Whats distinctive about philosophy writing?
Summary: • Participating in a “dialogue” of ideas • Having your own clear case to argue • having a logical structure Karen: Philosophical writing in broad terms is largely about dialogue. For example, someone puts up a proposal (e.g. “Might is right”) and then somebody else objects and says that that doesn’t follow (e.g. “If might is right, then it is alright for someone to murder children”). So then the first person comes back and provides a qualification (e.g. “Might is right, if such and such a condition”). And so you get a dialogue. But it’s not an endless to and fro – there is also a commitment in this dialogue to the possibility of discovering the truth, or at least getting closer to it. For students new to Philosophy, part of their aim is to participate in some small way in this dialogue. Graham: In Philosophy, there are two key elements: having a clearly identified case or thesis to argue and having a logical structure to the writing that supports what’s being argued. In other
