Ryan Fanselow
Twelve Things to Remember when Writing a Philosophy Paper
(Ignore at your peril)
1) Write as if your audience were intelligent but uninformed. Keep in mind that the purpose of your paper is to explain an idea or argument to someone who is not already familiar with the material or with what you know or would be likely to say about it. This means you have to go slowly and be very clear. Pretend that I have never read this particular philosopher before. Often I will point out a passage in a paper that is vague and the student will reply “but you know what I am saying.” I know what you are saying because I have read the philosopher that we are discussing many times. I should be able to tell what is going on just from your paper, even if I had never read the philosopher we are discussing. As a corollary:
a. Define all technical terms. Sometimes a philosopher will introduce technical terminology. On the assumption that your audience is uninformed, it does not know the relevant terminology.
2) Apply the principle of charity. The principle of charity says that you should interpret a philosopher’s argument in way that makes it as convincing as possible. You should always apply this principle of charity, especially when you disagree with a philosopher. Consider how the philosopher you disagree with would respond to your paper. If his response could be ‘that’s not what I meant,’ then you are not using the principle of charity.
3) Be clear. If I cannot tell what you mean by a sentence, I will not assume that you know what you are talking about. You should strive to put things as simply and clearly as possible.
4) Be Precise. Avoid using vague phrases. Instead, try to be as specific as possible.
a. When you claim that the conclusion of an argument is false, be specific about how the argument to that conclusion fails. If you think an argument fails to establish its conclusion, I should be able to tell from your paper exactly which you think premise in the argument is false or which inference is unwarranted.
b. Use ‘thus,’ ‘therefore’, etc., in an argument you’re making only to give the conclusion of the argument. ‘Thus,’ and ‘therefore’ are called “conclusion indicators.” In philosophical writing they are technical terms that tell the reader that the sentence that follows is the conclusion of an argument. You should not present your points in these terms except when presenting what you take to be the conclusion of a valid argument.
c. Only use generalizations when you mean them. If you say ‘everyone believes x’ and there is one person who does not believe x, you are wrong. Similarly, if you say ‘every x is y’ and there is one x that is not y, you have said something false. Be careful when you use words like ‘all,’ ‘any,’ ‘every,’ ‘no,’ ‘none,’ etc.
5) Have a clearly-defined thesis. Pop quiz: Which of the following thesis statements is better? 1) In this paper, I will discuss Descartes’ argument for the existence of God. 2) In this paper, I will show that the argument for God’s existence that Descartes presents in Meditation Three depends on an incoherent conception of “clear and distinct ideas.”
6) Justify your claims. Of course, if you are saying something obvious, you do not have to provide any evidence. But if you are saying anything controversial you should give me some reasons to believe what you are saying. Also, if you claim that a philosopher said something you should tell me where they said it. I will not take your word for it. If you say ‘Descartes believed x’ you should give a page number.
7) Stay on topic. Everything you say should be relevant to your thesis statement. For example, if your topic is the ontological argument for the existence of God, you should not give me several paragraphs about reason and faith and why people generally believe in God.
a. Do not waste space with historical or other background. Do not start with something like ‘Since, the dawn of man people have wondered about abortion.’ Do not give me any biographical information about the philosopher you are discussing or bother spelling out his full name or the full title of the book we are reading.
8) Cite properly. If you give me a quote, then you should give me the number of the page it came from. If you paraphrase a philosopher, then you should tell me where your paraphrase came from. Taking ideas from a book, article, or website and failing to cite it is plagiarism.
9) Know when to use quotes. Quotes are very important and should be used selectively to back up your interpretations. They should not be used to do your explaining for you. Anytime you use a quote you should tell me what the quote means in your own words.
10) Proofread your paper. I will take off points for grammatical mistakes.
11) Use proper formatting. Your paper should be in Times New Roman size 12. It should be double spaced with standard margins. Your pages should be numbered.
12) Give your paper an informative title. Pop quiz 2: which is the best of the three titles? 1) Philosophy Paper, 2) Descartes’ argument for God’s existence, 3) A Solution to the problem of circularity in Descartes’ argument for God’s existence.