THE WEB ESSAY: EXPLORING ARGUMENTS

PROVING AN IDEA

William Zeigler suggests that essays can be broken down into two general categories: exploratory and expositive. According to Zeigler, these two essay types have different purposes which lie in their approaches to the concept of "proving" an idea. Exploratory essays prove ideas by inquiring into them, turning them over and "'testing' rather than demonstrating validity" (455). An expository essay seeks to prove an idea by demonstrating its validity, "to win undisputed acceptance for it - to stop inquiry rather than to start it" (456). The different purposes of these essay types influences the form in which they are written:

Demonstration aims to establish the validity of a thesis. To accomplish this goal, it marshalls supporting evidence and refutes counterarguments. It creates a logically exclusive, linear progression to a predetermined end. Inquiry, or exploration, on the other hand, aims to discover the fecundity of an idea (like a good post-modernist). It does not pursue a linear sequence, but holds several possibilities in suspension simultaneously, inviting the inquisitive mind to play among them. Rather than refute counter-arguments, it cultivates them. The art of inquiry entails a readiness to entertain alternatives, to examine two sides of an issue, to permit contradictory elements to coexist, the better to appreciate their differences. But when one sets out to prove an assertion in the modern sense, one tolerates no ambiguity: every hint of variance from the preferred line of thought must be solidly rejected. (456-57)

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