For some philosophers, writing is an unfortunate necessity, a means of communication that is at best irrelevant to the philosophical thought it expresses and at worst a barrier to that thought. The words in which the philosophical investigator writes up his or her results, according to these philosophers, should be as few and as transparent as possible.

7) The philosophers described above make which of the following assumptions about philosophy as a scholarly discipline?
a)philosophy should entail the direct contemplation of thought, with as few mediating influences as possible.
b)philosophy should be a means of personal expression as well as a vehicle for the communication of ideas.
c) philosophy is inevitably determined by the written forms in which philosophical ideas are expressed.
d) philosophy in general is more intellectually difficult than are other scholarly disciplines

I think my answer would be "A"

Right!

Thanks.

You're welcome.

To determine the correct answer, we need to carefully analyze the information provided in the question. According to the description, there are philosophers who view writing as an unfortunate necessity and believe that it is either irrelevant or a barrier to philosophical thought. They argue that the words used in writing should be minimal and transparent.

Based on this description, we can eliminate options B, C, and D as they do not align with the views of these philosophers.

Option B suggests that philosophy should be a means of personal expression, but the description indicates that writing is seen as a necessity rather than a means of personal expression.

Option C implies that philosophy is determined by the written forms, which contradicts the perspective of these philosophers who see writing as a barrier to thought.

Option D is unrelated to the ideas expressed in the description and is not mentioned or implied by these philosophers' views.

Therefore, the most appropriate answer is indeed option A: philosophy should entail the direct contemplation of thought, with as few mediating influences as possible. This aligns with the idea that these philosophers believe writing to be unnecessary or hindering to philosophical thought.