Lots of comments in this thread are reacting against the idea that writing is required for clear thinking. I think this is true, but a little more nuanced. Wri

Lots of comments in this thread are reacting against the idea that writing is required for clear thinking. I think this is true, but a little more nuanced. Writing and clear thinking are are related in at least two ways: 1. Both good writing and good thinking require structured thought, which is the ability to organize and categorize ideas in relation to eachother. 2. Both good writing and good thinking require meeting other minds: expressing your ideas in such a way that they are also comprehensible to someone who doesn't share our own brain. This is important because it's entirely possible to _think_ you have a good thought without actually having a good thought. The ability to articulate a thought is an effective discriminator between the two scenarios. It's probably possible to think clearly without writing, if these two elements are still present. But writing well is an effective forcing function, which is why they're so closely related.