If you are going to write philosophy essays, take courage, as it will be quite difficult. Philosophical issues have existed since time immemorial. People have been always interested in how the world works. Every person has his or her personal views on everything in the world. These differences between us cause the appearance of problematic questions.
In this article, we’ll tell you how to discuss these questions in a proper way and how to manage a philosophy paper.
Q: What are philosophy papers?
Everyone has his or her own philosophy. It means that each of us is a unique person that has his or her own picture of the world. Your philosophy includes your moral values and understanding of important categories. Great philosophers from the past also had their own beliefs, and they stood for them. Some of them did it more persistently than others. Anyway, each of them gave arguments for their vision of the world. Your target is to do the same but in a less extended way.
So, you are to write your opinion about some subject and try to prove that it is right or more plausible than any other thoughts.
Q: Do philosophy papers have titles?
Yes, they do. Your aim is not to be original or creative when giving a title. It’s better to have a clear title that explains to the reader the topic of your essay. But do not confuse it with you thesis. Your thesis should be a completed sentence, not several words.
Q: Do philosophy papers need a thesis?
Giving a well-defined thesis is obligatory for philosophy papers. Better to do this at the beginning of a text as the other parts of you essay are based on it. That is why your work should be consistent. Of course, before giving your thesis, you have to choose the topic. Be sure that your statement is univocal and easy to understand.
Q: How to structure a philosophy essay?
A philosophy essay consists of these parts:
- Intro. Write a couple of introductory sentences. Do not extend this part, starting from obvious or too general thoughts.
- Thesis. This is your main idea. The rest of the text is devoted to proving this statement.
- Supporting claims. What has led you to such an opinion? Present your arguments, give examples and analogies. Remember that you shouldn’t use one’s views as a key argument. You need to show how your thoughts reflect in reality.
- Objections. You can hardly give a philosophical thesis that can’t be objected. Try to dissuade yourself of your own opinion. You may ask someone for help because it is sometimes too hard to refuse from a settled opinion.
- Counters. Now you are to defend your statement. Refute objections. Again, if you have difficulties with coping with this in your mind, try to discuss it with someone. The feeling of active confrontation should help you to prove your opinion.
- Repeat for other points (if needed). You can give one or several claims that support your thesis. If you decide to write several claims, you have to write objections and counters too.
Q: Do philosophy papers need conclusions?
As every type of writing work, it should be ended with a conclusion. While writing a conclusion, remember that:
- An issue can stay unresolved. You are writing a philosophical essay. This means that some problems can still remain. In this work, you express and defend your opinion, but your topic can be too complex and still need to be explored by humanity.
- Do not just repeat all that you have already said. Your conclusion shouldn’t look like this: “My thesis ‘A’ is true because of ‘B’ and ‘C.’” Philosophical questions are too complicated to have an unambiguous opinion of them.
- Do not use clichés. Word expressions like “to make a conclusion,” “to conclude” and others like it are already too jarring. Your reader understands that it is the ending.
Q: How to reference a philosophy essay?
Usually, philosophical works are written in MLA style. According to this format, you must cite the author’s name and the page number in the text. It will follow the quotation directly, like the following (Shaw, 234). It is the simplest case of reference. Let’s look at a bit more difficult ones.
- If there are two or three authors of a book, write the last names of all of them. For example, like this (Brown, Goldstein and Smith 645-647).
- If there are more than three authors, write the last name of the first one and add “et al.” For instance, it will look like this: (Brown et al. 235).
- If you include the name of an author in a sentence, give only the page number (34-36).
- If there are no page numbers like on websites, you need to include the section or paragraph number (par. 34).
Do You Need More Help?
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