How to Write a Philosophy or Ethics Paper.

[Written by John W. Loftus] Here are the guidelines to writing a Philosophy or Ethics paper that I use for my classes:

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 five parts (which I will expect you to follow). Include a sentence outline of your argument. 1. The statement of the thesis. 2. The analysis and explaining of the thesis. 3. The arguments in support of the thesis. 4. The examination of objections to the thesis. 5. The response to the objections. When choosing a thesis statement I want you to argue against a particular author with whom you disagree. Your chosen topic must be one discussed in our philosophy/ethics textbook--no exceptions. Read essays until you come across a philosophical essay with which you disagree. Then defend your point of view against the criticisms of that essay. Research into other authors to help you in your debate. 1) The Thesis is a statement that makes some clear, definite assertion about the subject under discussion. Be sure to begin your paper with a thesis statement showing what you will attempt to show, and how you will do this. Let me know which sentence is your thesis statement by labeling it as such. Be specific. Don’t just say you will examine the question at hand. A philosophy paper is very much like debating on behalf of, or against a position. You should state that a particular author with whom you are debating is wrong in certain areas, and that your position is better. If the subject is the existence of a Supreme Being you might want to defend: a) The teleological argument for the existence of God shows that a designer God exists; b) It is highly unlikely that a good God exists given the amount of evil in the world; or c) Human beings are incapable of knowing whether there is a Supreme Being. Inadequate thesis statements include: a) Why I believe in God; b) The Quest for God; or c) God in Contemporary Thought. These statements do not assert anything--they are topics. The first one above “Why I Believe in God” is a personal report of how you feel or believe, which is not a philosophical argument. When writing about the topic of Abortion good thesis statements are: a) Abortion should be legally wrong under all circumstances; b) A woman should have the absolute legal right to have an abortion; and c) Abortion should be illegal except to save the life of the mother. Inadequate ones include: a) Abortion pro and con; b) The scientific status of the embryo; and c) The legally of abortion in America. 2) The analysis and explaining of the thesis. Here you need to explain just what you wish to defend. In the case of Abortion you will need to distinguish between legal problems and moral problems--are you arguing both? Clarify what circumstances, if any, abortion is morally wrong. Can it be morally wrong yet not legally wrong? At this stage you are not really arguing your case, just explaining what you mean by your thesis statement. This sets the stage for the rest of your paper, for the reader can then judge how well you’ve defended your thesis by how you interpret it. In the case of a Supreme Being, are you arguing for (or against) a loving God, a creator God, or the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent benevolent God in the Bible? Again, be very specific. Remember, the bigger the claim, the harder it is to defend it. 3) The arguments in support of the thesis. Here is the heart of the paper where you argue your thesis. You must offer reasons (arguments) to support your thesis statement that are intended to persuade someone who disagrees. Just ask yourself, “If I didn’t already believe my thesis, would these reasons convince me that it was true?” In the case of a Supreme Being you may want to defend the cosmological argument, the teleological argument or the moral argument for the existence of God. Just defend one of them, not all of them, thank you. In the case of Abortion you might try to defend the absolutist thesis that abortion should always be legally wrong. Here you would have to argue that abortion takes an innocent human life. You would have to show that it is human life and it is immoral to take a human life no matter what the circumstances. You would also have to defend a legal principle which defends the right to legislate on this and other similar moral issues. 4) The examination of objections to the thesis. The difficult trick here is to research and state the strongest possible objections to your thesis. Don’t just put up some cream-puff objections that anyone can knock over! There is nothing that wins a reader over more than to have the author say, “Now someone may object, but what about this, and this” when that is just what the reader is thinking, and then having the author come up with really plausible replies to the objections. Here you will have to seriously deal with a philosophical author who disagrees with your viewpoint. Allow that author to speak. Use “the principle of charity” that states we should present the best possible interpretation of an author’s argument for our debate. Otherwise we end up attacking a charicature of his or her argument rather than the argument itself (known as “the fallacy of the straw man”). As a research paper I will expect you to utilize the arguments and counter-arguments learned in class, class readings, and outside readings. 5) The response to the objections. Having stated the objections, answer them and then you are done! As before, use all the skills at your disposal to convince someone who disagreed with your viewpoint. [You may combine part 4 with part 5, answering objections as you go.] At the end of your paper offer a summary paragraph of what you have shown in your paper. Footnotes can be placed at the end of the paper. You will be graded based in descending order upon: 1) how you defend your thesis statement, 2) clarity of thought and presentation; 3) your research, and only if it becomes noticeable, 4) grammar and spelling. While a survey of positions on a particular topic can be helpful, you must show how one position offers criticisms of the other, and not merely state that they are different (which is obvious). Your use of the Bible, the Koran, and so on, should be very limited. While religious teachings may be the source of your beliefs, you are being asked to defend them with philosophical reasons. Again, pick an author or topic that you find in our textbook or that we discuss in class with whom you disagree. Describe the author’s position you wish to evaluate in some detail. Then evaluate it by using the help of other philosophers who have written about it, without neglecting you own informed arguments. ------------------------------------------------- Adapted from Robert Wolff’s About Philosophy, (pp. 425-437) by John W. Loftus.