All schoolchildren went through this: an essay is a mandatory component of the literary learning process. Since school, many have developed a perverse and not quite broad idea of this literary and philosophical genre.
Author's position
An essay, as a literary and philosophical genre, is a small essay, a note on a given topic. The main distinguishing feature of this genre is the freedom of expression of the author, whose opinion, however, does not pretend to be the authoritative and only true.
It is also noteworthy that there are no rules and frames along which the text is built. The dominant role in this genre is played by the principle of free associations, which consists in the free flight of thoughts, assumptions and even fantasies. The topic addressed in the essay must necessarily worry the author very much, otherwise he will not be able to express his subjective opinion about it in full. Of course, in order to aesthetically shape philosophical thought, it is necessary to masterfully master the art of words, here literature and philosophy are intertwined. Thus, the author in his creation can use special, eloquent constructions, aphorisms, quotes, narrative elements, as well as lyrical digressions. The way in which the author builds his text is also partly an expression of his personal position.
Another feature of an essay as a genre is the lack of argumentation, in contrast to the scientific one, in which hypotheses need to be supported by some arguments. Here they are not so necessary, although possible, because the author does not try to prove or impress the reader, while pursuing only one goal - the expression of his own point of view on this issue. The essay also often has a certain understatement and incompleteness, which indicates that the author continues the search for truth.
