Philosophical Writing

Note to the Fourth Edition x
Note to the Third Edition xi
Note to the Second Edition xii
Introduction 1
1 Author and Audience 8
1 The Professor as Audience 8
2 The Student as Author 11
3 Three Attitudes about Philosophical Method 15
2 Logic and Argument for Writing 17
1 What is a Good Argument? 17
2 Valid Arguments 21
3 Cogent Arguments 31
4 Quantification and Modality 35
5 Consistency and Contradiction 40
6 Contraries and Contradictories 43
7 The Strength of a Proposition 46
3 The Structure of a Philosophical Essay 51
1 An Outline of the Structure of a Philosophical Essay 51
2 Anatomy of an Essay 57
3 Another Essay 63
4 Composing 67
1 How to Select an Essay Topic 68
2 Techniques for Composing 69
3 Outlining 70
4 The Rhetoric of Philosophical Writing 70
5 Successive Elaboration 72
6 Conceptual Note Taking 81
7 Research and Composing 83
8 Sentences and Paragraphs 84
9 Polishing 87
10 Evolution of an Essay 89
5 Tactics for Analytic Writing 101
1 Definitions 102
2 Distinctions 108
3 Analysis 111
4 Dilemmas 119
5 Scenarios 123
6 Counterexamples 125
7 Reductio ad Absurdum 132
8 Dialectical Reasoning 138
6 Some Constraints on Content 146
1 The Pursuit of Truth 146
2 The Use of Authority 147
3 The Burden of Proof 150
7 Some Goals of Form 152
1 Coherence 152
2 Clarity 156
3 Conciseness 162
4 Rigor 165
8 Problems with Introductions 168
1 Slip Sliding Away 168
2 The Tail Wagging the Dog 173
3 The Running Start 175
9 How to Read a Philosophical Work 181
1 Find the Thesis Sentence 181
2 Precision of Words, Phrases, and Sentences 185
3 Proving the Case 186
Appendix A: "It's Sunday Night and I Have an Essay
Due Monday Morning" 190
Appendix B: How to Study for a Test 193
Appendix C: Research: Notes, Citations, and References 195
Appendix D: Philosophy Resources on the Internet, by Neil Sinhababu 201
Appendix E: On Grading 205
Appendix F: Glossary of Philosophical Terms 208
Index 218