Reading and Writing

Reading and writing philosophy are particular skills. Here is some advice about reading: reading philosophy is difficult, take your time, read and re-read, take notes.

Below is some more detailed advice about writing:

This advice is not esoteric. It is NOT the case that each instructor wants something different. If you do a quick internet search on advice about writing philosophy essays, and look through the plausible results (i.e. the results that relate to academic philosophy), you will see that we are all on the same page. Reading through a few is probably a useful way to really internalize the advice. Here are a few links (thanks to Daily Nous):




1. How to choose an essay title

If you are using one of the titles I provided you should read this section anyway – it will help you to think about how to structure your essay.

First, choose a general topic – e.g. agent causation, pornography, or global consequentialism. Usually, we will have covered a topic over one or two classes.

Then you have to focus on one of the philosophical issues within a topic.

Make sure that you are thinking of the philosophical issues rather than empirical issues (e.g. don’t try to write about whether women are naturally more caring than men – that is not a philosophical question. Likewise it is not a good idea to write about whether determinism is true – that’s a question involving all sorts of complex issues in physics that you can’t get into). Make sure that the topic is not too broad (e.g. ‘Consequentialism’ is not a suitable title – it doesn’t provide any focus). Ideally you will pick a topic that has interested you – people tend to do better when they are genuinely interested in what they are doing.

The next step is to narrow your topic down to a question. It is not enough to think of an issue in general terms – the issue must take the form of a problem to be solved.

For example, ‘Which should win out in the conflict between an employer’s right to make a profit and a woman’s right to equal pay?’; ‘Can libertarian accounts of free will overcome the objection that such accounts cannot avoid reducing our actions to luck?’ and so on.

Of course, these titles are rather wordy, and if, for aesthetic reasons you prefer a shorter title in the end that’s fine. The actual ‘title’ of an essay doesn’t matter. What matters is that the essay be about a clearly defined question.

Remember that it is natural that your title will develop as you do your research. You cannot start with the precise topic – you figure out the precise topic by doing research. Once you do some reading the issues should start to become clearer to you, and eventually you should be able to narrow your topic down to something well focussed.

If I ask you to choose your own essay titles it is to encourage active rather than passive thinking about a topic. If you have realised what the problem is that needs to be solved you are already half way to a good essay.


2. What to include

There are various things that ought to be done in an essay. It doesn’t really matter what order you do them in or what order you present them in, so long as the structure of your essay is clear and transparent.

  • Present the important arguments from the relevant literature clearly. You should think in terms of presenting your argument to someone who has a background in philosophy, but does not necessarily know the particular literature you are discussing. You should always think about any particular argument that you are thinking about describing, 'am I using this, or merely mentioning it?' If the latter, skip it.

  • Explain what the problem is – why there is a disagreement. Try to get to grips with the bigger picture in doing this.

  • Present existing solutions to the problem.

  • Present your own arguments.

Don’t panic - your own arguments are not expected to be startlingly original. You may just be trying to show that the arguments offered in favour of one position are stronger than the arguments offered in favour of the other. You can also show originality in a clear presentation of the existing positions – a good exposition can reveal interesting and previously ignored aspects of an argument.


3. Structure

The structure of the essay should be clear – each paragraph should follow from the previous in a way that makes sense, and the overall point of your essay should be obvious from the start.

A good (though not compulsory) plan is to use your introduction to say what you will do – for example, “In this essay I will present Clarke’s account of incompatibilism and then I will examine two objections to that account. I will show that Clarke’s account cannot deal with these objections.”

In the main body of the essay all you should do is present and compare arguments For example, this would be a good structure for a 1500 word essay:

X and Y disagree over the issue of q. The mainstay of X’s argument is her claim that p. I will show that her argument for p is flawed.

X’s argument goes as follows: ‘If t then p, t therefore p’. However, there is an ambiguity between t* and t. t* is the case, but p does not follow from it.

Of course you should explain the arguments. The point of this example is just to make the structure clear.

Mistakes to avoid

1. Superficiality

THIS IS BY FAR THE MOST COMMON MISTAKE I COME ACROSS.

Do not produce a survey of all the arguments in the neighborhood with no real point.

You should focus on a question and try to answer it. Better to be deep and narrow than wide and shallow. Note that this is a very common mistake – a good rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t mention a view unless you actually have something to say about it. Don’t mention views just because they seem vaguely relevant, or to show that you know they are out there. No need to give all the background for your argument – you can usually dive straight in (in a long essay – more than 5000 words – you need to give a little background – but still, not much).

Remember that the general knowledge you have of a topic is not ‘wasted’ just because it is not included in your essay. You will do a better job of discussing a narrow topic if you have the broad background knowledge.

2. Padding

There is no point in padding your essay with irrelevant historical facts; unnecessary repetition; overly long introductions and conclusions. The overly long introduction is a particularly common mistake. If you are writing a 1500 word essay, your introduction shouldn’t be more than 2 or 3 lines. Any more and you are eating into the very short space left to demonstrate some philosophical skills. If you are writing a 3000 word essay, a short paragraph is enough. Even with a 5000 word essay you shouldn’t need more than a paragraph.

Common problems in introductions: dictionary definitions, quotations from non philosophers (e.g. judges). Remarks like ‘Philosophers have pondered this question for thousands of years’.

3. Wordiness

The best way to write philosophy is to be clear and literal. As J.L. Austin says, words are our tools, and we need clean tools. Avoid unnecessary synonyms (just repeat the word, if it is the right word), convoluted sentences, and long words that you do not fully understand yourself. Keep it clear and simple.

4. Straying too far from the literature.

The best way to write an essay is to stick closely to the literature. E.g. A good essay would examine the question of P in the dispute between X, Y and Z. Set out the initial problem (e.g. P is a problem because on the one hand it seems clear that P is true, on the other, P just can’t be true). Then set out and assess the relevant arguments. Of course there is room for your own input, but this is not the place for your thoughts about life, the universe and everything. Remember that philosophy is an academic discipline.

5. Lazy proof reading

Why lose marks just because you didn’t proof read carefully? Look for spelling mistakes that the automatic spellcheck will miss. Check your minor facts:. the gender of the writers you discuss; check that you are not saying something false about the chronology of the works; be clear whether you are quoting the lecturer’s example or the writer’s example; check your grammar (if you have trouble with grammar, or if you are not a native speaker you should ask a friend for help if you can); get rid of Random Capital Letters; look out for overuse of phrases like “I feel that”, “I believe that” etc. (don’t report your own state of mind); check your citations and bibliography.


4. Administrative details

Please include the word count in your submission.

Please make all references and citations clear. There is no need to follow any particular style, but you must use a conventional style.

Please make sure your essay has PAGE NUMBERS.

5. Research Resources

Part of your assignment is to do some independent research and look up suitable sources. So please don’t email asking – what should I read? Of course you can email me for advice about whether something you have found is suitable, or with questions about the content of things you have read.

Start with the syllabus. I usually include ideas for additional reading. Another useful resource is the Stanford Encyclopedia, which has excellent bibliographies.