

Eric Dayton, Philosophy Faculty

Philosophy and Essays

How does a Philosophy essay differ from essays in other disciplines?

I would say that the important thing about a Philosophy essay is that it's argument, [a] certain amount of exposition of argument, but the job in a Philosophy essay is always to give arguments, give defences of arguments. This involves seeing into the argument in such a way that you can see what the counter-arguments would be and learning the terrain of thinking about ideas by way of giving and taking arguments. Most other disciplines don't treat essays that way.