School of Historical and Philosophical Studies

PHIL20041: PHENOMENOLOGY AND EXISTENTIALISM

Semester 2, 2011

A Few Tips on Essay Writing 1) Demonstrate your understanding: The main aim of any philosophy essay is to demonstrate your mastery of the issue addressed by the question. Demonstrating your understanding generally has two components: exposition and critique. Exposition: You should expound the subject matter addressed by the question (in this course this is generally linked to a particular author). By doing this you demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the positions under consideration and the question. For example, if the question asks you to assess Sartres idea of bad faith, you will need to explain what Sartre understood bad faith to be before moving on to evaluate his views. Critique: As a philosopher you are expected to retain your intellectual independence and to judge critically the material you are discussing. Critically does not mean that you necessarily reject views, but that you understand and make clear what counts for and against them. By critically examining other authors views you demonstrate both a higher level of understanding than in merely expounding them and your own intellectual autonomy. Note, it is usually best to keep exposition and critical discussion separate, so that you cannot be interpreted as having yourself confused the two (e.g. to present Sartres views about bad faith before going on to consider problems with or to defend those views). 2) Argue your answer: Set essays in philosophy invariably require you to express a view about the question asked. It is not enough to just state your opinion (Heidegger claims In my view that is mistaken). Rather you should aim to make as clear as possible which factors must be considered, which count for and against your views, and how you arrive (rationally) at the answer you are presenting. The aim of your discussion should be to make it hard for others to disagree with you, because you have considered all the important factors and come to the correct conclusion. Your reasoning will invariably be more convincing if you anticipate and refute objections to the view you are arguing for. In writing your role model should be not a door-to-door salesman or a political campaigner, whose main aim is to persuade people by all available means, but the judge in a court of law, who is supposed to weigh up all evidence, for and against, and come to the best decision possible. (Note in particular that for grading purposes it is far less important what your conclusion is than how clearly and how well justified your views are.) 3) Be selective: You will not be able to discuss every possible aspect of a problem or issue, especially in a relatively short essay. Part of understanding a philosophical issue is to understand which considerations are most important and which are peripheral. Accordingly, in writing your essay it is a good idea to focus your discussion so as to develop a limited number of points in greater depth (through exposition and critique). For example: If you are writing an essay about Heideggers understanding of phenomenology, it is better to discuss, say, two or three of the central features in some detail rather than trying to produce a long list of bullet point characterizations. 4) Organize your thoughts: A good essay should have an overall organization in which the role of each part is clear. For this to be the case you should avoid redundant, irrelevant or disconnected sections (or even sentences) and structure your text so as to define a clear line of thought. As a test you might ask yourself whether someone who sees your text for the first time will understand what is going on in each part. Two more concrete suggestions: First, allow time to review and revise your essay rather than submitting your first full draft. It is surprising how many things seem less clear when returning to and re-reading a text with some distance, even if it is only a matter of 1-2

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days after writing it. Second, the introduction-discussion-conclusion format is not so much old-fashioned as well-proven. Writing an introductory paragraph last, once you have already worked out your arguments, is a good way of making these clear to your reader (and often to yourself). Similarly, a brief concluding paragraph can help to make clear the central results established by the essay. 5) Make clear who owns which claims: An important, but often overlooked aspect of the clarity in writing is to make clear who owns the various views under discussion. You should aim to make as clear as possible whether each claim is being presented in your (the authors) name, in the name of some other author whose views you are considering, or impersonally (a possible objection to this is , it might be said etc.). This is important because it should be recognizable where you agree and where you differ from the views under discussion, i.e. it is an important means for demonstrating your intellectual autonomy. Perhaps this will sound a little abstract. So consider the following passage as an example:
In Heideggers terms our basic understanding of the world is instrumental. [1] Objective knowledge is based on instrumental understanding but develops it in a different way. [2] Objective knowledge should of course be independent of contexts of use [3], but this is not a problem because objective properties are always revealed in the context of some practice [4].

Initially a passage such as this might seem sufficiently clear to its writer. That does not, however, mean that it will be clear to others. In fact each sentence [1]-[4] is ambiguous, as can be seen by asking respectively: [1] Is the author agreeing? [2] According to Heidegger, or according to the author? [3] Is this agreeing with or objecting to Heidegger? [4] Is this the authors defence or Heideggers own? Now compare the following passage, in which a few minor modifications signal the ownership of the various claims more clearly:
In Heideggers view our basic understanding of the world is instrumental. Objective knowledge, on this view, is based on instrumental understanding but develops it in a different way. It might be objected that objective knowledge should be independent of contexts of use. However, I suggest that this is not a problem because objective properties are always revealed in the context of some practice.

The take home message is: before submitting an essay, re-read it and ask yourself whether it is possible for various claims to be misattributed, i.e. not to be read in the way you want them to be. If theres any such possibility, try to eliminate it. Finally: For a much more comprehensive and very helpful guide to the expectations and techniques involved in philosophical essay writing, see the guide How to Write a Philosophy Essay which is available free to students in the SHAPS office (also online: http://philosophy.unimelb.edu.au/student-resources/essay-guide/). Andrew Inkpin (29.8.11)