Jordan Peterson on Writing
In this video, Jordan Peterson addresses several things that are fundamentally important and which I want to briefly emphasize and comment on below:
"The best way to teach people critical thinking is to teach them to write". So Jordan Peterson thinks that teaching people to write is the best way to teach people to think critically. I wouldn't say this is the best way because I don't know if there is a best way, but one of the best ways or methods certainly include writing and also include reading, discussing, questioning, etc. Writing is fundamental to critical thinking because our brains work better when they can capture thoughts from memory onto paper (or the like) and so rethink and reflect on those thoughts in a systematic way. The process of writing, which is a creative process, can advance one's thinking simply through processing it in writing and can give a new awareness of thinking and the thoughts that have been written down.
You can download Peterson's essay writing document here.
"but the best thing you can do is teach people to write because there's no difference between that and thinking". For Peterson there is no difference between writing and thinking. Even if there are of course differences between writing and thinking, writing is very close to thinking, closer than one might think at first glance. Two things I take away from these words: On the one hand, if you want to teach people critical thinking, which is to say, to better use their mind, then one of the best ways is to teach them to write. A practical example: You can ask a question and request that they answer this question in writing, e.g. on one sheet of paper. For example: What are the pros and cons of supporting Ukraine with arms in the Russian-Ukrainian War?
On the other hand, if I really want to think about something, it's helpful to take a pen and write about it because writing makes it easier to think systematically, it's easier to reflect on the written thoughts and reflect on them again and again, because writing puts thinking into a structure that is usually helpful. What's more, the written thoughts are better memorized than passively perceived thoughts, for example when reading or listening, if you don't think about it much for yourself, the learning and memory effect is therefore greater. Incidentally, what has been said may also be one of the reasons why most of the exams in philosophy studies are written term papers.
“You need to learn to think because thinking makes you act effectively in the world. Thinking makes you win the battles you undertake (…) If you can think and speak and write you are absolutely deadly, nothing can get in your way. So, that’s why you learn to write. (…) It’s the most powerful weapon you can possibly provide someone with”. So Peterson suggests that thinking enables you to act effectively in the world and win the battles you have to fight. If you can think and write, you are figuratively deadly and unstoppable. That's why you learn to write. The ability to write well is the most powerful weapon that can be placed in your hands. I love these words where Peterson makes the thinking and the goal of writing strong. Thinking and learning to think is really fundamental and one of the most useful tools in life. It's really surprising for me, as Peterson says in a similar way in the video, that the educational institutions I went through didn't make these thoughts strong and didn't convey them clearly. I am grateful to Peterson for this emphasis and clarity. It is important to keep this value and goal of thought in mind.
,,if you can formulate your arguments coherently and make a presentation, if you can speak to people, if you can lay out a proposal, God, people give you money, they give you opportunities, you have influence, that’s what you’re at university for”. Peterson says that if you can articulate your arguments, and you can present your case, and you can lay out a plan, people will give you money, you will have opportunities, you will have influence, and that's what you study for at the university. It is beautiful how Peterson here connects the positive consequences of the competence of thinking with thinking itself. There is a time lag between learning and the consequences of what has been learned (keyword: delayed gratification), often a longer time lag, which makes the motivation for the effort and work of learning difficult because the reward is then not in the present, but in the future, and so does not appear in the present and so the effort is not directly rewarded. It therefore requires discipline, will, perseverance and a certain frustration tolerance to deal with the lack of reward in the present. Peterson's words motivate and give hope.
Jordan Peterson talks more about writing here.