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Sophia on the web A Resource Guide for Philosophy Students Created by Jennifer Leslie Torgerson, MA This
page last modified: September 13, 2015 ©
copyright, 1997 - present http://philosophyhippo.net
How to Write a
Philosophy Paper Basic Paper Requirements: ·
Papers should be TYPED,
using a 10 to 12 point legible font. ·
Papers must
have a bibliography or works cited page (usually on a separate page). ·
Papers must
be properly documented using Chicago style footnote, endnote, MLA, APA or
other documentation method. Be
consistent in the use of any method of documentation. ·
Length of the
body of the paper will be determined by the course requirements. ·
Papers must
defend a position, claim, or assertion. Wolff’s simple foolproof
method for writing philosophy papers: “A philosophy paper
is a defense of a thesis, in which the thesis is explained and analyzed,
arguments are given in support of the thesis, possible objections to the
thesis are stated and examined, and responses are given to the objections. A philosophy paper thus, has 5 parts: (1) The statement of
the thesis (2) The analysis and explanation
of the thesis (3) The arguments
in support of the thesis (4) The examination
of the objections to the thesis (5) The response
to the objections The simplest and
most foolproof way to write a philosophy paper is to organize it in precisely
this order: Thesis, Analysis of
Thesis, Arguments for Thesis, Objections to Thesis, and Response to
Objections. It isn’t necessary to stick
to this order, of course, and after you get good at writing philosophy papers,
you may want to experiment with other systems of organization. But if you’ve never written a philosophy
paper before, and you aren’t really quite sure what you are doing, it might
be a good idea to stick to this structure.” [1] Examples of thesis
statements: (1) Abortion is
morally wrong under all circumstances. (2) A woman has an
absolute right to decide whether to have an abortion. (3) There is no God
but Allah. (4) It is logically impossible
for there to be a Supreme Being. (5) Human beings are
incapable of determining whether there is a Supreme Being. These are theses
because they make a claim, or an assertion.
This is what I mean by a “position paper”. It is not merely your belief, or feelings,
or opinions, but a defense of an assertion (or position). Examples of sentences,
which do not assert anything, and are NOT theses: (1) The scientific
status of astrology. (2) Abortion, pro and
con. (3) Why I believe in
God. These are not
theses because they do not make a claim, or assert anything. They are topics, not theses. EXAMPLE The example provided here is a summary of Wolff’s
example. Thesis: Abortion is morally wrong under all
circumstances. There is a
distinction between what is morally and legally wrong. What is meant by “any or all
circumstances”? Explain
thesis: “Abortion is morally wrong
under all circumstances whatsoever” means “terminating a human pregnancy at
any stage before birth, so long as the fetus is alive, violates the objective
and universal principles of Judeo-Christian morality, and is therefore wrong
without exception for rape, incest, danger to the life of the mother, or any
other circumstance, including even a circumstance in which the abortion might
save the lives of many other innocent people.” Argument in support of
thesis: (1) Taking an
innocent life is morally wrong. (2) Abortion is the
taking of an innocent life. (3) Therefore,
abortion is morally wrong. This argument is in a
general argument form. It is a
Categorical Syllogism (AII figure 1). (1) All A are B. (2) C is an A. (3) Therefore C is a
B. The argument
presented demonstrated an instance (abortion is the taking of innocent life)
of the general rule (taking an innocent life is morally wrong). This form of argumentation is called Instantiation. This is a deductive argument form as
presented above. Another argument form is
called Generalization. This is
an inductive argument form. [2] Here is an example: (1) Do you agree that
shooting someone walking down the street is wrong? (2) Will you agree
that bombing civilians who happen to live near a war zone is morally wrong? (3) Will you agree
that smothering a baby in its crib is morally wrong? (4) Can you see what
these cases all have in common, and what makes them morally wrong is the fact
that they are all cases of taking an innocent life? (5) If you agree that
what makes those three acts morally wrong is the fact that they are all cases
of taking an innocent life, if that is why they are wrong, then it follows
that any act of taking of an innocent life must also be wrong. In other words, the taking of an innocent
life is morally wrong. Objections to the thesis: Play Devil’s
advocate for a bit, and think up the best objections you can to your own
thesis. Don’t just put up some
cream-puff objections that anyone can knock over. This part of the paper is for “damage
control”. If you can succeed in
defending your thesis against the strongest possible objections, you may be
able to persuade your reader. [An
objection to the example thesis is its use of universal rules, instead of
using the consequences of action, to determine an action’s moral value.] Respond to the
objections: Now that you
thought up the objections, answer them!
And then you
are done! How
long should the paper be? Truly just long
enough to state a thesis, explain it, defend it, and respond to the
objections to the thesis. Don’t pad or
add unnecessary fluff.
CITATION EXAMPLES AND
HELPFUL DOCUMENTATION HINTS Go to this web
page: Karla's
Guide to Citation Style Guides http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/journalism/cite.html Karla has a list
of links for just about every style of documentation. It is a must see site. Looking for a MLA
stylebook? Joseoh Gibaldi. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers,
Sixth Edition. (New York, NY: The Modern Language Association of America,
2003). Another good book
to purchase is: Kate L. Turabian. A
Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th
Edition. (Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press, 1996). Kate is using the
Humanities style of documentation, not the MLA (parenthetical author-date
style). The use of footnotes (with
bibliography) are preferred for reading on microfilm, since the entire paper
can be read from beginning to end without the need to flip to the back for
the source citations and other notes. Pages 185 to 238
in Turabian show you an example of near every kind
of citation in Humanities note format, and bibliographical format, as well as
comparing this to other styles of documentation- all in one place. Also see this
site, for a complete list of how to document all sorts of electronic
documents in the Humanities format (it is a companion to Turabian): http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/citing.html found via this
resource (EuroDocs): http://library.byu.edu/~rdh/eurodocs/cite.html “The first time a
work is mentioned in a note, the entry should be in complete form; that is, it should include not only the author’s full name, the title of the work,
and the specific reference (volume, if any, and page number), but the facts
of publication as well. For a book the
source information is the title page and copyright page; for a periodical it
is the cover, and the article itself.
Once a work has been cited in full, subsequent references to it should
be in shortened form.” [3] If you look at
the ENDNOTES PAGE you can see examples of what Kate has described above. Page 2 of this handout contains a shortened
citation example using ibid. I have
also given you an example of how to document a book, by one author, using the
Humanities format of documentation. I
like to include the city and the state in my citation. Direct quotes
longer than 50 words need to be “centered” and justified in the middle
of the page in single spacing, and set apart from the body of the text (by DS
or double spacing). Some examples of
citations methods for sources typically used in student papers: (see Karla’s web
site for more examples) ·
Web site (like mine): Jennifer Leslie Torgerson,
[jen0sophia@aol.com] “Socrates,” Sophia on the web: Articles about Philosophers and
Philosophical Topics, [http://philosophyhippo.net/sophiaontheweb/archive/socrates.htm],
31 August 2009. o
The citation should include the name of the
author, their Internet address if available, and the title on the title bar
or the title of the page, the URL or Internet address, and the date (posted)
if possible. I also included the title
of the topics page used, as if it was a journal article citation. The examples below are
all non-electronic source examples in Humanities format from Turabian. ·
Book with an editor: Robert von Hallberg,
ed., Canons (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1984), 225. ·
Classical work: Plato.
Apology. 38 A. (also
cite the translation used after this in the first full note and in the
bibliography). ·
Class notes: Jennifer Leslie Torgerson, “Spinoza,”
(lecture presented at Coppin State College in PHIL
201-003, Baltimore, Maryland, 28 March 2000), unpublished. ·
Encyclopedia (unassigned article): Columbia Encyclopedia, 5th
ed., s.v. “cold war.” The facts of publication are usually
omitted, and the edition (if not 1st) must be noted. ·
Interview (unpublished): Benjamin Spock, interviewed
by Milton J. E. Senn, 20 November 1974, interview
67A, transcript, Senn Oral History Collection,
National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD. ·
Journal article: Richard Jackson, “Running down the
Up-Escalator: Regional Inequality in
Papua New Guinea.” Australian
Geographer 14 (May 1979) : 175-84. ·
Magazine article: Bruce Weber, “The Myth Maker: The Creative Mind of Novelist E. L.
Doctorow,” New York Times Magazine, 20 October 1985, 42. ·
Selection of one work in another: Bruno Bettelheim, “The Frame Story of
Thousand and One Nights,” in The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy
Tales (New York: Vintage Books,
1976), 87. NOTE that
bibliographical entries are different from note entries. A bibliography or
works cited page should appear on its own page, separate from the body
of the text. A BIBLIOGRAPHY SHOULD
BE ON ITS OWN SEPARATE PAGE. The
ENDNOTES page too should be on its own page. Neither the bibliography, nor
the endnotes page(s) are counted as numbered pages, as part of the body of
the text. |
