【重要】如何写哲学论文 Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper

Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper (Jim Pryor's Site)

[http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/writing.html]

哲学论文该干嘛？

1, A philosophy paper consists of the reasoned defense of some claim 【辩护】

论证=观点+理由

2, A good philosophy paper is modest and makes a small point; but it makes that point clearly and straightforwardly, and it offers good reasons in support of it  【别说大话】

3, Originality: to show some independent thinking 【有独立思考】

哲学论文写作的三步骤

1，写作之前

试着表达出问题（建议：与别人口头讨论问题）

写提纲：越详细越好（建议：提纲应该也包括你如何论证）

尽早开工

2，写草稿

明白易懂

结构清晰（有提示词：第一，第二，第三。）

简明而又解释清楚

使用定义、例子

呈现并评估别人的观点（如，可能的objections）

3，修改

重读稿子（建议：read it out loud）

如何评价一篇哲学论文？三个标准：

1，解读 How well do you understand the issues you're writing about?

2，论证 How good are the arguments you offer?

3，行文 Is your writing clear and well-organized?

一篇哲学论文的评分标准

You'll be graded on three basic criteria:

How well do you understand the issues you're writing about?

How good are the arguments you offer?

Is your writing clear and well-organized?

We do not judge your paper by whether we agree with its conclusion. In fact, we may not agree amongst ourselves about what the correct conclusion is. But we will have no trouble agreeing about whether you do a good job arguing for your conclusion.

More specifically, we'll be asking questions like these:

Do you clearly state what you're trying to accomplish in your paper? Is it obvious to the reader what your main thesis is?

Do you offer supporting arguments for the claims you make? Is it obvious to the reader what these arguments are?

Is the structure of your paper clear? For instance, is it clear what parts of your paper are expository, and what parts are your own positive contribution?

Is your prose simple, easy to read, and easy to understand?

Do you illustrate your claims with good examples? Do you explain your central notions? Do you say exactly what you mean?

Do you present other philosophers' views accurately and charitably?

Comment: The comments I find myself making on students' philosophy papers most often are these:

"Explain this claim" or "What do you mean by this?" or "I don't understand what you're saying here"

"This passage is unclear (or awkward, or otherwise hard to read)" "Too complicated" "Too hard to follow" "Simplify"

"Why do you think this?" "This needs more support" "Why should we believe this?" "Explain why this is a reason to believe P" "Explain why this follows from what you said before"

"Not really relevant"

"Give an example?"