Philosophical Writing

A. P. MARTINICH is Vaughan Centennial Professor Emeritus in Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He has published extensively on the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and the philosophy of language. He is the author of A Hobbes Dictionary and Hobbes’s Political Philosophy, and the co-editor of A Companion to Analytic Philosophy and Analytic Philosophy: An Anthology.

• Note to the Fifth Edition xNote to the Fourth Edition xiNote to the Third Edition xiiNote to the Second Edition xiiiAbout the Companion Website xivIntroduction 11 Author and Audience 81.1 The Professor as Audience 81.2 The Student as Author 111.3 Three Attitudes About Philosophical Method 152 Logic and Argument for Writing 172.1 What Is a Good Argument? 172.2 Valid Arguments 222.3 Cogent Arguments 322.4 Fallacies 362.5 Quantification and Modality 392.6 Consistency and Contradiction 452.7 Contraries and Contradictories 482.8 The Strength of a Proposition 522.9 Bad Arguments with True Conclusions 563 The Structure of a Philosophical Essay 573.1 An Outline of the Structure of a Philosophical Essay 573.2 Anatomy of an Essay 633.3 Another Essay 704 Composing 744.1 How to Select an Essay Topic 754.2 Techniques for Composing 764.3 Outlining 774.4 The Rhetoric of Philosophical Writing 774.5 Successive Elaboration 794.6 Conceptual Note Taking 884.7 Research and Composing 904.8 Sentences and Paragraphs 924.9 Polishing 954.10 Evolution of an Essay 975 Tactics for Analytic Writing 1105.1 Definitions 1105.2 Distinctions 1165.3 Analysis 1215.4 Dilemmas 1295.5 Scenarios 1345.6 Counterexamples 1365.7 Reductio ad Absurdum 1445.8 Dialectical Reasoning 1506 Some Constraints on Content 1576.1 The Pursuit of Truth 1576.2 The Use of Authority 1586.3 The Burden of Proof 1617 Some Goals of Form 1647.1 Coherence 1647.2 Clarity 1697.3 Conciseness 1757.4 Rigor 1788 Problems with Introductions 1818.1 Slip Sliding Away 1818.2 The Tail Wagging the Dog 1868.3 The Running Start 1889 How to Read a Philosophical Work 1949.1 Find the Thesis Sentence 1949.2 Precision of Words, Phrases, and Sentences 1989.3 Proving the Case 19910 Reading, Writing, and Networks of Belief 20310.1 Understanding and Interpretation 20310.2 Networks of Belief 20910.3 Numerosity, Connectedness, and Unity 21010.4 Generality 21310.5 Accommodation 21310.6 Tenacity and Certainty 21410.7 Blocks 21710.8 Porosity 22011 Virtues of Good Interpretations 22411.1 Good Interpretations and Correct Ones 22411.2 Simplicity 22511.3 Coherence 22711.4 Consistency 22911.5 Defensibility 23111.6 Proportionality 23511.7 Completeness 241Appendix A: “It’s Sunday Night and I Have an Essay Due Monday Morning” 244Appendix B: How to Study for a Test 247Appendix C: Research: Notes, Citations, and References 249Appendix D: On Grading 255Appendix E: Essay Checklist 258Appendix F: Glossary of Philosophical Terms 259Index 270

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