Socratic Scribbling

Aristotle and the Art of Ad Writing

Socratic Scribbling by Malachy Walsh

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Malachy Walsh is the genius who revitalized Cheese Whiz. He made a career in advertising by applying the principles of Aristotle's Poetics to advertising. Afterwards, he got involved in moderating groups reading the Great Books in the Online Great Books program, which is where I got this book.

This book is great because it integrates the time tested principles of Aristotelianism into the subject of writing. There are a lot of books on writing on the market, but this book breaks down the writing process with an eye to the teachings of Aristotle on invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery. Walsh illustrates these concepts with stories from his experience with advertising, which are often humorous and invariably insightful.

As an illustration of Walsh's principles, he suggests that writing involves having a “news” sense, which involves something “new,” which, in turn, involves asking the question of what would interest a reader or catch the reader's attention. As a guide to thinking about that issue, Walsh suggests applying Aristotle's categories - substance, quantity, quality, relative relations, locations, time, position, states of being, activities, and effects. These are the way we think about things, and if we are going to find something new and noteworthy, they are going to be found in the categories.

There may be a thousand ways to write, but it is important to have some practical approach to get started and push through to the finish. Aristotle's approach is one that works, in life as well as writing.