Writing, Drawing and Thinking

Abstract

This paper examines and expands upon the theses advanced by Alva Noë in his recent book The Entanglement: How Art and Philosophy Make Us What We Are, in which he proposes a novel conception of the place of art and philosophy within the fabric of human practices. The analysis focuses particularly on the example of writing and its relation to speech. First, the central ideas developed by Noë are outlined, with special emphasis on the chapter devoted to writing, and several difficulties inherent in his approach are identified. The second section draws on the history of writing to argue that the issue is more complex than Noë suggests. Subsequently, various functions of writing omitted by the author are made explicit – more precisely, functions associated with the written product, without considering the process of its production. Finally, the third section advances some additional functions of writing understood as an activity, an aspect that remains absent in Noë’s proposal.