Introduction to Philosophy
Lecture 11
Writing Philosophy Papers
By David Kelsey
Guidelines
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Here are some general guidelines for writing a philosophy paper:
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1. Your philosophy paper will make an argument.
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2. The philosophy paper you will write in this course will be of 2 kinds:
– a. The positive approach:
– b. The negative approach:
Keep it modest &
starting the writing process
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3. Keep the scope of your paper modest.
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4. How do you start the paper writing process?
–
–
Read and think about it
Work backwards
Start early &
be simple
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5. Start the paper early, at least a few weeks in advance of the due date.
–
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Finding your thoughts on a subject can be difficult.
6. Be Simple:
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Simple straightforward prose
Make the structure obvious and
Be concise yet fully explain
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7. Make the structure of your paper obvious:
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8. Be concise yet fully explain
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Cover one or two small points but do fully explore them
Chuck out what’s unnecessary
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9. Chuck out unnecessary paragraphs:
– Each paragraph should be necessary in making your argument
– Each sentence should be a necessary part of its paragraph
– Each word should be a necessary part of its sentence
Avoid vagueness and ambiguity, anticipate
objections & editing your draft
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10. Avoid vagueness and ambiguity.
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11. Anticipate objections:Imagine the reader of your paper is a devil’s advocate
in the worst kind of way.
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12. Read and re-read your draft
Vagueness
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A vague statement is one whose meaning is indistinct, imprecise or
lacks details.
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Degrees: Vagueness isn’t all or nothing. It comes in degrees.
– Apartment example
Clarifying vagueness
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Desirable vagueness: sometimes vagueness is actually desirable.
–
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Being Romantic
Clarify: If we come across a vague statement we can simply try to clarify the
lack of detail or indistinct-ness.
–
Job example
Vagueness
and Propositions
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A vague statement
– it is unclear what proposition the sentence asserts at all.
– It could be any one of a number of propositions
Ambiguous Claims
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•
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An ambiguous claim is one that is subject to more than one interpretation.
Claim x
 
– P1
P2
Semantic Ambiguity
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A sentence that is semantically
ambiguous is one which contains
an ambiguous word or phrase.
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For example:
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Fixing the ambiguous word
Syntactic Ambiguity
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A sentence is syntactically
ambiguous when it is ambiguous
because of its grammar or the way it
has been structured or put together.
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When you have come across a
semantic ambiguity you can simply
alter the grammar
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Or you might need to re-write the
claim altogether.
Grouping Ambiguity
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Grouping ambiguity:
– unclear whether some word in the sentence is referring to a group or an
individual.
– Secretaries and Physicians
– Lawnmowers and dirt bikes