Tips on Writing a Philosophy Paper

                                        Patrick Lee

                                                Franciscan University of Steubenville

 

 

1.     Organize the paper around a specific problem or question.

 

2.     Make sure the question is one on which there is, or can be, disagreement.  You don’t want to try to prove something that everyone already agrees with. 

 

3.     There are basically four types of problems that philosophy papers in general can be organized around  (there may be some variations or combinations of these, but these are the basic ones). 

A.)  Interpretative:  What did So and So really mean, or what really was his doctrine on this or that point? 

B.)   A critique of a major philosopher’s (or not so major philosopher’s) position:  you set out some philosopher’s view on some important issue and then argue against it. 

C.)  Straight-out philosophical:  Is there free choice?  Is such and such ever morally right?  Is it ever morally right to do evil so that good may come from it? By what criteria can on determine whether to withdraw life-sustaining treatment? Etc—here you may use philosophers’ or ethicists’ arguments to help solve the issue, but the issue is not precisely what they thought or why they thought it. 

D.)  A mixture of the first two:  A philosophical (rather than an interpretative) problem, but then instead of going all the way to solving it yourself, you explain how some major philosopher attempts to solve the problem.  In this approach you may, but need not, criticize or raise some questions about this philo-sopher’s position at the end. 

 

E.)   NB:  in bioethics classes you probably won’t have too many opportunities for (A.).  (B.) through (D.) are the main options, with (C.) being the one I would look to first. 

 

4.     A mark of a good paper is that it has a good introduction and conclusion. The introduction should outline the problem addressed by the paper. The conclusion should sum up the arguments offered in the body of the paper and explain how they answer the problem.

 

 

5.     Explain why your problem is a problem, perhaps why some people (or specific thinkers) think the opposite of what you will argue.

 

 

6.     Give arguments for your position.  Often the premises of your argument also need support.

 

 

 

7.     Possible objections to the point of view which you are arguing for should be considered.  You should show why these objections are not fatal to your position. It is important to make the objections against your position plausible, that is, not obviously false. 

 

 

8.     Try to write persuasively.  That means that you should not presuppose that your reader agrees with you.  After reading your paper (or an early draft of it), ask yourself:  would someone who disagreed at least be moved to wonder whether he was right?  In other words, does my paper have any chance of persuading someone to change his mind?

 

 

9.     Make sure that everything in your paper is relevant to your argument.

 

 

10.            Try to write clearly.  That means, usually, using analogies and examples.  Concrete examples to illustrate the abstract point you are making are very helpful.