Philosophy: Argument, Text and Dissertations
What is assessed
The philosophy paper tests your ability to construct a reasoned argument about a problem, usually through a dissertation or a commentary on a short text. You should know the major divisions of philosophy (knowledge, ethics, politics, metaphysics) and be able to use a small number of thinkers accurately: Plato on knowledge and the Forms, Descartes on doubt and the cogito, Kant on duty and the categorical imperative, Mill on utility, Rousseau on the social contract, Marx on alienation.
Traps that cost marks
- The catalogue: listing authors without linking them to the specific problem. Every reference must answer the question.
- Confusing doctrine with slogan: 'I think therefore I am' is a conclusion about what survives radical doubt, not a proof that the external world exists.
- Ignoring the counter-argument: a dissertation needs a dialectical movement: thesis, objection, resolution.
- Commentary drift: in a text commentary, explain the passage's internal logic before judging it.
Worked example
Question: Can we be free under the law? A workable plan: (1) law appears to constrain freedom, since freedom is doing what one wants; (2) but arbitrary desire is itself a form of dependence, and a law that is rational and consented to makes freedom stable; (3) therefore distinguish licence from autonomy, and ask what conditions make law legitimate. Use Rousseau on obedience to a law one has prescribed to oneself, and Kant on autonomy, each tied to the step it supports.
Rule of thumb
For every paragraph, write in one sentence the claim it defends, then check that the quotation or example actually supports that claim. If it does not, cut it.