Anyone who has ever read any of my writings or has had the opportunity to talk with me know 2 things: 1. I am incredibly well-versed in most topics (I am not bragging, I just read a lot) and 2. I am not afraid to communicate academic or complicated subjects in a more accessible tone.
Why do I do this? I could be a stereotypical intellectual and write long articles in dense vocabulary. I could also hoard the knowledge I have been privileged to have the opportunity to learn and make it only available in academic journals.
The reason I stick to being "accessible" is that I believe knowledge should be open to all because most knowledge applies to all human beings.
For example, people tend to not study philosophy because most philosophy is written dense language or philosophic jargon. The philosopher, Immanuel Kant, is responsible for most of this "density." Metaphysics pre-Kant was very readable and applicable to real life. David Hume, one of the people that inspired Kant, was a public intellectual (more on them later) that was able to take dense metaphysical concepts and make them understandable and relevant to the masses.
Outside of philosophy, Raymond Carver, Hemingway, Stephen Hawking, Dawkins, Hitchens, Orwell, and Goethe are/were all genius who took their work and gave it to the general population.
George Orwell is a particular hero of mine because he saw the beauty in accessibility. His essay "Politics and The English Language" (a must read for all students- no matter what field you are studying), attacks dense intellectual's language and shows how intellectuals have tried to confuse the common people for years.
All writers should be clear. The first lesson you should learn in any writing class is you are a writer first, and a scholar second. You are not doing yourself any favors by using long words like "perfunctory" or "ambulated." If anything you are limiting the amount of people that would read your work.
I am not saying the “intellectuals” or “dense writers” are not worth reading. Faulkner, Joyce, and Pynchon are worth reading to learn how to correct them. You can learn from the bad writers to become a good one.
If you are attempting to write, follow Orwell’s rules as outlined in the essay mentioned above.
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
The smartest writers are the ones who have such a firm grasp of language that they can be understood by all.
