Writing Philosophy Essays - Some Points to Keep in Mind

G. F. Schueler

The following points are intended as guidelines to keep in mind while writing a philosophy essay.  They are the first and most obvious things that I look for in reading the essays that students submit to me.

0) THE BASICS:

I take it as obvious that any written composition, in philosophy or any other subject, should meet the minimum standards of intelligibility and clarity.  It should contain no mistakes of spelling or grammar.  It should be well organized, stick to the point, not misuse words, etc.  Proof reading your paper before turning it in is thus essential.

1)  The essay must clearly address the question asked or the topic under consideration.

            So there must BE a clear question being asked or issue being addressed, whether formulated by you or for you in an assignment.  In either case, though, wandering off the topic, adding extra 'padding' to make the essay a bit longer, bringing in personal stories, and the like just tell the reader that either you did not understand the question or you did not really have much to say.

2)  The essay you write must accurately and fairly represent the views of any philosopher or philosophers you discuss.

            This is simple decency, of course, but also a requirement for being on the topic.  If you are wrong about what some philosopher whose views you are discussing actually thinks then your discussion of them is unlikely even to be 'in the right ball park'.  So the ideal is that were the philosophers whose views you discuss to read your essay, they would agree that you had explained their views correctly. 

3)  The essay you write should make some intellectual contribution to the topic or issue being discussed.

            This is the heart of the matter.  What is wanted is that you yourself actually think about the issue, i.e. use your own mind to do some intellectual work on the topic in question.  This can mean all sorts of different things: stating or explaining clearly some complex argument, attacking or defending some important claim, reformulating some problem in an illuminating way, etc.  What is not wanted, however is just 'giving your opinion,' that is, casting your vote for or against some philosophical view without any reasoning or thought of your own.