Ethics and Political Philosophy: a Guide to the Classic Texts

NEH project: A Guide to Writing Philosophy Papers

1. The challenges of philosophical writing

The primary purpose of the writing assignments in your philosophy classes is the

same as the class discussions. It is to get you to engage with the philosophical questions

and to search for good answers. In effect, it is to get you to do philosophy. But what is

special about doing philosophy that makes it different from studying other subjects, such

as chemistry or psychology? One of the best ways to answer that question is to start with

examples of good philosophical writing and then compare them to examples of good

writing in the other sciences. The texts you are reading in the course are precisely that:

they are examples of great philosophical writing. Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume and

Kant were all masters. That is the reason we call the texts they have written “classics.”

They are rich examples of how to go about doing philosophy. What is more, they are

good case studies for learning how to write about a philosophical problem. Getting better

at writing a philosophy paper will take considerable effort and much practice. As such,

don’t expect that your first efforts will produce papers that read like Plato’s dialogues. It

took Plato a lifetime to learn to write with such clarity and depth—and he had a lot of

help from his many discussions with Socrates when he was young and with his students

in the Academy when he was older.

There are three things you need to do in order to write good papers in a philosophy

class. First, read the texts. Read them multiple times. The purpose of the writing guides

is to help you to learn the skills needed to read the classic texts. Our suggestion is to get

your own copies of the texts and write in them. Identify the key questions, the purported

answers, and the main reasons being offered in support of the author’s theses and the

reasons being given as criticisms of purported answers offered by other philosophers.

When you are preparing to write a paper, go back and re-read those parts of the texts that

are most germane to the topic of the paper. In addition to drawing on your notes from the

class, write notes on the readings themselves. Try to put the points in a clear order as

your reconstruct the arguments in the texts. Good papers start from a clear understanding

of what you are writing about.

The second thing you need to do in order to write good papers is to go to class and

listen to the explanations given by the instructor and then participate actively in the

discussion. It might not feel like you are doing anything that will be helpful when it

comes time to write the papers. That is based on a mistaken assumption. You are

practicing the skills needed to articulate questions, to clarify possible answers, and to

reconstruct arguments that are in the texts. You will be doing the very same things when

you write the papers—you’ll just be doing it without having the advantage of having an

instructor and a set of classmates in the same room to help. As such, make the most of

the opportunity to participate in the class discussion because these are skills that you will

be able to improve by talking about the questions and issues with others.

Some students attend class and feel like they should be quiet because they don’t

understand the readings. Philosophy instructors know that virtually all students are

struggling with the readings. The classic texts are hard to read. The arguments are not

something that students will be able to figure out after reading them once or twice on

their own. Having said that, a good way to get better at reading the texts is to share your

questions with others and to work on the problems together as a class. You will be able

to sort out your confusions as you learn to clarify your own questions. You will get

better at expressing the reasons that support the various conclusions by participating in

the discussion of the arguments. What is more, class is a lot more fun if all of the

students are actively doing their part and working together with the instructor to figure

things out.

If the papers that have been assigned start with the classic texts from the history of

ethics and political philosophy (which is what we are assuming in this writing guide),

then you need to make the effort needed to improve your understanding of those texts

before you will be able to write a good term paper.

The third thing you need to do in order to write good papers is to write in a deliberate

and organized fashion. Don’t expect to read the assignment and then simply sit down at

the computer and write the paper the paper from start to finish from the thoughts that are

in your head. You need to think about the questions for some time, and you need to

prepare for writing the paper by putting things in order first. Start with a set of notes and

then work your way up to a final draft by moving through a series of outlines and drafts

of the paper. Think of writing a paper—especially a term paper--as a process that takes

several days and not just some hours.

2. Different assignments may have different purposes

Different instructors in philosophy courses may have different approaches to setting

up the writing assignments in a course. Some instructors assign one term paper that is

due at the end of the course. Other instructors give a number of assignments at different

intervals over the course of the semester that range from short homework assignments, to

short papers, to longer term papers. Furthermore, some instructors give paper prompts

that are quite short—perhaps a single sentence (e.g., What is morally good?), while other

instructors give much more detailed assignments.

We recognize that there is a great diversity in the way assignments are written in

philosophy classes. Given this fact, how can this writing guide be of any help? In our

humble opinion, instructors who assign only a term paper, and who write a prompt that is

very short are simple leaving much of the work up to the students. The “up” side to this

approach is that you as the student will have much freedom in deciding how to write the

term paper, but the “down” side is that you will have to break the process of writing the

term into manageable steps for yourself. One good way to think about this process of

breaking things down is to give yourself shorter assignments. Knowing that you have a

term paper that is due at the end of the term, you need to give yourself a series of

homework assignments where you try to figure out what is going on in the texts. After

that, you need to give yourself a series of short paper assignments in which you break the

longer paper (perhaps 15 pages in length) into three or four shorter assignments—each of

which will then form part of the longer term paper.

In many classes, the purpose of having homework assignments, short papers and then

a longer term paper is to help students build the skills needed to work up to the longer

writing assignments. In most cases, the assignments will build on each other and the

things you will write in the shorter assignments will directly help you write the longer

term paper.

3. Clarifying questions you are trying to answer

Working on the assumption that you will be writing different kinds of papers, let’s

start by talking about short homework assignments. One of the main purposes of these

kinds of shorter assignments is simply to get you started. The only way to write a paper

is to put pen to paper and start writing. The instructor is not expecting perfection.

Rather, the instructor is expecting that most students will find writing to be something of

a struggle. That is the reason there are several such homework assignments. You will

improve with practice. When you start each homework assignment, read the instructions

carefully. Write the instructions down on your own piece of paper as a series of

numbered steps. Be sure to work on each step of the assignment, one after the other.

This is a good time to practice doing what you’ve been asked to do.

Many students fall prey to the temptation to write whatever happens to be on their

minds when they do a short homework assignment. They seem to think that, because the

homework is so short, the instructor must be looking for some very general ideas or

perhaps of summary of what the student is thinking. In most cases, that is not what the

instructor is looking for in a homework assignment. Rather, the homework will typically

ask you to do something specific. In fact, the instructor may be asking you to different

things in different homework assignments. As such, pay close attention to the

instructions. If the instructor asks you to the clarify the question that is raised on the first

page of the text, then focus on that question and think about the techniques that can be

used to clarify a question. For example, explain the background that is needed to

understand the question. Define the key terms being used in the question. In doing so,

think about the range of other related questions that one might ask, and think about the

possible answers that could be given to the question at hand. Write them down and

compare them.

Each step in this process will require some thought. For example, consider something

as simple as defining the key concepts that are being used to frame a question. When you

explain a concept by providing a definition, what are you really trying to do? Is the

definition you are giving drawn from common sense, the dictionary, or is it something

more technical? As a starting point, ask yourself if the definition you are giving

consistent with what is said in the text? Is the author using a definition of the key

concepts that have been established in a tradition to which the author belongs? Or, is the

author using a definition that has been established by others—perhaps by his

philosophical opponents—simply for the sake of argument?

Whatever you are doing as you seek to clarify a question in the text, try to articulate

what the question is really asking and explain why it matters. Half of the battle in writing

something as short as a homework assignment is getting straight on the question that you

are trying to address. As such, give it due time and effort. It might turn out that the real

purpose of such a homework assignment is not simply to explain a specific question that

surfaces on a particular page in the text. Rather, the real purpose might be to get you to

start thinking about what is involved in asking a worthwhile question and what is needed

to clarify that question. What the instructor wants to see is that you are taking the

questions seriously and that you are making a concerted effort to understand what is

being asked and to think as clearly about them as you can.

When you are writing a response to the homework assignment, try to think from the

perspective of the instructor. What was the point of giving the assignment in the first

place? For the most part, the point is quite straightforward. The instructor wants you to

open the book and read the material before class. What is more, the assignment is

probably designed to help you focus on a specific question or argument in the text. The

advantage of having students do a homework assignment is that class discussion can then

be more focused on something that everyone has been writing about. As such, the

assignments serve the purpose of helping to enrich the class discussion. Given that

purpose, be sure to write down the questions that occur to you when you are writing the

assignment and take note of things that seem especially puzzling—even if those questions

and puzzles don’t make their way into your homework. That way, when class meets, you

will have questions to raise and puzzles to share.

The points that have just been made about getting clear on the questions you are

addressing in a homework assignment apply doubly when it comes to writing longer

papers. You have been told since your middle school years that each paper you write

should have a thesis. Given the fact that you’ve been writing papers for years, you

should have a pretty good idea of what a thesis is by this point. When asked, most

students say that the thesis is a short expression of the topic and “point” of the paper. We

think it is helpful to consider the theses in the texts you are reading and the theses of the

papers you are writing as answers to specific questions. Where there is no question, there

can be no thesis. As such, it might be helpful to write out the questions you are trying

answer and the thesis you are proposing as answers to those questions before you try to

write anything—regardless of whether that is a one-page homework or a fifteen-page

term paper.

4. Putting things in order

As with the short homework assignments, different paper assignments may serve

different purposes. What is more, the instructor may be asking you to do more than one

thing in a given assignment. Therefore, it would be worth your while to write out the

instructions in the prompt in a step-by-step fashion. Number each step and look closely

to see if you are missing anything.

With that in hand, try some brainstorming. Jot down ideas that pertain to each part of

the assignment. As you jot them down, keep them in order by putting the ideas under the

specific steps that you’ve numbered in the assignment. Once you have collected a fair

number of ideas and sorted them into the steps for writing the paper, we recommend that

you write an outline. In the experience of many good writers, developing a series of

progressively more refined outlines is crucial for writing a clear and well-organized

paper.

Some students say that there is no need to write an outline. They claim that it is all in

their heads and that, based on their past experience in writing papers, they do better by

simply writing a draft of the paper. We think that there are several disadvantages to such

an approach to writing papers. The longer the papers get, the harder is will be to make

this strategy work. As such, we think it is better for those who like to write drafts right

from the start to write outlines at the same time. In fact, if you have to write a draft first,

then step back and write an outline of what you have done. It won’t take long. After all,

you have a draft to draw from. You should be able to write to number the main points

being made in each paragraph. Ask yourself: are these points in a clear order? Is there

anything out of place or missing?

One of the problems associated with writing a draft first is that students get attached

to what they have written. If they do take the time carefully to examine what they have

done, they hate to take the draft apart. The reason is that it can be painful to take

relatively coherent paragraphs and pull them into pieces. The coherence that was there is

lost once the pulling apart beings. One advantage of writing an outline is that there is no

pain involved in deleting points that are not needed, or inserting new points that are, or in

dramatically re-ordering the points in the outline. In fact, the very process of re-

organizing the points in an outline is quite a pleasant process because, over time, things

become more orderly and start to make better sense. This is hard to do (and considerably

more painful) if you only have a rough draft in hand and you now have to tear the thing

apart in order to fix the problems. That is one reason many students don’t take the time

necessary to significantly revise the drafts of the their papers. Those students who do

take the time to revise their papers might succeed in editing the spelling and grammatical

mistakes, but they often fail to fix the more problematic errors causes by poor

organization.

5. An outline of the process

Given the emphasis we’ve placed on constructing an outline before writing, we

thought it might help to provide an outline of the main steps that you should keep in mind

when writing a philosophy paper.

I. Choose a Topic

A. A Topic that Interests You:

1. You will be spending a lot of time with this topic, and if it is not

something that you genuinely want to explore, it will show in the

quality of the paper.

B. A Topic that is the Right Size:

1. Some topics require book length examinations; you will want to

avoid these.

a) Example: Aristotle

2. Try to select something limited enough to be argued thoroughly

within the space you have.

a) Example: The role of habit in Aristotle’s theory of virtue

II. The Type of Paper

A. Statement of a Thesis:

1. In this type of paper, you have a single thesis for which you are

arguing.

2. Your thesis should be clearly stated at the start of the paper and the

body of the paper should provide evidence in support of this thesis.

a) Example: “Though a compelling attempt at bringing free

will into a determined system, Stoic compatibilism is

ultimately incoherent.”

b) Example: “The Stoic view of the kosmos has less to do with

metaphysics than with giving support to their ethical

position and their view of happiness.”

3. A word of caution: there are many pitfalls into which students can

fall when writing a philosophy paper (some of these will be

discussed later) but this type of paper offers the most opportunity

for falling into them.

a) In the attempt to offer a strong argument, it is easy to

overlook or misrepresent other positions. That is, it is easy

to lose objectivity.

B. Compare and Contrast:

1. As the name suggests, in this type of paper you will identify the

similarities and differences between philosophical positions,

specific philosophers, positions taken by the same philosopher,

specific texts, etc.

a) Example: Comparing and contrasting the role of virtue in

Aristotelian and Stoic ethics.

C. Analysis Paper:

1. In this type of paper you analyze one philosophical view, text,

concept, etc.

2. This paper calls for a close examination of one particular thing in

order to better understand a larger picture. In other words, you will

want to ‘unpack’ a specific aspect of a text.

a) Example: The relation of epistemology and metaphysics in

Plato’s ‘divided line.’

III. Specifics

A. You Must Make an Argument :

1. Philosophy papers are exploratory, but they are so for the sake of

an argument.

2. Even in the compare and contrast and analysis types of papers, you

must have a thesis for which you are arguing.

a) Example: If you are comparing and contrasting the Stoics

with the Epicureans, you might argue that both think

happiness is the ultimate goal for human beings, but that in

their differing conceptions of happiness the two schools

diverge in important ways.

(1) The similarities and differences that you will

investigate will support your argument for this

thesis.

3. Philosophy papers are not book reports. It is not enough that you

report about the text; you must demonstrate that you have thought

about the text.

B. Language:

1. The quality of your paper depends upon a clear and careful

articulation of the concepts. The language you use and the content

you explore are inseparable. If you use imprecise language, you

will not produce a good paper because it will be unclear what you

mean to say. What you mean is what the words convey, so be

absolutely sure that your words are appropriate to what you mean.

a) One way to be sure that you will be clear is to revise,

revise, revise.

b) Finish your first draft well in advance so that you have the

option of giving it to me or someone else to look over.

IV. Pitfalls

A. Avoid Overstatement:

1. Precision is key, and overstatements are terribly imprecise.

2. Example: None of the Athenians could deal with the criticisms

from Socrates.

a) Obviously, this statement is false. Socrates had a large

following (which included Plato) and he was acquitted by

nearly half of the 501 jurors.

b) Do not employ exaggeration; it is a distortion of meaning

and is inappropriate in a philosophy paper where meaning

is key.

B. Avoid Vagueness:

1. Vague statements do not provide enough information.

a) Example: ‘The Forms are things but are not things like

chairs. They do not belong to anyone.’

(1) This says little to nothing. You would do better to

say: ‘The Forms are actually existing entities that

are accessible through pure reason but not through

the senses. They are independent of the particular

instantiations of them as well as of those who

conceive them.’

2. Do not employ useless generalities. These are statements so

general as to offer no compelling information. They tend to rear

their ugly little heads in the opening and closing paragraphs of

papers.

a) Example: ‘From the dawn of time, humans have wondered

about the nature of reality.’

(1) This is a conjecture based on an assumption and

neither provides any information nor gives any

ground for argument.

C. Tone:

1. The tone of your writing gives you credibility. Do not play the

rhetorician; this gives the impression that you must rely on tricks

of argumentation because your evidence is lacking.

2. Taking a derisive or indignant tone makes you sound narrow-

minded and thus it injures your credibility as an objective thinker.

Philosophy is an art of reasoning; you sound like an unreasonable

person if you use an inappropriate tone.

D. Kinds of Evidence:

1. Avoid the use of anecdotal evidence. These are short accounts of

an event in a person’s life that is used to support or defeat a claim.

They offer very little in the way of argumentation, and are open to

anecdotal counter-evidence.

a) Example: ‘Epicureanism makes so much sense; I have so

many friends who think pleasure is the ultimate goal.’

2. Use the utmost caution if you use testimonial evidence. Whether

the source of the testimony is an article, a book, or another person,

do not accept it blindly.

a) A philosophy paper is in part an exercise in your capacity

to reason. If you accept the authority of an argument or

statement without rigorous examination, you are clearly not

demonstrating your skill at reasoning.

3. You do, however, want to present textual evidence.

a) Support your claims by textual evidence; that is, quote from

the text in order to demonstrate that your reading of it is

accurate.

E. Presenting the Other Side:

1. Make a fair assessment of the other side to the argument. This

includes making mention of positions that argue against your

thesis.

a) If your argument is sound, it will be able to stand up to

counter-arguments.

F. Steering Clear of the many Fallacies:

1. False dilemmas: these are created when you display two

alternatives as if they are the only alternatives, when three or more

exist.

2. Extremism: this is a position that can only be supported through

overstatement, neglect of other positions, and the

misrepresentation of other positions.

3. Setting up a straw man: this is when you attack a misrepresentation

of a position rather than looking carefully at the position itself.

4. Tangents: if you journey into an area that is peripherally related to

the topic under discussion but is not immediately relevant to it, you

have made the mistake of going on a tangent.

G. Grammar:

1. You are expected to use proper grammar. This includes complete

sentences, punctuation, agreement between the parts of the

sentence, spelling, and the use of non-gender specific language.

2. You will not be marked off for grammar and spelling mistakes, but

if they are in excess, they will obscure the meaning of your

argument.

a) There is a writing center on campus; if you are concerned

about your writing skills, make use of this resource.

3. Be sure to use block quotes when quoting more than four lines of

text.

4. Italicize any foreign words, such as logos, aretē, etc.

H. References:

1. Plagiarism is the most serious academic offence that you can

commit when writing a paper. Plagiarism results when you take the

data, facts, ideas, or phraseology of another writer without giving

that writer due credit. This includes using data, facts, ideas, or

phraseology from sources such as books, articles, web sites, and so

on.

2. Give proper references to the source through the use of footnotes

or endnotes or in parentheses that enclose the reference to an

author that then appears on a ‘works cited’ page at the end of the

paper.

6. Additional resources

There are several helpful resources for writing philosophy papers that are available

from different universities. Here is a short list of possibilities you might consult if you

would like to read about other approaches to writing philosophy papers. If the links do

not function properly when clicking on them, then copy and paste the URL into a web

browser.

Harvard College:http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~phildept/files/ShortGuidetoPhilosophicalWriting.pdf

Massachusetts Institute of Technology:http://www.mit.edu/~yablo/writing.html

Notre Dame University:http://ocw.nd.edu/philosophy/are-we-eating-good-food/resources/works-by-jim-pryor-nyu/guidelines-on-writing-a-philosophy-paper