How to Write a Philosophy Paper
How to Write a Philosophy Paper
Shelly Kagan
Department of Philosophy
1.
Every paper you write for me will be based on the same basic assignment: state a thesis and defend it. That is, you must stake out a position that you take to be correct, and then you must offer arguments for that view, consider objections, and reply to those objections. Put another way: you must give reasons to believe the central thesis of the paper.
Some of you may have never written a paper like this before. So let me contrast it with two other kinds of papers you probably have written. First, I am not looking for "book reports":
I don't want summaries of one or more of the readings, and I don't want you to "compare and contrast" what different authors say, or what different moral theories might say, about the given topic. Rather, I want you to "stick your neck out"--tell me what you believe to be the truth about the relevant issue. And then I want you to defend that position. Of course, it might well be relevant, or helpful (or perhaps even part of the specific assignment) to discuss some particular author or view. But even here the emphasis should be on evaluating that author or view. Book reports, no matter how superb, simply don't meet the assignment.
Second, I am not looking for "thoughts on topic X", or "meditations on X", or "remarks on X". It just won't do to simply string together various reflections you may have on the given topic, even if in the course of doing this you embrace various claims, and offer some reasons for your views, before moving on to the next reflection. The paper should instead have a single, central thesis. The point of the paper is to state and defend that thesis. The various contents of the paper should be selected and organized so as best to defend that central claim. (Stream of consciousness, for example, is a poor way to organize material, and is likely to include much that is irrelevant to anything like a main thesis.) No matter
Shelly Kagan
Department of Philosophy
1.
Every paper you write for me will be based on the same basic assignment: state a thesis and defend it. That is, you must stake out a position that you take to be correct, and then you must offer arguments for that view, consider objections, and reply to those objections. Put another way: you must give reasons to believe the central thesis of the paper.
Some of you may have never written a paper like this before. So let me contrast it with two other kinds of papers you probably have written. First, I am not looking for "book reports":
I don't want summaries of one or more of the readings, and I don't want you to "compare and contrast" what different authors say, or what different moral theories might say, about the given topic. Rather, I want you to "stick your neck out"--tell me what you believe to be the truth about the relevant issue. And then I want you to defend that position. Of course, it might well be relevant, or helpful (or perhaps even part of the specific assignment) to discuss some particular author or view. But even here the emphasis should be on evaluating that author or view. Book reports, no matter how superb, simply don't meet the assignment.
Second, I am not looking for "thoughts on topic X", or "meditations on X", or "remarks on X". It just won't do to simply string together various reflections you may have on the given topic, even if in the course of doing this you embrace various claims, and offer some reasons for your views, before moving on to the next reflection. The paper should instead have a single, central thesis. The point of the paper is to state and defend that thesis. The various contents of the paper should be selected and organized so as best to defend that central claim. (Stream of consciousness, for example, is a poor way to organize material, and is likely to include much that is irrelevant to anything like a main thesis.) No matter