Defending Your Position on Philosophical Questions – Essay Writing Guide

Defending Your Position on Philosophical Questions: An Essay Writing Guide

Question

Argument

The general purpose of an essay is to take a position on one of the following topics.

Can machines think?
Can robots be real friends?
Is it rational to believe in God or the existence of God?
Do we have free will? You are also welcome to come up with your own topics. However, it must be related to the content we covered that semester and must be approved by me before I start working on the topic.

The introduction to your essay should be relatively brief, avoiding exaggerated claims such as “Since the dawn of civilization…”. Simply introduce your topic, explain why it is important, and then write your paper. H. The position you take in your essay. It’s okay to write in first person and use language like, “In this essay, I’m going to make this point.”

After introducing your topic and presenting your paper, you should make an argument that supports your paper. As you know, arguments consist of reasons and assumptions that logically support a theory.

You may present your arguments in a standard format, but you are under no obligation to do so. Even if you don’t present your arguments in a standard format, you should be careful to articulate and explain your premises. You can use phrases like “The first premise of my argument is…”. After presenting the main premises of the argument, we provide explanations and support for them. Be especially careful with controversial premises.

After carefully presenting the arguments in favor of your paper, consider the counterarguments. Even if you believe your opinion is correct, others may disagree. So please explain why someone might disagree with your opinion. As we’ve discussed throughout the semester, there are only two possible problems with your reasoning.

(i) one or more of your assumptions is incorrect; or (ii) the premise does not logically support the conclusion. So in your rebuttal, you should try to prove that your reasoning contains any of these flaws. You may object privately, but you are under no obligation to do so. Even if you do not file an objection on this form, you must clearly state and explain the material premises of your objection.

After carefully stating an objection to your argument, you must respond to the objection. In your response, you should explain why the opposition cannot invalidate your claim. The only possible problem with objections is that their premises are false or invalid. Therefore, in your response, you should try to show that your objection has one of these flaws. You can provide your answer in standard form, but you are not required to do so. Even if you don’t provide your answer in a standard format, you should clearly identify and explain the main points of your answer.

Conclusion

After answering the objections, you should close the essay with a conclusion. The conclusion should contain a brief summary of the main points of the essay: the subject, your position, the arguments that support your position, objections to your arguments, and your responses to those objections. .