Obscurantism in Academic Writing

Abstract

Obscure academic writing is vague, ambiguous, jargon-filled, or otherwise difficult to interpret. Obscurantists use such writing to hide the shallowness or incoherence of their ideas. There is value in being able to see through their attempts so that one does not waste one’s time on, for example, the psychoanalytic verbiage of Jacques Lacan. Therefore, this article identifies five recognizable characteristics of obscure—and especially of obscurantist—academic writing. Specifically, obscurantists tend to (1) fail to distinguish between truistic and radical versions of their claims, (2) employ paradoxical formulations, (3) avoid giving examples of their ideas (4), overuse abstract nouns, and (5) insist on their own lucidity. The article concludes by suggesting that the deepest problem with obscure academic writing is that it insulates arguments and theories from criticism.