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Paul Graham’s essays: practise reading for claims and assumptions
A long essay is easier to discuss when you separate its central idea, examples and limits.
Paul Graham
Paul Graham maintains an online collection of essays. It gives readers a substantial archive to explore, rather than a single introductory article or a formal course. The useful approach is to choose a question that interests you and read one piece carefully enough to reconstruct its argument.
Map an essay’s claim and counterexample
Choose an essay and mark the main claim, supporting examples and an unstated assumption. Then invent a counterexample from a different setting, such as a public library rather than a startup. Ask whether the claim survives that change and why. This approach makes a long essay easier to discuss without turning a striking sentence into universal advice. When citing it, preserve the surrounding argument and date rather than quoting a short passage that changes its meaning.
Keep the essay’s setting attached to its advice
An essay can be intellectually useful without serving as a complete guide to your situation. Check its date and distinguish observation, interpretation and recommendation. Avoid extracting a striking sentence in a way that loses the surrounding qualification. If you discuss the piece with someone else, begin with the strongest version of its argument before criticising it; that makes disagreement more informative.
Official source: Paul Graham.
Pause and try it
You disagree with an essay’s conclusion. What should you be able to explain before writing a response?
Reveal a possible approach
Summarise its main claim and the evidence the author uses. Then identify the specific assumption or inference you dispute, rather than replying to a weaker argument the essay did not make.
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