Defending a Position on Philosophical Issues - Essay Writing Guide

The general aim of the essay is to defend a position on one of the following issues.  

Can machines think?

Can robots be genuine friends?

Is it rational to believe that God, or a god, exists?

Do we have free will?

You are also welcome to come up with your own topic. However, it must be related to the material we have covered this term and you MUST get my approval before you begin work on your topic.

The introduction of your essay should be relatively brief, and should avoid grandiose claims such as, "Since the dawn of civilization …".  Just introduce your topic, explain why it is important, and then state your thesis that is, state the position you are defending in the essay.  It is okay to write in the first person and use language like, "In this essay I will argue that

After you have introduced the issue and stated your thesis, you need to provide an argument in support of your thesis. As you know, an argument consists of reasons or premises that logically support your thesis. 

You may present your argument in standard form, but you are not required to do this. If you do not present your argument in standard form, you must still ensure that you clearly identify and explain your main premises. You can use language like, "The first premise of my argument is …". After you have presented the main premises of your argument, offer explanation and support for them. Pay particular attention to any premises that are controversial.

After you have carefully presented the argument in support of your thesis, consider one objection to it. Although you think your view is correct, others may disagree. So explain one reason why someone might disagree with your view. As we’ve discussed throughout the term, there are only two possible problems your argument could have: (i) one or more of the premises is false; or (ii) the premises do not logically support the conclusion. So the objection should attempt to prove that your argument has one of these flaws. You may present the objection in standard form, but you are not required to do this. If you do not present the objection in standard form, you must still ensure that you clearly identify and explain the main premises of the objection.

After you have carefully presented one objection to your argument, you should reply to the objection. The reply should explain why the objection fails to defeat your argument. The only possible problems with the objection are that it has a false premise, or that it is invalid. So your reply should attempt to show that the objection has one of these flaws. You may present your reply in standard form, but you are not required to do this. If you do not present your reply in standard form, you must still ensure that you clearly identify and explain the main premises of your reply.

Conclusion

After providing a reply to the objection, you should wrap up your essay with a conclusion. The conclusion should provide a brief recap of the main points of the essay the topic, your position, the argument in support of your position, the objection to your argument, and your reply to the objection.