A. Read James Pryor’s and Peter Horban's very helpful advice on writing philosophy papers at http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/writing.html and at http://www.sfu.ca/philosophy/writing.htm . B. Follow the general writing advice of the Harvard Writing Center at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/Overvu.html and the Dartmouth Writing Center at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/toc.shtml . C. Understand that different professors will have different expectations. Here is the advice that I offer my own students in a handout entitled, "Writing a Philosophy Paper": 1. What to do . Your paper must include: (a) A clear statement of the problem you are trying to solve . Getting a clear statement of the problem is more than half the battle. You may not be able to decide on one solution; if not, say why not. (b) A clear statement of the solution you propose, if you believe that...

This conversation reminds me of one that Plato often representsSocrates as having with certain sophists. Socrates asks them just whatin the world they are claiming to teach. They offer an answer that isvery similar to Richard’s: “We teach our students how to think clearlyand well.” Socrates wouldn’t be satisfied. After all, don’t allteachers claim to teach their students how to think well? "About whatsubject matter do philosophers teach us to think well?" Socrates wouldask. The answer, as is evident from this website, is: “A whole lot ofthings.” AsLouise noted in her response to the original question, oneof the things with which philosophers have traditionally been concernedis how one ought to live one’s life. A philosophy department’s offeringswould be seriously lacking if it didn’t include courses in whichstudents were taught to think well about ethical issues. Richard saysthat he doesn't know whether he is an expert on living life well in an effort to explain why it would be inappropriate...

I’d approach the problem in a completely different way. I suspect thatthe problem that you are facing is that none of the philosophical worksthat you are now attempting to read has obvious relevance to your lifeas you now live it– to your career, to your personal relationships, toyour choices about what and where to eat, to your investmentstrategies, to your vacation plans, to your commute, to your life inyour community, etc. Ifso, it's not surprising that it’s hard to maintain interest. Iwould begin, not with philosophy, but with some interesting non-fictionthat is more obviously related to what your life is all about. Ipredict that you will find--such is the nature of philosophy-- that itwill raise interesting philosophical questions that you will feelcompelled to explore. Let me offer just one example. I just finished reading Barry Schwartz’s recent The Paradox of Choice: Why Less is More .Schwartz is a psychology professor at Swarthmore, not a philosopher.But this book raises all sorts...

When I first read our interlocutor’s question, I too was tempted torespond that mothers have no choice but to influence their children’svalues and beliefs. Every action, statement, and gesture of a belovedand respected parent signifies to young children who are desperate tomake sense of their world what it is reasonable to believe and how itis reasonable to act. Such signals in early childhood provide theultimate basis for what most children could even understand as a reasonfor action or belief during more sophisticated philosophical musingswith their parents when they are teenagers. To this extent, I think, itis impossible for children ever to gain complete cognitive independenceand distance from their parents, and for this reason and many others,the responsibility of parents often feels overwhelming. But, ona second reading, I was struck by her description of herself as “afresh mother of a teenage kid”. I’m also a mother of a teenage daughterand I hardly feel fresh. I wonder whether our interlocutor...

It seems to me that your students’ position is very reasonable on oneunderstanding of what you mean by “less work.” Students come intovarious classes with different levels of preparation and skill, and so,it will take “less work” --i.e. “less effort”-- for some students, forexample, to answer all of the questions correctly on an exam than itwill take other students. On this understanding of “less work,” yourstudents are saying that they don’t want their effort to be taken intoconsideration when you are determining their grades. They are sayingthat they don’t deserve a better grade just because they worked harder. Ifon the other hand, by "less work" you mean "answered fewer questionscorrectly," then I see your difficulty. It doesn't seem possible forstudents to get the grades that they deserve, if they don't get morecredit when they answer correctly more questions. I wonder whether youand your students have the same thing in mind when you think of "lesswork."