and the idea traces back to the 1970s writing-across-the-curriculum movement.
- Retweeter korenmiklos agrees writing is just the serialization of thought and can't equal thinking itself; universities obsess over it because it's a tangible artifact.
- He proposes recording class discussions and grading from diarized, timestamped transcripts, urging universities to promote edtech innovation.
- The debate gains fresh relevance as LLMs can now produce writing on demand.
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