the.com/treatise
A book too important to be readable, written by someone too brilliant to be brief.
means A long, formal, systematic piece of writing that examines a single subject thoroughly and methodically.
from From Old French 'tretis,' itself from the verb 'traitier' (to deal with, handle, discuss), which comes from Latin 'tractare' — to drag, manage, or handle — the frequentative of 'trahere,' to pull or draw. So at its root a treatise is something you've 'handled' exhaustively, pulling a subject this way and that until every thread is examined. The same Latin 'tractare' gives us 'treat,' 'treaty,' and 'tractable' — all cousins in the family of things carefully managed.
- latin root
- From tractare, meaning to handle or drag out
- newton's flex
- His Principia treatise hid calculus he'd already invented
- length problem
- Locke's treatise on government runs hundreds of pages
- vs essay
- An essay flirts; a treatise marries the topic forever
critique of pure reason — kant's 1781 philosophical work analyzing the nature of human knowledge and experience
leviathan — hobbes's 1651 treatise on political philosophy and the social contract