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New to Philosophy, all help appreciated

After realising that Philosophy is the most important study (in my opinion), I have decided to read it at university. My background is science so my experience only consists of many informal debates, introductory books and independent pondering. I worry that my lack of writing experience will affect my grades. A measure I have taken to prevent this is reading writing manuals, but this only tackles the grammar and style side of things. Would anyone be kind enough to send me essays? Any topic is fine as my primary aim is to understand the soundness that governs philosophical essays.
All information regarding how to excel in Philosophy will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.
Original post by Rayz.
After realising that Philosophy is the most important study (in my opinion), I have decided to read it at university. My background is science so my experience only consists of many informal debates, introductory books and independent pondering. I worry that my lack of writing experience will affect my grades. A measure I have taken to prevent this is reading writing manuals, but this only tackles the grammar and style side of things. Would anyone be kind enough to send me essays? Any topic is fine as my primary aim is to understand the soundness that governs philosophical essays.
All information regarding how to excel in Philosophy will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.


Your background in science will serve you better than you might think in philosophy; you'll still understand what constitutes a sound, supported argument, which is really the most important thing. If you want to get a feel for how academic philosophy is written, you might want to take a look at some of the articles here; they are comprehensible to laypeople but still scholarly articles.
Reply 2
Thank you! As you said, the arguments aren't hard to follow. The transition of one point to another is seamless. I'm going analyse a few of the articles.

Are you a Philosophy student?
Original post by Rayz.
After realising that Philosophy is the most important study (in my opinion), I have decided to read it at university. My background is science so my experience only consists of many informal debates, introductory books and independent pondering. I worry that my lack of writing experience will affect my grades. A measure I have taken to prevent this is reading writing manuals, but this only tackles the grammar and style side of things. Would anyone be kind enough to send me essays? Any topic is fine as my primary aim is to understand the soundness that governs philosophical essays.
All information regarding how to excel in Philosophy will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.


I'm not going to send you my uni Philosophy essays, because every uni has their own grading system and as a uni student, you'll end up crafting your own particular writing style - that just comes will a lot of practise and feedback.

You don't really need to know about philosophy as such. But you do need to understand it to get your head around it as a lot philosophy is dense and tongue-twisting.

A lot of scientists in the 17-19th centuries were [natural] philosophers so don't worry. As long as you have an appreciation for the humanities and philosophy as a whole, you should be OK.

If you want to learn and understand how philosophical essays or rather, how philosophical theories/arguments are presented, your best bet is to read some philosophy yourself. Some great philosophers you should read works of or excerpts are Plato, Aristotle (Ancient Greek) Epicurus (Hellenistic), St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas (Medieval) Descartes (Age of Enlightenment), Hume, Spinoza, Hobbes (Age of Reason) Nietzsche (19th Century), Plantinga, Wittgenstein and Hegel (20th Century/Modern Philosophy).
Reply 4
Original post by The Empire Odyssey
I'm not going to send you my uni Philosophy essays, because every uni has their own grading system and as a uni student, you'll end up crafting your own particular writing style - that just comes will a lot of practise and feedback.

You don't really need to know about philosophy as such. But you do need to understand it to get your head around it as a lot philosophy is dense and tongue-twisting.

A lot of scientists in the 17-19th centuries were [natural] philosophers so don't worry. As long as you have an appreciation for the humanities and philosophy as a whole, you should be OK.

If you want to learn and understand how philosophical essays or rather, how philosophical theories/arguments are presented, your best bet is to read some philosophy yourself. Some great philosophers you should read works of or excerpts are Plato, Aristotle (Ancient Greek) Epicurus (Hellenistic), St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas (Medieval) Descartes (Age of Enlightenment), Hume, Spinoza, Hobbes (Age of Reason) Nietzsche (19th Century), Plantinga, Wittgenstein and Hegel (20th Century/Modern Philosophy).


You're right in that respect though I doubt universities will vary significantly. Crafting my own writing style is something I look forward to, however. What year are you in?

The method of enquiry in the books I've read resemble the scientific method - surprise surprise. There's also an array of theory-presenting techniques. I'm currently working on my essay writing to ensure I can present and analyse clearly.

Thanks for the list of philosophers. I am going to read up on the Philosophers you've mentioned that I haven't read. I find the views of: Plato, Epicurus, Nietzsche, Hegel and Wittgenstein particularly interesting. Perhaps because I believe segments of their ideas to be true. What Philosopher would you say you align with most?
Reply 5
As others have mentioned you will come across your own style to align to your unis standards. I would recommend lots of reading before you begin though.

Reading a mix of historical and contemporary philosophers will help you. For historical I would recommend checking out some of the Oxford World Classics as they have good translations and generally good introductions and notes, too.

To get a grip with the writing I would suggest contemporary philosophers as their writing will be closer to what is expected of you; Peter Singer is one of my personal favourites.

A lot of writing philosophical essays is simply about understanding how to create a good argument and you will be taught this during your course. If you want to get a head start Crash Course (youtube channel) has a philosophy playlist, the second (I think?) video is all about how to construct a philosophical argument. Reading some Plato (particularly Meno) will give you a good understanding of how philosophical arguments and reasoning works.

I hope this helps a little.
Original post by Rayz.
You're right in that respect though I doubt universities will vary significantly. Crafting my own writing style is something I look forward to, however. What year are you in?

The method of enquiry in the books I've read resemble the scientific method - surprise surprise. There's also an array of theory-presenting techniques. I'm currently working on my essay writing to ensure I can present and analyse clearly.

Thanks for the list of philosophers. I am going to read up on the Philosophers you've mentioned that I haven't read. I find the views of: Plato, Epicurus, Nietzsche, Hegel and Wittgenstein particularly interesting. Perhaps because I believe segments of their ideas to be true. What Philosopher would you say you align with most?


I'm in my final year.

Well maybe read some philosophy on abstract things like religion, morality and sex. Those are quantifiable.

Oh, that's a good start.

I'm a really bad Philosophy student. I don't have a particular Philosopher I love. But I do like the works of Nietzsche and Aquinas. Some of St. Augustine too, but I do love the Medieval period so I like Medieval philosophy a hell of a lot more than modern. I did an essay on Hellenistic Philosophy and thought Epicurean thought was my sort of thing!

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