Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians once sang that "philosophy is a walk on the slippery rocks." While philosophy may be a tricky subject to grasp, full of seemingly unanswerable questions and paradoxes, writing in philosophy is pretty much the same as any other academic writing done in college. Philosophy papers still revolve around a thesis, still rely on evidence and logic to prove their theses, and are still written to show students' understandings or to gain new understandings just like any other academic paper. The biggest difference between a philosophy paper and any other genre of academic writing is the subject matter. While a typical college paper might be built around taking and explaining a stance on a given subject, "philosophy will require [one] to clarify and defend beliefs that [one] felt were beyond questioning" (Garrison, Graybosch, and Scott 22). Every animal on the planet is capable of communicating, be it verbally, physically, or possibly by some means yet discovered. Writing on the other hand is a form of communication exclusive to human beings (and maybe the occasional ape). Children are taught to read and write almost as soon as they can speak. Writing becomes a part of everyday life, and because of this it is easy to forget that writing "is a means of "communication [one] must consciously learn" (Heffernan and Lincoln 3). For this reason writing in college can be a challenge for even the most skilled of writers. While the basics of academic writing may seem like common knowledge, knowing them and understanding them can prove to be quite different. In the writing center it is our job to help writers take what they know about writing, and begin to understand it. Understanding is the basis for ... ... middle of paper ... ... ed. New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.. 2004. Griffith, Kelly. Writing Essays about Literature: A Guide and Style Sheet. 4th ed. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace & Company. 1994. Heffernan, James A. W., and John E. Lincoln. Writing: A College Handbook. 4th ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. 1994. Hjortshoj, Keith. The Transition to College Writing. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's. 2001. Kemper, Dave, Verne Meyer, and Patrick Sebranek. Writers Inc: A Student Handbook for Writing & Learning. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath & Company. 1996. Seech, Zachary. Writing Philosophy Papers. 3rd ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth/ Thomson Learning. 2000. Wilson, Gordon. Personal Interview. 24 Oct. 2007. Wilson, Gordon. Personal Interview. 13 Nov. 2007. Wilson, Gordon. “Medieval Philosophy: Writing Research Papers in Philosophy.” handout.
A possible nonfiction plot based on this idea of the necessity of philosophy would to create a fictional situation where the world doesn’t have philosophy. The story would show the effects a world without philosophy would have on in it. It would cause many people to lose hope and meaning to their lives. In society like today, survival is not as difficult in the past where there is a need to fight against the weather, animals and limited resources. Humans wouldn’t live to survive and the lack of philosophy would take away some peoples purpose of
In Downs and Wardle’s article, they argue and identify the flaws in teaching writing in college. Demonstrating the misconceptions that academic writing is universal, but rather specialized in each case. Citing studies and opinions from esteemed professionals, Downs & Wardle state their points and illuminate the problem in today’s many colleges.
In Patricia Limerick’s article “Dancing with Professors”, she argues the problems that college students must face in the present regarding writing. Essays are daunting to most college students, and given the typical lengths of college papers, students are not motivated to write the assigned essays. One of the major arguments in Limerick’s article is how “It is, in truth, difficult to persuade students to write well when they find so few good examples in their assigned reading.” To college students, this argument is true with most of their ...
Writing papers is one thing you can guarantee yourself that you will have to do in college, along with other educational requirements. For some people, it might be a frustrating experience or a great opportunity to show their knowledge on a given topic; or sometimes both. Everyone has methods that work better for them than others and they learn to embrace those specific methods. Simple strategies such as outlining and good research can make writing a paper a more pleasant and less nerve-racking experience.
Philosophy is a very important part of people’s lives. Philosophy is quite basically asking inquiries about existence, reality and nature of knowledge. To better understand philosophy we must look throughout history. Looking back through history helps better show what the philosophers thought during the time period in which they lived. The relativity of the theories, to the time period, is a very important factor in how efficient these theories they were. The first philosopher’s ideas to people today would be considered either very basic, or insane. Yet, in the time period they lived in, they were considered to be geniuses. Also, looking back through time and studying philosophers and what they believed can help create a better idea for our own philosophical creations. The first philosophers were also known as the Presocratics. They were called this because they were in a time period before Socrates was born. They mainly focused on answering what is the explanation of nature, also referred to as metaphysics. Even before the Presocratic philosophers, we need to look at the ancient Greek poets that created myths and examine how their stories came into being made and how it had an effect on their civilization. These myths are a part of Philosophy because they were the first ideas about creation. The transition between these mythic worldviews and pre-Socratic philosophers’ worldview was important because it lays down the structural work for great philosophers to learn from them and develop further theories based on their findings.
Writing is a tool that is universally known and used as a primary source of communication. It is a process that is taught, practiced, and perfected throughout the course of one’s life. The process of learning to write begins in your early school years and continues to develop all the way through high school, college, and even beyond college. However, once you get to college writing tends to become a little bit more challenging and is typically more articulate. Writing can help you gain more knowledge and also help you to explore and discover new ideas. In terms of college writing, it is the process of being able to express your thoughts and ideas in an intellectual and effective way.
The characteristics of a good philosopher are someone who possesses the qualities to use their habits of mind and be able to think on a higher level than most do. Though everyone has their own unique habits of mind, philosophers are trained to think at a level where their habits of mind are stronger, and thus are always looking for, and usually come up with the best solution to questions, or problems posed. Plato is an example of a philosopher; he wrote a book, The Republic, which is a novel outlining the steps in order to become a good philosopher. Plato speaks through Socrates in the book, and Socrates gets involved in many challenging debates and philosophical conversations with people along his journeys, allowing him to strengthen his habits of mind. Philosophers are posed with the challenge of attempting to solve many of life's unanswerable questions. One example would be the question as to whether abortion is right or wrong. Both sides can be argued, pro life or pro choice, and both have sufficient evidence supporting its side. Although it would make sense that the person who’s fully informed on the subject and has the best ability to argue their contention will prevail in the conclusion of the argument, a solution is not usually possible.
The term philosophy means love of wisdom, it is derived from the Greek Philia (love) and Sophia (wisdom). Philosophy is a way of thinking and an attempt to explore profound questions relating to our existence, such as, how can we build a good society?, what do we mean by good? , what is the meaning of life? and what is genuine happiness? Philosophers focus on many issues, among them; Epistemology, Metaphysics, Logic, Aesthetics, Ethics, and Political Philosophy. Epistemology is the study of knowledge. It is concerned with how knowledge is acquired, what obstacles are faced in the pursuit of knowledge and the limits on what can be known. It differentiates between rational and empirical knowledge. Metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality, it focuses on fundamental existential questions about being and meaning. Logic is the study of reason;deductive and inductive, valid arguments, premises and conclusions. Aesthetics is the study of the nature of beauty. It focuses on art, perception and enjoyment. Ethics is concerned with how people ought to conduct themselves and whether questions of defining right and wrong can ever be answered. Political philosophy is the study of the State in relation to those they govern. It questions the rights and responsibilities of the individual and issues of law and justice. The very nature of Philosophy means that it's scope for enquiry is endless.
Philosophy Is wanting to know more about what it means to be a human being, the basic nature of reality, what limits our knowledge or feeds what we know, and what is considered good and or right in society. Our beliefs are really up to our own imagination, and philosophy questions these beliefs in order to understand the reason behind them.
I believe that Philosophy is the study of different ways of thinking. In philosophy, you should question everything and never take anything for face value. There are always two sides to every coin as there are different ways of looking at things, is what philosophy teaches us. In philosophy, you must throw off all the limitations you have set on yourself when dealing with how you view things and how things seem to be.
That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.” Students are in college for education. Their lack of education only shows their ignorance. Students in English Composition I and II should be writing in journals daily of their life in college. As the student finishes English Composition II, the journal writing should show progression in writing skills, storytelling, and help build his confidence in writing. The more a student’s writes the more the student learns. The less a student writes, the less he will succeed in life. Writing is a major component in success in today’s
When I think of philosophy I think back to my personal beliefs and experiences. Philosophy for me is a term that goes beyond choosing what's right from wrong, philosophy goes deeper that a decision. Philosophy for me is the roots of my being and what determines the way I live my everyday life. Philosophy refers back to the codes I count on to help me handle situations better and find the right path that will bring me happiness within myself.
Before having this course, I thought that philosophy just consisted of a bunch of smart historians expressing catchy word phrases. What I now know is that philosophy is basically the human challenging of knowledge, existence, and morals. I now know that philosophy delves much deeper into the thoughts of man more than I could have ever imagined. I often found myself listening to a topic during
The word “philosophy” is derived from two roots that are “philo” and “Sophia.” Philo means love whereas Sophia means wisdom. Therefore, philosophy means the love of wisdom. In actual practice, philosophy entails study of, pursuit, and enquiry into wisdom. A good number of great philosophers have referred to philosophy as the art of thinking. Others have only defined it as the systematic study of human feelings and thoughts.
My English 1310 course was taught by Professor Daniel Stuart. He taught us the concept of academic writing and why it is important. Academic writing is the process of breaking down ideas, using a formal tone, deductive reasoning and third person. Writing done to carry out the requirements of a college or university on a research based level. It requires a starting point or introduction, followed by a thesis on the preferred topic, then comes proving and disproving of the evidence based arguments. It is important because it is a way to communicate our thoughts clearly and originality. It helps us think and see what evidence we can come up to contribute to that thinking. This course approached this idea of academic writing by exploring further