A philosophy paper is an essay that is written concerning a specific topic or to answer a given question on the discipline of philosophy. A philosophy paper is unique in the sense that it requires a lot of deliberate thought in expressing every idea particularly because it requires one to defend their philosophical opinions through writing. The individual should strive to defend or prove each opinion that they express in the paper and not just quote what the philosophers state concerning the topic. When writing the philosophy essay, you should come up with good reasoning and justifications for each point that you have raised in the essay. It is, therefore, the requirement of the writer to do broad research on the topic to find excellent ideas to discuss in the philosophy paper. The following tips illustrate best way to write a philosophy paper.
Just like any other essay, the following are the basic tips that a student should bear in mind before embarking on writing a philosophy paper.
Note: A good philosophical paper is one that demonstrates the depth of knowledge in terms of the level of understanding of the particular topic by the student. The best way to write a philosophy paper is to ensure that you have demonstrated the depth of your knowledge as well as illustrated proper mastery of the topic or philosophical question that you intend to answer. Any student should strive to achieve this to create an awarding philosophy essay.
When it comes to how to write a philosophy paper introduction, there are two main concerns that one should have. One is how to capture the interest of the reader and the second one is how to introduce the topic in a manner that makes the reader want to know more about the topic. As such, the writer should use some special tips to capture the interest of the reader right from the beginning of the philosophy paper. This includes the use of a hook in the introduction. A hook could be anything like:
Once you use any of these, you will have answered the question of how to write a philosophy paper introduction. The reader of the essay is immediately “hooked” and is obliged to continue reading the philosophy paper till the end.
When writing the actual philosophy paper, one thing that you should always have in mind is, to begin with, an outline of the paper that you would wish to write. The outline is a crucial thing to develop and every success of a paper begins with an outline. When considering how to write a philosophy paper outline, one should have the following key points in mind:
Remember, the longer the essay, the longer and the more detailed the outline of the philosophy paper to be written. Also, the more the student is clear in their interest while writing the outline, the easier it will be when it comes to writing the actual essay since one will be now creating a discussion for each point as outlined
Before you read the main paper, there is always a portion of the abstract of the paper. This comes just before the introduction of the paper. More often than not, the abstract is written after completing the paper. This is because the abstract contains a summary of what the philosophy paper contains in terms of the thesis of the paper, the background information of the paper, the literature information that was obtained, as well as the arguments and the concluding remarks contained in the paper.
The main concern of students on how to write an abstract for a philosophy paper is that they do not know exactly what to write on the abstract. The abstract is fairly simple to write and all you need to do is to first of all complete the paper then come and focus on this bit. Some people might start with the abstract but it is not advisable since, as described, it contains a bit of every part of the philosophy paper and this requires one to, first of all, finish up with the main writing.
You should also remember that the abstract is composed of about 300 words or less. The abstract contains an elaborative approach of what was contained in the philosophy paper. A great way to determine that your abstract is fulfilling is to ask yourself if your abstract is the only portion of knowledge that could be accessed by scholars concerning the topic, does it contain sufficient information to be quoted by another scholar in their writing?
With that in mind, including the information that is relevant and specific from all the various parts of the philosophy paper as it has been explained above and you will have nailed it on how to write an abstract for philosophy paper.
The philosophy reasoning and argument development is the art of the philosophy discipline. It is the heart of science or reason. The way you reason out a given topic or question and come up with worthy, credible, and sound arguments to defend your opinion is what makes up the science of philosophy. Any individual who intends to write a philosophy paper should know that for them to write an awarding paper, there should be an excellent demonstration of philosophical argument skills and coming up with a proper defense for the opinions put forth.
When writing the philosophy argument paper, it is not enough to say that:
“My opinion is that M is caused by N.”
You should say:
“My opinion is that M is caused by N. I believe this is so because…”
This demonstration is for you to realize that a philosophical argument requires reasoning behind any opinion stated.
Furthermore, it is not enough to say:
“Aristotle stated that M causes N.”
You should go a step further an incorporate your opinion in the statement by saying that:
“Aristotle stated that M causes N, and this is further demonstrated to be so by someone called R. However, it was further demonstrated that M does not cause N by…”
As can be seen, the above argument contains the reasoning and different points of view. This is what is contained in a philosophy paper in terms of how to write a philosophy argument and it makes you earn a higher grade on your essay.
General principles on how to write a philosophy argument paper include:
All in all, the take-home point that you should bear in mind concerning how to write a philosophy argument is that you should have a reason to defend the thesis or every claim that you have on your philosophy paper. Remember that it is not enough until you justify why you think so and even provide counterarguments and examples for the same.
The final part when it comes to writing a philosophy paper is writing the conclusion. Most people do not know how to write a philosophy paper conclusion. The conclusion of the philosophy essay should contain at least four to five sentences which describe the final remark on the topic.
The summary contains what you have been discussing in the essay. While writing the conclusion, begin with the summary of the thesis statement for the paper then proceed to summarise some of the key points contained in the body of the essay and finalize by giving your overall opinion concerning the philosophical topic or question.
Moreover, you could end the essay with a great and interesting analogy which also falls in line with what you have been discussing in the philosophy paper or you might as well pose a rhetorical question to the reader in the end. An important point that you should note concerning how to write a philosophy paper conclusion is that for an effective conclusion, you should leave the reader with a positive remark on the topic of interest.
When it comes to the question of how to write a philosophy paper example, you may note that most of the information that was alluded to right from the beginning is relevant information that is practicable and can be included in the philosophy paper writing to achieve the best grade. What has been already discussed include some general tips on how to write a philosophy paper, how to write a philosophy paper example, how to write a philosophy paper outline, how to write an abstract for philosophy paper, how to write a philosophy argument paper, and how to write a philosophy paper conclusion.
All these provide a relevant and sufficient guide for how to write a philosophy paper. For the basis of how to write a philosophy paper example, it would be sufficient to search some of the great articles that have been written, as well as credible papers from fellow scholars on philosophical topics. Furthermore, some great philosophers have written books which contain good arguments for philosophy topics and also papers which could be relevant to demonstrate all the tips that have been discussed above.
This tip was saved for last because it is often not mentioned but it is the greatest tip that you should follow when writing the philosophy paper. Always remember to go through your philosophy paper after completion of writing to correct some of the writing mistakes that you may have made in the paper. Some of the mistakes that are common in writing including mistakes in grammar, poor punctuation, as well as incorrect spelling. These minor mistakes may derail you from achieving a higher grade in your philosophy essay. Be sure to eliminate these mistakes by going through your work so as to maximize your chances of scoring higher on your paper.
In conclusion, a philosophy paper is an essay concerning written about a topic in the discipline of philosophy. When writing a philosophy, ensure that you have read enough resources to get points to back up claims made in the paper. Additionally, you need to have a well-planned outline for the essay and raise the interest of the reader in the introductory part of the paper. More time should be spent in developing systematic philosophical arguments which are evidence-based, amazing counter-arguments, and criticism of philosophy statements which illustrates the ability to reason like a philosopher.