Topics Philosophy

Question Hello philosophers, I have a question concerning songs. I often listen rappers songs and sometimes I find verses within songs which I suppose are kind of philosophical ones. And I would like to ask you if I could use these verses in my essays as an argument to justify a proposition? I consider that these verses are type of micro philosophy. Yet my teacher can suppose that such an argument is inappropriate or invalid. Moreover, a teacher may perceive that rapper is not an influent figure. But I proclaim that he is a person who creates art. A song is a genre of lyrics like poetry. As a result, I notice a close connection between songs and poetry. People create poetry when they do a lot of thinking. Rappers create songs when they think too. They write their verses on the paper or they think before going to record a song. And it is a big similarity of poetry. Just in a different style. In conclusion, rapper song verses could be a valid argument to justify a proposition in my essays? Or it is not a suitable one?

Accepted:
January 4, 2011

Comments

In a philosophy paper, you are responsible for your conclusions. The quality of your paper depends on how well you can back up what you conclude. In many cases, you can back up a conclusion by citing someone else's work. But in order for that other work to support your conclusions, what it says must itself have some support and credibility. Thus, for example, if you cite a major work of Kant interpretation, which is widely acknowledged by Kant scholars to be very good, in support of your reading of a certain passage in Kant, then this would certainly support your reading. But if you support your reading by stating that your roommate agrees with it, you haven't given much support to it at all. To be sure, your roommate's opinion may be based on sound interpretation. But this basis needs to be added to your cite for it to gain the kind of credibility that the interpretation of the above author on Kant derives from her demonstrated mastery of the whole text.

What matters here, by the way, is not whether that author or your roommate are influential. What matters is whether their views are credible, that is, can be well supported. Your own conclusions can derive support from such views only insofar as you can establish their credibility.

Putting aside whether the rapper is famous or obscure, we need to ask whether his or her lyrics express something that could be backed up. We don't really know how much thought s/he has put into the lyrics and, in any case, even thoughtful people make mistakes or say and sing things they don't really believe. By citing some verses in support of your conclusion, you are putting the text you cite forward as credible. This means you are taking responsibility for the possibility of backing it up. So you should not cite verses in support of your conclusion unless you could explain and defend the content of these verses -- if not in your paper itself, then at least in conversation.