1. Introduction to Humanities Lecture 12 Writing Philosophy Papers
By David Kelsey

2. Guidelines
Here are some general guidelines for writing a philosophy paper:
1. Your philosophy paper will make an argument.
2. The philosophy paper you will write in this course will be of 2 kinds:
a. The positive approach:
b. The negative approach:

3. Keep it modest & starting the writing process
3. Keep the scope of your paper modest.
4. How do you start the paper writing process?
Read and think about it
Work backwards

4. Start early & be simple
5. Start the paper early, at least a few weeks in advance of the due date.
Finding your thoughts on a subject can be difficult.
6. Be Simple:
Simple straightforward prose

5. Make the structure obvious and Be concise yet fully explain
7. Make the structure of your paper obvious:
8. Be concise yet fully explain
Cover one or two small points but do fully explore them

6. Chuck out what’s unnecessary
9. Chuck out unnecessary paragraphs:
Each paragraph should be necessary in making your argument
Each sentence should be a necessary part of its paragraph
Each word should be a necessary part of its sentence

7. Avoid vagueness and ambiguity, anticipate objections & editing your draft
11. Anticipate objections:Imagine the reader of your paper is a devil’s advocate in the worst kind of way.
12. Read and re-read your draft

8. Vagueness
A vague statement is one whose meaning is indistinct, imprecise or lacks details.
Degrees: Vagueness isn’t all or nothing. It comes in degrees.
Apartment example

9. Clarifying vagueness
Desirable vagueness: sometimes vagueness is actually desirable.
Being Romantic
Clarify: If we come across a vague statement we can simply try to clarify the lack of detail or indistinct-ness.
Job example

10. Vagueness and Propositions
A vague statement
it is unclear what proposition the sentence asserts at all.
It could be any one of a number of propositions

11. Ambiguous Claims
An ambiguous claim is one that is subject to more than one interpretation.
Claim x
 
P P2

12. Semantic Ambiguity For example:
A sentence that is semantically ambiguous is one which contains an ambiguous word or phrase.
For example:
Fixing the ambiguous word

13. Syntactic Ambiguity
A sentence is syntactically ambiguous when it is ambiguous because of its grammar or the way it has been structured or put together.
When you have come across a semantic ambiguity you can simply alter the grammar
Or you might need to re-write the claim altogether.

14. Grouping Ambiguity Grouping ambiguity:
unclear whether some word in the sentence is referring to a group or an individual.
Secretaries and Physicians
Lawnmowers and dirt bikes