Writing Philosophy

Write to learn. Expressing your thoughts is an excellent way of discovering what they really are. Even when you're the only one who ever sees the results of your explorations, trying to put them down in written form often helps, and when you wish to communicate to others, the ability to write clear, meaningful prose is vital. Here are some suggestions for proceeding:

Understand the assignment
Whether you're completing a specific assignment from me or developing your own project, it is important to have the aims firmly in mind. Focus on a single question you wish to address, be clear about your own answer to it, and explicitly state a thesis that answers the question. You will often want to divide the central issue into several smaller questions, each with its own answer, and this will naturally lead to a coherent structure for the entire essay.

Interpret fairly
Most of your writing projects will begin with a careful effort to interpret a philosophical text, and this step should never be taken lightly. Your first responsibility is to develop an accurate reading of the original text; then your criticism can begin. Focus primarily on the adequacy of the arguments which support the stated conclusions. If you disagree, you can look for the weaknesses of that support; if you agree, you can defend it against possible attacks.

Support your thesis
Don't just state your own position; make it the conclusion of a line of reasoning. Claim only what you can prove (or are, at least, prepared to defend), and support it with evidence and argument. Philosophy is not just a list of true opinions, but the reasoned effort to provide justification.

Consider alternatives
Be sure to explore arguments on all sides of the issue you address. Of course you will want to emphasize the reasoning that supports your thesis, but it is also important to consider likely objections and to respond with counter-arguments. Be especially carefully in your use of examples: the best positive example can only clarify meaning and lend some evidentiary confirmation, but a single counter-example disproves a general claim completely.

Omit the unnecessary
Include in your written work only what is germane to your topic: after the first draft, mercilessly eliminate from your text anything that does not directly and uniquely support the thesis. Padding with irrelevant or redundant material is never worthwhile. Be particularly careful in your use of material prepared by others: do not plagiarize, paraphrase without attribution, quote directly often or at length, or rely extensively on a single secondary source.

Write clearly
It is your responsibility as writer to express yourself in a way that can be understood. Use specific, concrete language in active voice whenever you can. Define your terms explicitly and use them consistently throughout your paper.

Finally, you may find it helpful to keep an appropriate audience in mind as you write. Don't write just for the instructor and your classmates—that is, don't assume that your audience has professional knowledge of the philosophical texts or total awareness of every conversation that has taken place, inside and outside the classroom. Unless otherwise directed by the details of a particular assignment, think of yourself as presenting the material to a friend, your parents, or a class: intelligent, interested people who are well-informed generally but who lack your knowledge of the philosophical issues. Write to teach.

source: philosophypages.com

Writing Essay Exams

Since a significant portion of your grade for this course will depend upon assessment of your knowledge and skill as reflected in examinations, here are a few suggestions for dealing with essay exams:
Be prepared

Rely heavily upon the study questions distributed at the outset of the course: look over them at the beginning of each unit; use them to guide your reading of the texts and our discussion in class; and review them before the exam. If you have considered these issues fully, nothing on the exam itself can surprise you. Arrive promptly for the exam, and try to be well-rested, and relaxed.

Understand the question
Before beginning to write, read each question carefully and completely; it will ask that you address a specific issue in a particular way. Pay close attention to words (such as "Describe...," "Explain...," "Compare and contrast...," "Assess...," and "Evaluate...") that suggest the appropriate mode of response. If you are uncertain what a question means, ask me for a clarification. Take a moment to organize your thoughts on the subject, and dive in.

Stick to the point
Make sure that your essay is directly relevant to the question asked. Although you will know a great deal more about the philosopher or topic at issue than your answer requires, it will be read only for information and/or argumentation that responds to the specific question. If you believe that additional material is required, indicate clearly and explicitly how it connects with the matter at hand.

Use your time wisely
Although essay exams in philosophy are not meant to be intensely time-pressured, they must be completed within certain limits. You may be asked to write four or five short essays during an exam, allowing fifteen or twenty minutes for each. Don't get so absorbed in one question that you spend much more than its share of the available time; if you have more to say, jot down a note or two, move on to another question, and return to complete your answer if time allows.

Make every word count
Although it is always helpful to write clearly—that is, in complete, grammatically correct sentences—there is no need to craft beautiful prose. Avoid lengthy prefatory, transitional, and summary verbiage. Get the essentials down on paper, and trust the instructor to evaluate your essay by its quality, not its quantity.

source: philosophypages.com

Reading Philosophical Texts

The assignments in your course require you to engage in a close reading of significant texts written by the major philosophers of the Western tradition. Since you may have had little experience in dealing with material of this sort, the prospect may be a little daunting at first. Philosophical prose is carefully crafted to achieve its own purposes, and reading it well requires a similar degree of care. Here are a few suggestions:

Do the assigned reading:
The philosophical texts simply are the content of the course; if you do not read, you will not learn. Coming to class without having read and listening to the discourse of those who have is no substitute for grappling with the material on your own. You can't develop intellectual independence if you rely for your information on the opinions of other people, even when they happen to be correct.

Consider the context:
Philosophical writing, like literature of any genre, arises from a concrete historical setting. Approaching each text, you should keep in mind who wrote it, when and where it was published, for what audience it was originally intended, what purposes it was supposed to achieve, and how it has been received by the philosophical and general communities since its appearance. Introductory matter in your textbooks and the Internet resources accessed through the course syllabus will help you get off to a good start.

Take your time:
Careful reading cannot be rushed; you should allow plenty of time for a leisurely perusal of the material assigned each day. Individual learning styles certainly differ: some people function best by reading the same text several times with progressively more detailed attention; others prefer to work through the text patiently and diligently a single time. In either case, encourage yourself to slow down and engage the text at a personal level.

Spot crucial passages:
Although philosophers do not deliberately spin out pointlessly excessive verbiage (no, really!), most philosophical texts vary in density from page to page. It isn't always obvious what matters most; philosophers sometimes glide superficially over the very points on which their entire argument depends. But with the practice you'll be getting week by week, you'll soon be able to highlight the most important portions of each assignment.

Identify central theses:
Each philosophical text is intended to convince us of the truth of particular propositions. Although these central theses are sometimes stated clearly and explicitly, authors often choose to present them more subtly in the context of the line of reasoning which they are established. Remember that the thesis may be either positive or negative, either the acceptance or the rejection of a philosophical position. At the most general level, you may find it helpful to survey the exam study questions in your course study aids file as you read each assigned text.

Locate supportive arguments:
Philosophers do not merely state opinions but also undertake to establish their truth. The methods employed to support philosophical theses can differ widely, but most of them will be expressed one of the forms of logical argumentation. That is, the philosopher will (explicitly or implicitly) offer premises that are clearly true and then claim that a sound inference from these premises leads inexorably to the desired conclusion. Although a disciplined study of the forms of logical reasoning is helpful, you'll probably learn to recognize the most common patterns from early examples in your reading.

Assess the arguments:
Arguments are not all of equal cogency; we are obliged to accept the conclusion only if it is supported by correct inference from true premises. Thus, there are two different ways in which to question the legitimacy of a particular argument:
Ask whether the premises are true. (Remember that one or more of the premises of the argument may be unstated assumptions.)
Ask whether the inference from premises to conclusion is sound. (Here it will be helpful to think of applying the same pattern of reasoning to a more familiar case.)If all else fails, you may question the truth of the conclusion directly by proposing a counter-example which seems obviously to contradict it.

Look for connections:
Since these texts occur within a tradition, they are often directly related to each other. Within your reading of a particular philosopher, notice the way in which material in one portion of the text links up with material from another. As the semester proceeds, consider the ways in which each philosopher incorporates, appropriates, rejects, or responds to the work of those who have gone before. Finally, make every possible effort to relate this philosophical text to what you already know from courses in other disciplines and from your own life experiences.
Above all else, don't worry! You'll spend most of your class time going over the assigned readings, often in great detail. You'll have plenty of opportunities to learn what other readers have found, to ask questions for clarification of puzzling passages, and to share your own insights with others. As the semester proceeds, you will grow ever more confident in your own capacity to interpret philosophical texts.

source: philosophypages.com

Socrates

The most interesting and influential thinker in the fifth century was Socrates, whose dedication to careful reasoning transformed the entire enterprise. Since he sought genuine knowledge rather than mere victory over an opponent, Socrates employed the same logical tricks developed by the Sophists to a new purpose, the pursuit of truth. Thus, his willingness to call everything into question and his determination to accept nothing less than an adequate account of the nature of things make him the first clear exponent of critical philosophy.

Although he was well known during his own time for his conversational skills and public teaching, Socrates wrote nothing, so we are dependent upon his students (especially Xenophono and Plato) for any detailed knowledge of his methods and results. The trouble is that Plato was himself a philosopher who often injected his own theories into the dialogues he presented to the world as discussions between Socrates and other famous figures of the day. Nevertheless, it is usually assumed that at least the early dialogues of Plato provide a (fairly) accurate representation of Socrates himself.

source: philosophypages.com

The Discipline of Logic

Human life is full of decisions, including significant choices about what to believe. Although everyone prefers to believe what is true, we often disagree with each other about what that is in particular instances. It may be that some of our most fundamental convictions in life are acquired by haphazard means rather than by the use of reason, but we all recognize that our beliefs about ourselves and the world often hang together in important ways.

If I believe that whales are mammals and that all mammals are fish, then it would also make sense for me to believe that whales are fish. Even someone who (rightly!) disagreed with my understanding of biological taxonomy could appreciate the consistent, reasonable way in which I used my mistaken beliefs as the foundation upon which to establish a new one. On the other hand, if I decide to believe that Hamlet was Danish because I believe that Hamlet was a character in a play by Shaw and that some Danes are Shavian characters, then even someone who shares my belief in the result could point out that I haven't actually provided good reasons for accepting its truth.

In general, we can respect the directness of a path even when we don't accept the points at which it begins and ends. Thus, it is possible to distinguish correct reasoning from incorrect reasoning independently of our agreement on substantive matters. Logic is the discipline that studies this distinction—both by determining the conditions under which the truth of certain beliefs leads naturally to the truth of some other belief, and by drawing attention to the ways in which we may be led to believe something without respect for its truth. This provides no guarantee that we will always arrive at the truth, since the beliefs with which we begin are sometimes in error. But following the principles of correct reasoning does ensure that no additional mistakes creep in during the course of our progress.

In this review of elementary logic, we'll undertake a broad survey of the major varieties of reasoning that have been examined by logicians of the Western philosophical tradition. We'll see how certain patterns of thinking do invariably lead from truth to truth while other patterns do not, and we'll develop the skills of using the former while avoiding the latter. It will be helpful to begin by defining some of the technical terms that describe human reasoning in general.

source:philosophypages.com

The Origins of Western Thought

Philosophical Thinking

Philosophy as a discipline isn't easy to define precisely. Issuing from a sense of wonderment about life and the world, it often involves a keen interest in major questions about ourselves, our experience, and our place in the universe as a whole. But philosophy is also reflectively concerned with the methods its practitioners employ in the effort to resolve such questions. Emerging as a central feature of Western culture, philosophy is a tradition of thinking and writing about particular issues in special ways.

Thus, philosophy must be regarded both as content and as activity: It considers alternative views of what is real and the development of reasons for accepting them. It requires both a careful, sympathetic reading of classical texts and a critical, logical examination of the arguments they express. It offers all of us the chance to create and adopt significant beliefs about life and the world, but it also requires each of us to acquire the habits of criticical thinking. Philosophy is both sublime and nitpicking.

Since our personal growth in these matters naturally retraces the process of cultural development, study of the history of philosophy in our culture provides an excellent introduction to the discipline as a whole. Here our aim is to examine the appearance of Western philosophy as an interesting and valuable component of our cultural heritage.

source: philosophypages.com

A Fantasy Fairies Dream Just Inside a Whisper

A fantasy fairy whispered in my ear.
She told me a beautiful story.
I envisioned all the flowers
the scent they gave
the pond from where she came.
She had returned for a spell.
A spell on me
perhaps on you.


The mountains of Africa
have always been her home.
She whispered of treasures there.
Lobelia growing on trees
colors everywhere
covering the ground with love.
Exotic animals
stretched out over the landscape
feeling the space of
free horizons
such a beautiful dream.


I whispered back
hesitant at first
but I had questions.


I loved her.
I loved the idea of her
my magic fairy
my fantasy
my humble imagination.


I wondered why
her last visit with me
had been so short.
I barely had time to offer tea
cookies or chocolate.
I had found
charming stories
and saved them inside my pocket
lest she come.
I longed to tell her of their messages
and what they meant to me.
Why couldn't she stay with me always?


I wondered where she came from first.
Was it from a rainbow?
Had she simply appeared one day
after a storm?
Maybe after a storm of mine?


I whispered my questions
she smiled a loving smile at me
but then
she flew away.


I longed with all my heart
to take hold of time.
cradling the flowers she left for me
I bowed my head to weep
My longing not realized
that she stay longer.
I almost wanted to capture her
put her in a jar.


I feel you worried for her now.
Hummm?
No need. I know what you feel is true
and wise.


As much as I love her
her life is open skies.
She is not mine
nor yours of course.


I hear a whisper in my ear
yet this time
it only comes back as the wind.


I will wait.
I will feel the softness of her.
Ah, she is such a fragile image.
I will drink tea
make cookies for later
and look out on to the sea
from where my fantasy fairy came.

Author:Kathy Ostman-Magnusen
Source: goarticles.com

Nepal

Nepal is a melting pot of many races and tribes. She has population of around twenty-two million, made up of an assortment of races and tribes, living in different regions, wearing different costumes and speaking different languages and dialects. They live under quite diverse environmental conditions from the low, nearly sea level plains at the border of India, northward through the middle hills and valleys and up to the flanks of the great Himalayan range where there are settlements at altitude of up to 4,800m. Farming practices are therefore equally diverse along with life styles and social customs.

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