Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper

Explain how you think these objections can be countered or overcome. Of course, there’s often no way to deal with all the objections someone might raise; so concentrate on the ones https://www.vecogel.com/commentary-essay-writing-guide-with-analysis/ that seem strongest or most pressing. Don’t try to tell the reader everything you know about X’s views, though. You have to go on to offer your own philosophical contribution, too.

Make sure that your reader can tell what the point of every paragraph is. It’s not enough that you know how to quote examples what their point is. It has to be obvious to your reader, even to a lazy, stupid, and mean reader.

Friday essay: 3 ways philosophy can help us understand love

Originally it was intended for people working on ancient Greek philosophy, but almost all of the advice carries over to other areas. Philosophy essays are not written for the sake of literary self-expression and they can’t be approached like ordinary research papers. Don’t focus on having a definitive answer by the end of your philosophical how to end a paper essay if your conclusion states that the question should be clarified further or that there are multiple answers. Writing an essay in philosophy is, in fact, easier for some students as the topic can always have multiple answers, and you can choose any of them. However, this can represent an even tougher challenge for other students.

That is just one reason why secular humanists should not overstate the extent to which a good, happy, moral life is possible without God. But bad and unhappy lives are also possible, and all too common. Philosophy provides little consolation for these, other introduce quote than the knowledge that the pain is over. The most common, and accurate, way of describing this is as a loss of a part of yourself. When someone is close to you, his way of thinking, his thoughts and his biography become inextricably linked with yours.

Write a Draft

It is said that Plato re-wrote every sentence of the Republic seventy times. As is stated above, the terms “Sound” and “Unsound” can only be used about valid arguments. The same applies, how can i be a good american essay of course, in the case of “is invalid”. If it is not, then it is irrelevant if the conclusion to your argument is true. It is not necessary that the conclusion to your argument be true.

1. At first glance, this is a very appealing argument.
2. There is no point in feeling sorry about what he might have missed out on because there is no longer anyone there to feel sorry for.
3. That is the cause of our sadness, for him or, perhaps more accurately, for what the deceased could still have been.
4. Many of them struggle to write good academic essays because they don’t know how to present and defend an argument.
5. Like any other essay, a philosophy paper consists of an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion.
6. Different philosophers defend each of these approaches, finding insight in each.
7. Remember that you may not know what you need to research until you have attempted to answer the question.

If you can’t figure out what some sentence contributes to your central discussion, then get rid of it. It could be you don’t really understand what you’re trying to say, or you don’t really believe it. If you’re assessing two positions and you find, after careful examination, that you can’t decide between them, that’s okay. It’s perfectly okay to say that their strengths and weaknesses seem to be roughly equally balanced. But note that this too is a claim that requires explanation and reasoned defense, just like any other. You should try to provide reasons for this claim that might be found convincing by someone who didn’t already think that the two views were equally balanced. Philosophers sometimes do say outrageous things, but if the view you’re attributing to a philosopher seems to be obviously crazy, then you should think hard about whether he really does say what you think he says.

What’s a Good Philosophy Paper Outline?

You have to ask your teachers questions and you will have to read things more than once. Although they often aren’t, book reports can be good, if they are well structured and express clearly a knotty philosophical issue and some treatments of it. But they are unlikely to be excellent, simply because they fail to take a view; they don’t endorse or argue for a thesis. They are about philosophy but they don’t do philosophy. Originality can sometimes just be a matter of making a point in a better or clearer way than others, perhaps drawing a distinction or effecting a connection that others miss or misdescribe. It can be particularly impressive if your point hasn’t been made elsewhere, of course, but this is exceedingly rare, and impressive only if the point is plausible, clearly articulated, and cogently defended. Despite their failings, it might still seem that the philosophers who preached placid acceptance of death were not too far wrong.

Merely summarizing what others have said won’t be enough. Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors can distract a reader and divert her attention from your argument. In what follows, I will argue that Socrates does not adequately defend his theory of recollection.

Introduction

But A’s second argument is more promising, especially when re-formulated as follows … Thus formulated, it escapes B’s objection because … . Hence p is an attractive way of dealing with problem X. You should be attempting to persuade your reader of your thesis, so the first-person pronoun («I») will often be useful. There is nothing automatically soothing about this, of course. The reaper can, and often does, choose to type ‘The End’ after pages of misery, without bothering to bring any resolution. The last full stop that allows the ‘life well lived’ to be appreciated can also expose the life gone badly for all the horror that it was.

Remember that your reader may not share your assumptions and beliefs, and try to construct your argument so that it will be persuasive even to someone who is quite different from you. Watch out for words like “all,” “every,” “always,” “no,” “none,” and “never”; supporting a claim that uses these words could be difficult. For example, it would be much harder to prove that lying is always wrong than to prove that lying is usually or sometimes wrong. You might also object to premise 5, and say that we sometimes judge actions to be wrong even though we don’t feel any “sentiment” of disapproval for them. For example, if vigilantes killed a serial murderer, we might say that what they did was wrong, even if we shared their anger at the murderer and were pleased that they had killed him.

‘If you can’t say it clearly, you don’t understand it yourself’ John Searle

Remember, philosophy demands a high level of precision. It’s not good enough for you merely to get the general idea of somebody else’s position or argument. (In this respect, philosophy is more like a science than the other humanities.) A lot of the work in philosophy is making sure that you’ve got your opponent’s position right. A philosophy paper consists of the reasoned defense of some claimYour paper must offer an argument. It can’t consist in the mere report of your opinions, nor in a mere report of the opinions of the philosophers we discuss. I believe a good teacher must also understand motivation and the effects of peer interactions on learning. I want all my students to achieve at high levels, so I avoid sorting them and setting them up to compete with each other.

Revise your introductory and concluding paragraphs to ensure that you have a clear thesis and that both the paragraphs support each other. You can use the following structure for your essay to make it flow smoothly. They don’t summarize that different scholars have had to say on a certain topic. Our expert’s notes are NOT intended to be forwarded as finalized projects, as it is only strictly meant to be used for research and study purposes. We do not endorse or condone any type of plagiarism.

Make an Outline and Structure Your Essay

In studying American popular culture of the 1980s, the question of to what degree materialism was a major characteristic of the cultural milieu was explored. Go through it to locate the roadmap and transitional phrase/sentences that make it an effective essay. You can download the paper by clicking the button above. When you are satisfied with the structure and content and are sure you won’t need any such changes anymore, you need to check spelling, grammar, and punctuation and fix mistakes if there are any. You can use some grammar and spell checking tools online. Revise the structure to ensure that your argument is clear and logical.

Finally, do not try to compose your paper, from start to finish, in one session – especially not the night before it is due. Do not make claims like “Socrates believes that …” without supporting them. Whenever you make a claim about what is said in the text, it is appropriate to provide a specific reference to back up your claim. Thus, you should not rely on a quotation to answer a key part of the question.

What Do You Do in a Philosophy Essay?

Even if your TA is able to figure out what you mean, it’s bad writing. In philosophical prose, you have to be sure to say exactly what you mean. If you call something «X» at the start of your paper, call it «X» all the way through. In philosophy, a slight change in vocabulary usually signals that you intend to be speaking about something new. One thing I mean by «explain yourself fully» is that, when you have a good point, you shouldn’t just toss it off in one sentence.

When a passage from a text is particularly useful in supporting your interpretation of some philosopher’s views, it may be helpful to quote the passage directly. (Be sure to specify where the passage can be found.) https://7dias.com.do/2022/10/25/seven-key-characteristics-of-narrative-text/ However, direct quotations should be used sparingly. It is seldom necessary to quote more than a few sentences. Often it will be more appropriate to paraphrase what X says, rather than to quote him directly.