Philosophical Writing - A. P. Martinich

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Résumé :

Philosophical Writing helps students to think clearly and analytically, improve their essay-writing skills, and present their knowledge and thoughts in a precise and coherent manner. Acclaimed for its accessible, highly practical approach, this bestselling textbook emphasizes what students should do in crafting a philosophical essay, as well as other types of essays that analyze concepts across a variety of disciplines.

Tracing the evolution of a good philosophical essay from the draft stage to completion, the book's eleven chapters are purpose-built to serve the needs of a wide range of students, with levels ranging from elementary to moderately advanced. Philosophical Writing includes numerous essay examples, techniques for outlining and composing, guidance on evaluating philosophical essays, useful appendices, a glossary, a full-featured companion website, and more.

Now in its fifth edition, Philosophical Writing is fully updated with enhanced language and improved explanations throughout. Two entirely new chapters delve into the intricacies of belief networks and explore the properties of sound interpretations, supported by a wealth of new exercises and discussion questions.

Written with clarity and humor by a leading analytic philosopher, Philosophical Writing:

• Helps students organize their beliefs, assess their interpretations, and critically evaluate the ideas of others
• Explains the basic concepts of logic and rhetoric, the structure of a philosophical essay, and the criterion of good philosophical writing
• Describes key tactics for analytic writing, such as definitions, analysis, counterexamples, and dialectical reasoning
• Discusses the concepts of author and audience as they apply to a student's philosophical writing
• Offers advice on common problems that students encounter when writing a philosophical essay

Philosophical Writing: An Introduction, Fifth Edition, remains an ideal textbook for lower- and upper-division courses in philosophy, particularly introductory philosophy classes, as well as courses with significant writing components that cover logic, rhetoric, and analysis....

Biographie:

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....

Sommaire:

Note to the Fifth Edition x

Note to the Fourth Edition xi

Note to the Third Edition xii

Note to the Second Edition xiii

About the Companion Website xiv

Introduction 1

1 Author and Audience 8

1.1 The Professor as Audience 8

1.2 The Student as Author 11

1.3 Three Attitudes About Philosophical Method 15

2 Logic and Argument for Writing 17

2.1 What Is a Good Argument? 17

2.2 Valid Arguments 22

2.3 Cogent Arguments 32

2.4 Fallacies 36

2.5 Quantification and Modality 39

2.6 Consistency and Contradiction 45

2.7 Contraries and Contradictories 48

2.8 The Strength of a Proposition 52

2.9 Bad Arguments with True Conclusions 56

3 The Structure of a Philosophical Essay 57

3.1 An Outline of the Structure of a Philosophical Essay 57

3.2 Anatomy of an Essay 63

3.3 Another Essay 70

4 Composing 74

4.1 How to Select an Essay Topic 75

4.2 Techniques for Composing 76

4.3 Outlining 77

4.4 The Rhetoric of Philosophical Writing 77

4.5 Successive Elaboration 79

4.6 Conceptual Note Taking 88

4.7 Research and Composing 90

4.8 Sentences and Paragraphs 92

4.9 Polishing 95

4.10 Evolution of an Essay 97

5 Tactics for Analytic Writing 110

5.1 Definitions 110

5.2 Distinctions 116

5.3 Analysis 121

5.4 Dilemmas 129

5.5 Scenarios 134

5.6 Counterexamples 136

5.7 Reductio ad Absurdum 144

5.8 Dialectical Reasoning 150

6 Some Constraints on Content 157

6.1 The Pursuit of Truth 157

6.2 The Use of Authority 158

6.3 The Burden of Proof 161

7 Some Goals of Form 164

7.1 Coherence 164

7.2 Clarity 169

7.3 Conciseness 175

7.4 Rigor 178

8 Problems with Introductions 181

8.1 Slip Sliding Away 181

8.2 The Tail Wagging the Dog 186

8.3 The Running Start 188

9 How to Read a Philosophical Work 194

9.1 Find the Thesis Sentence 194

9.2 Precision of Words, Phrases, and Sentences 198

9.3 Proving the Case 199

10 Reading, Writing, and Networks of Belief 203

10.1 Understanding and Interpretation 203

10.2 Networks of Belief 209

10.3 Numerosity, Connectedness, and Unity 210

10.4 Generality 213

10.5 Accommodation 213

10.6 Tenacity and Certainty 214

10.7 Blocks 217

10.8 Porosity 220

11 Virtues of Good Interpretations 224

11.1 Good Interpretations and Correct Ones 224

11.2 Simplicity 225

11.3 Coherence 227

11.4 Consistency 229

11.5 Defensibility 231

11.6 Proportionality 235

11.7 Completeness 241

Appendix A: It's Sunday Night and I Have an Essay Due Monday Morning 244

Appendix B: How to Study for a Test 247

Appendix C: Research: Notes, Citations, and References 249

Appendix D: On Grading 255

Appendix E: Essay Checklist 258

Appendix F: Glossary of Philosophical Terms 259

Index 270