[FreakLegion]

> The word means 'attempt'

It can, but doesn't in this context. 'Essay' was a sort-of polyseme (like 'passion', which can still mean 'suffering') that has long since severed ties with its origin. Outside certain narrow academic discussions, the etymology and current use of 'essay' have effectively nothing to do with one another.

In any case though pg does pretend to some amount of expertise. "How to Do Philosophy" is an example.

[dang]

Of course it does; it has kept a close association with this meaning throughout literary history. An essay is an attempt, a sketch, thinking out loud. It's the literary genre equivalent of informal conversation. In an essay, you discover what you think by writing it, just as in exploratory programming you discover what your program is by programming it. To say that essays aren't for non-authoritative musing is like saying novels aren't for depicting human experience.

[tyre]

I strongly disagree with this.

The greatest essayists are not putting a "sketch" into the world. I cannot imagine reading an Isaiah Berlin essay and saying, "this is just informal conversation."

Consider Didion, Foster Wallace, Sontag, Mailer, Orwell, Hitchens, Paine, Zadie Smith, the founding fathers of the United States via the Federalist Papers.

There is no lack in seriousness, no lack in rigor, and no lack direct purpose backed by thoughtful consideration and ample evidence.

There are _also_ informal or unserious or musing essays, but please do not lump together the entire genre of essays with a description of Medium posts.

[dang]

I think we got some signals crossed. I wasn't talking about being unserious—just that you don't have to be an expert to write a fine essay.

I haven't read all the authors you list, but the ones I have support the point. They were not specialists writing about topics they were authorities on. They were good writers and thinkers exploring the topics they were writing about.

[FreakLegion]

I didn't say essays aren't for non-authoritative musing. My points were:

1. 'Attempt' is the origin of 'essay', not its current meaning. This sort of mistake is so common there's a fallacy (genetic) named for it, but a more compelling read than some entry in a dictionary of fallacies would be The Genealogy of Morals, Essay 2, section 12.

2. pg's essays aren't non-authoritative musing. I don't think he himself claims they are, even in the essay on essays. Exploratory and a process of discovery? Absolutely. But these things aren't necessarily evident in the final product and in any case can coexist with the pretense to authority.

Side note:

> In an essay, you discover what you think by writing it

This is simply a description writing, whence the dictum "writing is revising".