Warwick Philosophy guide to ...
writing essays
What is philosophical writing?
In your philosophy assignments, what we are
looking for is evidence of you doing philosophy,
which means we want to see you developing your
own argument in response to the ideas discussed
in the lectures, seminars and your further reading.
We expect to see you critically engaging with the
material covered on the course, reading and
making use of relevant philosophical work in order
to help you tease out strengths and weaknesses in
the arguments you discuss.
The essay is a presentation of your argument,
which will be the result of close reading, analysis
of arguments, and evaluation. Developing your
writing skills is an ongoing process, involving
practice, reflection and the use of feedback from
both tutors and your fellow philosophy students.
We will help you develop these skills throughout
your degree, especially in the first-year Philosophy
in Practice module.
Further reading: Tracy Bowell & Gary Kemp,
Critical Thinking (Routledge) - the core text for
Philosophy in Practice.
Quality of argument
One important way in which we assess your work
is based on the quality of the argument you
produce. There are a few key things to bear in
mind in producing a good quality argument:
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Using philosophical tools
Two main tools of philosophy are reasoning and
critical thinking. Throughout your degree, you will
be developing a number of skills to evaluate
arguments (both your own and others).
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For example,
 identifying assumptions (what is being
assumed and not argued for?)
 identifying structures of argument (what kind
of reasoning is being used? inductive?
deductive? appeals to intuition or empirical
evidence?)
 identifying the relevant issues and how the
arguments fit into larger debates
 Identifying logical relations between
assumptions and claims (does the conclusion
follow from the premises? What follows from
the conclusion? Is the conclusion compatible
with other plausible claims?)
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You need try your best to convince your
reader that you're right by providing clear
reasoning and justification for your claims
It's important that you don't simply pick
something that will strike the reader as
obviously true (you will need to do some
work to show why this is worth spending time
thinking about - why is it interesting?).
Think about your reader. Write clearly and
concisely: unclear and rambling writing can
make it hard for your reader to understand
your points
State a clear thesis (what are you claiming?)
and think about the structure of your
argument (what's the best method for
proving your claim?)
You need to consider possible
objections/rebuttals to your view and
provide a response (the aim is to produce a
water-tight argument, so you may need to
consider a number of responses but focus on
the most challenging).
Highlight your reasoning using signposting
words (see below for examples)
Summarize your argument, emphasising the
reasoned steps in your conclusion
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There's no need to include biographical or
historical information unless it affects the
way you think we should interpret
philosophical views. Everything you include
must contribute to explaining or evaluating
the ideas you discuss.
Ensuring clarity
We are assessing your quality of argument based
on the materials you present in the essay. It's
important to explain the ideas you are discussing
fully in a way that makes clear why you are
including these particular ideas and how you've
understood the arguments.
Do not assume your reader has read what you
have or interpreted the material in the way that
you have. A good guide is to aim to write for
someone in your class who missed the specific
topic you are writing about. What in particular
would you need to explain? What steps or
interpretations would you need to justify to them?
chapters that are relevant to the question. Reread these texts to try to get some rough ideas for
your essay.
A good tip is to look out for papers or chapters
that take opposing positions, since this will be
helpful in developing arguments for or against the
claims you discuss.
Next steps
What is the question asking you to do? What do
you think you will need to do in your essay in
order to answer the question?
Look over your notes and start trying to develop a
view about the issue. What are the main points of
agreement or disagreement? Does one or another
view strike you as more plausible? Are there
specific assumptions or claims that strike you as
problematic or unclear?
You will then need to take a first stab at coming
up with a thesis to focus your essay around.
Where to start
Coming up with a thesis
Here are a few suggestions to help get you started
on writing an essay:
A thesis is a claim which is either true or false. This
is the main claim you will be making and
defending in your essay. You should state your
claim clearly and then try to offer a convincing
defence.
Picking a question
You will often have to choose a question from a
list of options. It's a good idea to pick a question
on a topic you are interested in. It is also a good
idea to make sure you have a clear sense of what
is being asked. If you are unsure, you should speak
with your module tutor or personal tutor.
If you are having trouble deciding on a question,
you can either begin by ruling out the questions
you definitely don't want to answer, then jot
down a few notes on the ones you're considering
and seek advice from the module tutor or your
personal tutor.
Reading the relevant literature
Look at the reading list for the course and see if
you can identify one or two key papers or
We expect different things from essays of
different lengths. For a short essay, you will need
a highly focused thesis, which makes a small claim
(e.g. I will raise one important objection to x's
argument and argue that s/he would need to
show p in order to overcome this problem). For a
longer essay, there is more space to consider
different options, which enables you to defend a
bigger claim (e.g. I will show that in responding to
a particular objection, x has three options but I
will show that each is deeply problematic). So, it's
important that you plan your work from the
outset with a clear idea of the length of the essay,
and of what you can achieve in that space.
Good formulation of a thesis: Examples
(a) In this paper, I will examine the naturalist
account of the normativity of meaning in light of
Kripke's scepticism. I will discuss the strongest
response to such scepticism, the dispositional
response, which I will argue manages to overcome
Kripke’s scepticism of the naturalism of meaning.
[Note that this formulation provides some context
and makes clear the focused approach to taken in
the essay by considering what the author takes to
be 'the strongest response']
(b) In arguing against Stolnitz's claim that any
knowledge we can gain from art is trivial, I will
argue firstly that he only considers a narrow view
of the kind of knowledge available (i.e.
propositional knowledge), failing to take into
account other candidates such as experiential
knowledge. Secondly, I will argue that such
experiential knowledge is non-trivial.
[This thesis takes a two-step attack in order to
refute a particular objection put forward in the
literature]
Bad formulation of a thesis: Examples
(a) I will argue that physicalism is right [this is
simply too big a claim; it's best to try to defend
such a position from a strong objection in order to
narrow the focus of your essay]
(b) In this paper, I will compare different responses
to scepticism about the external world [The
problem with such a formulation
(compares/describes/explains) is that it suggests a
lack of argument; you must take up a critical
position]
(c) I will argue that it is unclear whether
consequentialism is compatible with agent-relative
values [such a thesis does not provide a
substantive claim to be argued for, it merely sits
on the fence; to improve on such a thesis would
be to suggest possibilities and evaluate them]
Developing your argument
Key terms
Any technical (i.e. words that carry specific
meanings in context of philosophical discussion)
or ambiguous terms?
Philosophy tends to use common words in a
specific way, therefore you will need to make
clear how key terms are being used in the
literature and how you will use them (are there
any differences? why should the reader accept
your definition?). This is important in showing
your knowledge and understanding, as well as
making clear that any criticisms you have of an
opponent's view is not based on
misunderstanding.
Principle of charity
It's important to take seriously your opponent's
views and to provide motivation for their position,
in order to avoid setting up a 'straw man' or weak
opponent. According to the principle of charity,
you ought to consider the strongest version of a
claim rather than picking something that's easy to
knock down. If it seems as if a target claim or
argument is obviously wrong, that may well be a
sign that you have not properly understood the
claim or argument.
Good Example
When considering Descartes thought experiment
of the evil demon, it's important to understand the
role this plays in the structure of his argument (it is
one amongst many possible sources of scepticism)
[it's good to acknowledge possible
misinterpretations of a claim in helping the reader
to see the stronger interpretation available]
Bad Example
(a) Descartes cannot know that an evil demon is
deceiving him, therefore he doesn't succeed in
establishing hyperbolic doubt
[the problem here is that the author assumes a
weak understanding of the claim; as the example
above demonstrates, there was a stronger
interpretation]
Some possible argumentative strategies
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(b) Descartes doesn't successfully prove the
existence of God, therefore he cannot claim that
he is certain he is a thinking thing.
[although it might be true that Descartes commits
a vicious circle in arguing for God's existence, that
doesn't necessarily provide a knock-down to his
larger philosophical project - just because one part
of an argument fails, doesn't mean you have
disproven the whole argument, much more work
would need to be done to establish that]
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Consider consequences
One thing to try in order to develop your
argument is to consider what follows from the
particular claims; does accepting a particular claim
have problematic implications? This can help in
assessing a claim because if something false, or
implausible, follows from a claim, that provides a
ground for thinking that the claim itself is false or
implausible. Try to lay out clearly for yourself the
various options in dealing with a particular
problem and weigh up the pros and cons of each.
Using examples effectively
A good tool for explaining your argument and for
motivating particular views (i.e. to show why one
might think that those views are plausible) is to
use examples. In some cases, they will be simple
pointers to demonstrate what you have in mind,
in other cases, you may wish to construct more
elaborate thought experiments or produce an
argument by analogy. The space you devote to
your example should reflect the amount of work
that example is doing in demonstrating your
argument.
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Criticize a particular argument in the
literature; or show that certain arguments for
the thesis are no good. Perhaps, for example,
the conclusion doesn’t follow from the
assumptions or premises of the argument. Or
perhaps one or more of the premises or
assumptions is false or implausible.
Defend the argument or thesis against
someone else's criticism
Offer reasons to believe the thesis
Offer counter-examples to the thesis [i.e. an
example that refutes a claim or theory]
Contrast the strengths and weaknesses of
two opposing views about the thesis
Argue that certain philosophers are
committed to the thesis by their other views,
though they do not come out and explicitly
endorse the thesis
Discuss what consequences the thesis would
have, if it were true
Revise the thesis, in the light of some
objection
Planning your essay
Writing is a good way of getting your ideas down
on paper and starting the process of reflecting on
your initial thoughts.
There are three main stages to writing an essay.
It's important to leave enough time to produce at
least two drafts of your essay.
Stage 1: the outline
You will want to make a list of the elements that
you think need to go into your essay. It will consist
of your initial thesis followed by the steps you
need to make in order to defend that thesis. This
will form the argumentative structure of your
essay.
Stage 2: draft
This is your rough working-out. At this stage, you
are trying to gather together the materials and see
how the argument develops.
Stage 3: re-drafting
At this stage, you will have a clearer idea of your
thesis and you will need to restructure your essay
in order to enhance the quality of your argument
and try to present a convincing case to support
your thesis.
Structuring your essay
Introduction (1-2 paragraphs)
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Get straight to the point by introducing the
topic and saying what you will argue and
how.
Make clear the purpose of your essay - why is
this important/puzzling? What's your
contribution to the debate?
Define any technical terms you are using in
your essay (this is important to ensure the
reader can understand your argument)
Outline any assumptions you are making
Summarizing the main argument
Explain the argument you will be critiquing or the
puzzle you will be focusing on.
When engaging with a particular thinker or
debate, it's important to accurately represent
their views. You will need to produce a brief
summary of the main ideas, ensuring that
everything you include is relevant.
Critical analysis
An important part of writing philosophy is to
demonstrate your critical thinking and analytical
skills.
There are two main things you will be asked to do
in your philosophy essays: analysis of argument,
where you are engaging in a debate, and
interpretation of philosophical texts. Different
modules may require more emphasis on one
aspect than the other, therefore it is important
that you check with your tutor what is expected
from your assignments.
Analysis of Argument
You will need to put forward a thesis (or claim)
and argue for that in a logical and reasoned way,
which includes evaluating others' arguments. You
should try to think about this claim in the context
of the main theories that have been developed to
tackle the big questions in philosophy.
Interpretation of the text
When discussing a particular philosophical text,
you will need to demonstrate a good
understanding of its structure and arguments (and
possibly, in certain cases, of its style and literary
character). You may also need to evaluate
different possible interpretations of the text and
its arguments (trying in all cases to adhere to the
principle of charity). Critical analysis here may
take the form of offering examples to open up
possible ways of understanding the text, using
textual support to motivate your interpretation,
evaluating interpretations put forward in the
literature and evaluating a thinker's arguments in
the context of their philosophical project. This
involves close reading skills as well as your
philosophical skills.
Conclusion (1 paragraph)
The conclusion is an important tool in
consolidating your argument. At this point of the
essay, you want the reader to be convinced by the
steps you have taken in defending your thesis.
Therefore, it is necessary to restate your thesis
emphasising how you have defended the thesis
and what allowances you have made given the
objections you have considered along the way.
Making the structure of your essay
clear
quotation, and don’t use quotation in
place of demonstrating your own
understanding.
Make good use of connectives/signposting words:
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To indicate supporting reasons: because,
since, given this argument, is implied by
To indicate conclusions: thus, therefore,
hence, it follows that, consequently
To indicate problems, issues, objections:
nevertheless, however, but
To indicate responses to objections: in the
first case, on the other hand, in response,
alternatively
Make clear what you've done so far and what you
will go on to do:
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I will begin by...
Before I say what is wrong with this
argument, I want to...
These passages suggest that...
I will now defend this claim...
Further support for this claim comes
from...
For example...
Using quotations effectively
It is tempting to use quotations to demonstrate
how much you've read or to do the work of
explaining particular ideas for you. However, this
is not good use of quotations; quotations should
be used to enhance your work, help build a strong
case for your claim and move your argument
forward.
For every quotation you use, you need to do the
following 3 things:
1. you will need a sentence to introduce the
quotation
2. the quotation itself (with accurate
referencing)
3. one or more sentences commenting on
the quotation - it’s important here that
you explain to the reader how you
understand the main point(s) of the
When and how to paraphrase
You must make clear which are your own thoughts
and which are those you are discussing from the
literature. This is important for both ensuring that
you are not presenting someone else's view as
your own (plagiarism) and that you are presenting
a clear argument (when students don't make this
clear, it can sound as if they are changing their
mind throughout the essay, when in fact they are
trying to argue against someone else's view!).
You will need to provide references for
paraphrases (this is important to allow your
reader to verify and follow up on your version of
someone else's view).
Things to avoid...
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Raising unanswered questions
Using personal descriptors (I feel that, I
believe, it seems to me that)
Including material that is unrelated
Long quotations
Frequent quotations
How we mark your essays
For all assessments, we assess your work against
the marking criteria, which is available to you in
the student handbook. It's therefore important
that you have a look at the marking criteria before
writing your essays.
We will provide written feedback on work, which
will help you to see what you have done well and
where there is room for improvement. It is
important that you read and reflect on this
feedback in order to improve future work.
If there's anything you are unsure about, you
should speak with either your module tutor or the
DSEP.