Synopses & Reviews
- Comprehensive, concise, and inexpensive. In about 200 pages and at just $14.50 net, this guide provides thorough advice on every stage of reading and writing in philosophy. The inexpensive price makes it an ideal supplement for any philosophy course requiring writing, and an improved design makes the text more accessible.
- Step-by-step guidance for reading, analyzing, and responding to philosophical texts and arguments. Built around fundamental assignments like summarizing, abstracting, and outlining philosophical texts, the book first helps students master these tasks and then shows them how to evaluate argumentative prose and draft their own philosophical essays. Chapter Five covers each stage of the writing process from developing and supporting a thesis to revising papers in response to instructors' and peers' suggestions. Eight examples of student writing throughout the book offer realistic, accessible models. Finally, coverage of finding, evaluating, and documenting print and online sources has been thoroughly updated, including advice on incorporating sources effectively and avoiding plagiarism.
- Classic philosophical issues and questions. Sixteen readings (five new to the second edition) by prominent philosphers from Plato to Sissela Bok and Garrett Hardin tackle the definition of knowledge, the nature of God, and numerous other moral and ethical questions. The text's coverage of ethics -- one of the most engaging philosophical topics for students -- as well as the breadth of topics has been significantly enhanced in the second edition. Each reading comes with the background information necessary to help students grapple with this challenging material.
Synopsis
With 16 readings by prominent philosophers and 8 examples of student writing, this concise and inexpensive guide discusses every stage of reading, analyzing, and responding to philosophical texts and arguments and offers thorough coverage of research and documentation.
About the Author
HUGO A. BEDAU, professor of philosophy at Tufts University, served as chair of the Philosophy Department and chair of the university's committee on college writing. He is coeditor, with Sylvan Barnet, of two highly successful text/readers for college composition: Current Issues and Enduring Questions, Sixth Edition (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002) and Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing, Fourth Edition (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002). An internationally respected expert on moral, legal, and political theory, he has published among other books, The Death Penalty in America, Justice and Equality, Victimless Crimes, and Making Mortal Choices.
Table of Contents
To the Instructor: Helping Your Students Improve Their Writing To the Student: Why Improving Your Writing Matters--to You
* New to this edition
1. FIRST YOU WRITE
A Socratic Exercise
Some Important Features of Writing Philosophy
* The Fields of Philosophy
2. WRITING TO UNDERSTAND READING
Reading vs. Skimming
* Taking Notes
Rewriting What You Have Read: Four Assignments
Writing a Summary
Some Guidelines for Writing an Effective Summary
Summarizing an Extract from David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
The Summary, by Noah Kriegel (Student)
Writing an Abstract
Some Guidelines for Writing an Effective Abstract
* Writing an Abstract of Garrett Hardin's "On Not Feeding the Starving"
* The Abstract, by Ashley de Marchera (Student)
Extracting an Author's Thesis
Some Guidelines for Extracting an Author's Thesis
Extracting the Thesis from Bertrand Russell's "Three Essentials for a Stable World"
Extracting a Thesis from Friedrich Nietzsche's The Genealogy of Morals
Extracting the Thesis from Edmund Gettier's "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?"
Outlining an Essay
A Sample Outline
Some Guidelines for Writing an Effective Outline
* Writing an Outline of C. S. Peirce's "How to Make Our Ideas Clear"
* The Outline, by Dan Rosenberg (Student)
3. EVALUATING ARGUMENTATIVE PROSE
Argument vs. Disputation and Persuasion
Argument in Detail
Formulating and Evaluating a Definition
Constructing a Definition Based on Ernest Nagel's "A Defense of Atheism"
A Student's Definition
* Explanation by Exclusion and Contrast
* Explaining the Definition of Law in "The Treatise on Law" by St. Thomas Aquinas
Evaluating an Argument by Analogy
Some Guidelines for Evaluating an Analogy
Evaluating an Argument by Analogy in Judith Jarvis Thomson's "A Defense of Abortion"
The Essay: Thomson's Plugged-In Violinist and the Problem of Abortion, by Steven Calcote (Student)
Evaluating a Formal Argument
Some Guidelines for Evaluating a Formal Argument
A Checklist for Evaluating Arguments
Evaluating an Argument in Morton G. White's What Is and What Ought to Be Done
The Essay: An Antiabortion Argument Evaluated, by David Hoberman (Student)
4. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: THE PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAY
Getting Started
The Eight-Step Sequence
Writing an Essay on a Definition and a Counterexample in Plato's Republic
Guidelines for Preliminary Notes
The Essay: Cephalus's Self-Contradiction, by Stacey Schmidt (Student)
Writing an Essay on Divergent Views of Criteria and Evidence
The First Text: René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason
The Second Text: Alan M. Turing, Computing Machinery and Intelligence
The Essay: Can Machines Think? Turing vs. Descartes, by Ellen Wheeler (Student)
5. DRAFTING AND REVISING THE PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAY
Drafting
Using an Outline to Help Construct Your Paper
The Opening Paragraph
Introducing the Topic
Stating Your Thesis
Sketching Your Argument
Putting First Things Last
Paragraph Structure
* "The Internal Logic of a Paragraph," by Mary Anne Warren
* "The External Logic of Paragraphs," by Sisela Bok
The Closing Paragraph
Choosing a Title
Revising and Editing
Writing is Rewriting
Reviewing Your Paper for Word Choice
Avoiding Sexist Language
Using Latin Terms Correctly
Commonly Confused Words
Reviewing Your Paper for Structure, Grammar, and Punctuation
* Structure
Grammar
Punctuation
Revising Papers in Response to Others' Comments
Peer Review
Instructor Comments
A Student's First Draft with Instructor Comments: Jennifer Trusted's Concept of Freedom and Its Bearing on the Dispute between Determinists and Libertarians, by Peter L. Miller, III (Student)
Miller's Revised Essay
Manuscript Preparation and Format
A Final Checklist
6. INTEGRATING QUOTATIONS AND CITING SOURCES
Integrating Quotations
Why Quote in the First Place?
Pitfalls to Avoid in Quoting
Lead-ins
Insertions
Deletions
Alterations
Emphasis
Long Quotations
Avoiding Plagiarism
Citing and Documenting Sources
Numbered Footnotes of Endnotes
In-text Citation
Multiple Sources
Preparing Your Bibliography
A Sample Bibliography
A Student's Bibliography: "A Bibliography on the Nature of Human Consciousness," by Eugene Leach
7. USING LIBRARY AND ONLINE RESOURCES
Philosophical Dictionaries
Encyclopedias, Book Series, and Specialized References
Journals
* Web Sites
GLOSSARY OF PHILOSOPHICAL TERMS
INDEX