Writing is a craft that may be done well or may be done poorly. Language can be dramatic or beautiful or boring or powerful or playful. There is a sense in which philosophical writing is no different. Many of the classic texts in philosophy are carefully framed pieces of prose where the author is attempting to achieve a result that is aesthetically pleasing within an identifiable literary style.

Writing papers for introductory moral philosophy courses

Your first forays into philosophy, however, are not aimed at the craft of writing. The goals of this class are oriented toward the conceptual or analytical part of philosophy. We are interested primarily in your ability to think honestly and critically about moral questions. This is not to say that there is no interest in how you write. Rather, the writing aesthetic you should cultivate in this class is careful, simple, clear and direct. The tutorial that follows is designed to explore one way of making sure that your writing does not obfuscate your philosophical views. You are invited to follow a series of links to pages that trace the stages of writing a philosophy paper. The paper is on Plato's Republic, but the lessons contained in the drafts apply to all the assignments in the class. (See the syllabus for the full specification of the assignments along with due dates.) Each draft builds on the last. The final version is a paper that would receive an excellent evaluation. You will also find a stand-alone page with a summary of tips for the preparation of your paper. The summary repeats the essentials of the tutorial. This tutorial develops a paper for an introductory course that emphasizes moral and political philosophy. A similar site for metaphysics and epistemology courses is available.

by Joe Cruz, Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Special thanks to Melissa Barry, Philosophy, Harvard University

copyright © 1998, 2003 J. Cruz