personal philosophy essay

101 Personal Philosophy Examples (Copy and Paste Ideas)

personal philosophy examples and definition, explained below

Personal philosophy refers to an individual’s foundational beliefs, values, and attitudes that guide his or her perspectives, decisions, and behaviors (Covey, 1989).

These integral elements of a person’s philosophy often shape and mold their characters, propelling them through life with their distinct take on existence, perspectives on truth, and individual ethos (Prior, 2015).

Our personal philosophy is based on our core values (aka terminal values ), which are those things that we hold most dear and that are fundamental to our personality and character.

Consider the case of Steve Jobs (2011), Apple’s co-founder, whose personal philosophy was famously rooted in Zen Buddhism with an unwavering belief in intuition . His philosophy was delineated by his renowned quote at Stanford University: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do”.

This dictum underscores Jobs’s individual belief system , his viewpoint of success, and the guiding principles for his life’s work . Evidently illustrating how personal philosophy is both a driving force and a beacon of direction in an individual’s life.

Personal Philosophy Examples

Famous people’s personal philosophies, 1. steve jobs.

“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

As noted above, the co-founder of Apple Inc, Steve Jobs, was heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism. Besides the quote I already gave, Jobs would often quote another one based on Buddhism: “Stay hungry, Stay Foolish”. This idea underscores the importance of continuously seeking knowledge and not being afraid to take risks. Jobs delivered this philosophy in his famous commencement address at Stanford University in 2005 (Jobs, 2005). This personal mantra shaped his pioneering innovations that revolutionized communication and technology.

2. Bill Gates

“Be Patient”

The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, emphasizes patience as a key defining feature of his philosophy. He believes that change operates on a longer timeframe than we may initially anticipate and that great works take time (Gates, 2013). This philosophy saturates Gates’s philanthropy efforts, where his focus primarily lies in long-term, foundational improvements to global health and education.

3. Richard Branson

“Screw it, let’s do it”

The flamboyant entrepreneur Richard Branson lives by his guiding philosophy of “Screw it, let’s do it”. This mantra reflects his belief in jumping at opportunities even when the outcome may be unknown (Branson, 2012). Branson’s multi-industry success with his Virgin brand is a testament to his willingness to defy conventional wisdom through his adventurous business ventures.

4. Maya Angelo

“When people show you who they are, believe them”

The acclaimed poet Maya Angelou deeply held onto the philosophy “When people show you who they are, believe them”. This philosophy emphasizes the importance of understanding people’s character based on their actions rather than their words (Angelou, 2013). Angelou’s insightful poetry and autobiographies often encompass the theme of human nature and the importance of personal integrity.

5. Jeff Bezos

“It’s better to invent than to copy”

The founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, thrives on his philosophy “It’s better to invent than to copy”. He believes in the power of originality and innovation instead of conforming to conventional paths (Bezos, 2016). This belief has been implemented into Amazon’s corporate culture which revolves around exploration and inventiveness.

6. Mark Zuckerberg

“Move fast and break things”

Co-founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, follows the philosophy “Move fast and break things”. This mantra represents his focus on rapid innovation, even if it means making mistakes along the way (Zuckerberg, 2012). It captures the essence of Facebook’s initial growth strategy and its determination to push the boundaries of technological progress.

7. Oprah Winfrey

“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams”

Oprah Winfrey, the media mogul, ascribes to the philosophy “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams”. Her philosophy encourages people to strive for their aspirations despite potential obstacles (Winfrey, 2014). As a beloved television host and philanthropist, she exemplifies the philosophy through her career trajectory rising from poverty to become one of the most influential women in the world.

8. Einstein

“Imagination is everything”

Much of Albert Einstein’s philosophy can be contained in the quote “Imagination is everything”. He held that imaginative thought was more crucial than detailed knowledge as it leads to innovation and progress (Einstein, 2011). This philosophy was a driving force behind his ground-breaking physics discoveries, reinforcing the power of imaginative intelligence.

9. Nelson Mandela

“I never lose. I either win or learn”

The first black President of South Africa and anti-apartheid revolutionary, Nelson Mandela, maintained the philosophy “I never lose. I either win or learn”. This greatly shaped his attitude towards persisting in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds during the fight for racial equality (Mandela, 2010). It also underscores Mandela’s belief in the value of learning from adversity rather than viewing it as a failure.

10. Walt Disney

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them”

Walt Disney, the pioneer of the American animation industry, adamantly believed in the motto “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them”. This philosophy emphasizes the power of determination and bravery in the realization of one’s dreams. It resonates throughout Disney’s legacy of imaginative storytelling and innovative moviemaking.

Personal Philosophy Ideas

1. Have a Growth Mindset Life is a continuous learning experience and challenges are our greatest teachers. Embracing this philosophy means perceiving setbacks as opportunities to grow, not as insurmountable barriers.”

2. Pursue Knowledge “The essence of human progress lies in the relentless pursuit of knowledge. To follow this philosophy, one must bear an insatiable thirst for learning, always seeking to expand their intellectual horizons.”

3. Respect for All Living Things “My philosophy is rooted in a deep appreciation for the interconnectedness of all life forms. Respect should not be exclusive to humanity but extended to every living organism, acknowledging the vital role it plays in Earth’s ecosystem.”

4. Keep an Open Mind “Life’s richest opportunities often sprout from seeds of difference. By practicing an open mind, one positions themselves for growth, improvement, and innovation borne of diverse ideas and opinions.”

5. Seek to Understand Before being Understood “Understanding generates empathy and in a world rife with divisive language and behavior, empathy is paramount. This philosophy beckons us to listen actively , to engage genuinely in the dialogue of life.

6. Pursuit of Personal Freedom “Freedom is not simply the absence of captivity; it is the robust expression of one’s identity and the power to make choices. To chase personal freedom is to relentlessly pursue self-determination and personal authenticity.”

7. Gratitude is the Key to Happiness “Happiness does not depend on the grandeur of our possessions, but on the depth of our gratitude. This philosophy teaches us to express sincere gratitude for our blessings, even the most inconspicuous ones.”

8. Trust but Verify “Trust plays a linchpin role in cultivating genuine relationships. However, maintaining a level of discernment, “to trust but verify,” keeps us on a solid footing, fusing trust with pragmatism.”

9. Live in the Moment “Amidst the hustle of life, we often forget to live in the present. Appreciating the current moment, absorbing its raw reality, is essential to experiencing life in its purest form.”

10. Integrity is Non-Negotiable “Integrity is my immovable cornerstone, the compass guiding my every interaction. It is a commitment to remain honest and ethical, even in the face of adversity or temptation.”

11. Everyone Has Something to Teach You “From the janitor sweeping the floor to the professor delivering a lecture, everyone has valuable knowledge to share. Being open to learn from all encounters magnifies our wisdom and cultivates humility.”

12. Humility Goes a Long Way “Regardless of my accomplishments or social standing, humility is my chosen companion. It keeps my ego in check and fosters genuine connections with individuals from diverse backgrounds.”

13. Don’t Let Fear of Failure Hold You Back “Rather than a crippling force, I regard fear of failure as a stepping stone towards success. It is a philosophy that encourages me to take risks, embracing failures as poignant life lessons.”

14. Aim to be Better, not Perfect “Striving for perfection imprisons us in a perpetual cycle of dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, aiming to improve incrementally, to be better today than yesterday, leads to wholesome progress and contentment.”

15. Be Responsible and Reliable “Responsibility and reliability are the pivot upon which successful relationships rotate. By upholding these virtues, I become a dependable ally and an accountable human being.”

Read Also: Personal Mission Statement Examples

Complete List of 101 Personal Philosophies for the Taking

Pursuit of knowledge.
Respect for all living things.
Strive for balance in all areas of life.
Always be curious and open-minded.
Seek to understand before being understood.
Focus on continual self-improvement.
Kindness above all.
Embrace change and adaptability.
Pursuit of personal freedom.
Respect and value diversity.
Gratitude is the key to happiness.
Life is about experiences, not possessions.
Emphasize compassion and empathy.
Encourage collaboration and teamwork.
Strive for sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Find joy in simplicity.
Trust but verify.
Practice mindfulness and be present.
Encourage creativity and original thinking.
Integrity is non-negotiable.
Practice patience and forgiveness.
Everyone has something to teach you.
Believe in the power of positivity.
Health is wealth.
Promote honesty and transparency.
Courage in the face of adversity.
Embrace life’s imperfections.
Foster a community spirit.
Make decisions out of love, not fear.
Humility goes a long way.
Practice self-compassion.
Prioritize mental health.
Respect personal boundaries.
Promote freedom of expression.
Stand up against injustice.
Cultivate resilience.
Seek truth in all things.
Be a lifelong learner.
Encourage innovation and new ideas.
Work smarter, not harder.
Find value in every situation, good or bad.
Practice active listening.
Growth comes from stepping out of your comfort zone.
Maintain work-life balance.
Love unconditionally.
Celebrate every success, no matter how small.
Prioritize personal relationships.
Embrace vulnerability .
Keep an open heart and mind.
Regular self-reflection leads to personal growth .
Strive for excellence, not perfection.
Find and follow your passion.
Take responsibility for your actions.
Value the process, not just the outcome.
Believe in the power of kindness.
Embrace and learn from failures.
Always be humble and grounded.
Be a problem solver, not a complainer.
Choose peace over conflict.
Create more than you consume.
Advocate for those who can’t advocate for themselves.
Leave things better than you found them.
Believe in the power of unity.
Invest in personal growth.
Embrace diversity and inclusivity.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Prioritize authenticity over popularity.
Don’t let fear of failure hold you back.
Keep a healthy sense of humor.
Encourage and support others.
Embrace lifelong learning .
Be patient and persistent.
Invest in relationships.
Do what makes you happy.
Value people over things.
Focus on the positive.
Stand up for what you believe in.
Remain open-minded.
Trust your intuition.
Aim to be better, not perfect.
Always tell the truth.
Help others when you can.
Stay grounded in the present moment.
Prioritize self-care.
Cultivate inner peace.
Be responsible and reliable.
Strive for equality.
Learn from the past, but don’t dwell on it.
Make every day meaningful.
Aim to inspire others.
Believe in yourself.
Live with integrity.
Make the world a better place.
Don’t take life too seriously.
Surround yourself with positive people.
Practice mindfulness.
Embrace change as a part of life.
Celebrate individuality.
Keep a curious mind.
Live in alignment with your values.
Be your own biggest fan.

Writing down your own personal philosophy is an excellent exercise in helping you to clarify your core values, moral values , and goals in life. I’d recommend trying to narrow them down to three or four or five. Then use the five Why’s strategy to zoom-in on why you have this philosophy: what is is at your core that guides your personal philosophy? Those core things at the end of the ‘why’ chain is your set of terminal values, and they represent who you are. It’s important to have this at the heart of all our actions so we live a life of integrity.

Furthermore, it’s worthwhile re-examining your core values every six months. They change over time as we mature and our lives change and our priorities shift .

Angelou, M. (2013). The Wisdom of Sundays: Life-Changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations . New York: Penguin.

Bezos, J. (2016). Re: 2016 Shareholder Letter. seccdn.com.

Branson, R. (2012). Screw it, Let’s do it – Lessons in Life . London: Virgin.

Covey, S. R. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people: restoring the character ethic . New York: Simon and Schuster.

Einstein, A. (2011). The Ultimate Quotable Einstein. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Gates, B. (2013). Gates Notes: The Blog of Bill Gates . gatesnotes.com.

Jobs, S. (2005). Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address . Stanford News.

Mandela, N. (2010). Conversations with Myself . London: Macmillan London Ltd.

Prior, A. (2015). Pursuing Eudaimonia: Re-appropriating the Greek Philosophical Foundations of the Christian Apophatic Tradition . Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Winfrey, O. (2014). What I Know for Sure. Chicago: Flatiron Books.

Zuckerberg, M. (2012 ). Zuckerberg’s Letter to Investors: ‘The Hacker Way’ .

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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My Personal Philosophy of Life, Essay Example

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I am the third of five children: I have two older sisters and two younger brothers. My big family helped me to realize the importance of family relations and it has been a basis of my future convictions. Person is an indivisible part of the family. Another thing about my childhood is that I have been involved in the nursing field from the time I could work. I started my nursing practice as a nurse aid at the age of sixteen. Strange as it may seem, I never seriously thought about being a nurse until many years later and many failed attempts at other careers. My transcript speaks for itself. I went a long way to nursing: I did not become a nurse until I was thirty one and pregnant at the time with twins. My professional choice is thoughtful and I do know what I want to get from the course.

I am not a light-minded girl and I have my own life principle, and I always try to adhere to it. My philosophy of life is “life is not always easy and you have to work hard for what you want.” Though for someone it may sound like a commonplace, in fact it is not. Such philosophy came as a result of my life, of my experience, and I believe that it helps me to withstand difficult situations.

As English proverb claims, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride, and I totally agree with it. Usually, tangible achievements come as a result of long and hard work. I perceive difficult tasks just like challenges and I understand that they are beneficial to my skills and my experience. Nursing school was not easy, studying in Framingham state college is not easy, but I know that I will reap the benefits in the end. It takes some doing to achieve good results, but I know it is the way it always happens. And everyone has to work hard for what they have ‘everyone’. Nursing is not an easy profession but I do believe that it is a way to help people understand that they should work for their wellness too, they should cooperate with nurses and then any results are achievable.

My Professional Philosophy of Nursing

When I think back now as to why I went into nursing school, I cannot come up with any clear reason. May be, it was a moment of inspiration, because then I had no strong intention of being a nurse. However, now I know that this is what I was destined to do with my life. All careers I have tried failed to provide that certainty.

I have my own perception of nursing practice, and it is my own professional philosophy. I am here to help people live a healthier, happier, and longer life. I am not striving for lofty aims; neither do I resort to common knowledge. I just feel that it is the very thing that nurses should do. Though I have come up with this idea, it is difficult to adhere to it. I feel that frequently I fail to promote this philosophy and focus on the immediate task. And that is why I study more and hone my skills.

I work as an emergency room nurse now. Actually, it is rather hard to stand back and look at the patient as a whole when you are trying to fix him or her. When they are broken, say, their blood pressure is 70/40 and you need to focus on the I.V., fluids, and blood products, it is hardly impossible to concentrate on their integrity and reasons of their illness. Current and urgent actions outweigh philosophical questions and perceptual issues.

Now I realize that helping people to recover their health does not come to just fixing their blood pressure or their broken arm. While having them in the emergency room it is teaching that I perform to help them cope with their illness or limitations. In order to better serve the patient and the family I need to consider the person as a physiological, psychological, sociocultural, and developmental being. This concept is difficult in itself, but to make people think that they are able to recover, to communicate with their relatives, to provide help and support I should embody this concept.

Just corresponding to my nursing career my philosophy of nursing is always changing and evolving. New circumstances and new cases help me to concentrate on important psychological aspects of nursing, to realize needs of ill people and make necessary decisions. They make my understanding of human needs more profound, and this enables me to help them to live healthy, happy and long lives.

My Personal and Professional Philosophy Integrated With the Framingham State

Conceptual Framework

The Framingham state college philosophy states that we need to focus “on the person as a physiological, psychological, sociocultural, and developmental being who progresses through the life cycle as a unified whole within the environment.” I do believe that we need to look at the person and the family as a whole. According to the Framingham State College Philosophy “the faculty believes that the goal of nursing is to promote the person’s movement along the wellness-illness continuum toward high-level wellness.” The way we promote the movement along the wellness-illness continuum is through education of out patients. We as nurses do not necessarily need to change the patient or family environment. To say the least, it is a difficult task. But what we can do is help them to cope with the environment that they live in to promote wellness. But we must inform our patients about what the way to wellness looks like. We do need to let patient know that it is not always easy. There is no one pill that cures everything.

Here my own life philosophy coincides with the Framingham state college idea. I think that there are no easy ways to deal with serious illness or limitation. So in order to evaluate some compromise way to recover that would be easy to follow I explore the patient as a whole: his or her lifestyle, habits, environment, etc. I usually try to persuade people that in order to get better or prevent their illness they should change something: say, their behavior, habits, diet, or lifestyles.

As prevention is better that cure, the college emphasizes the importance of prevention. Whether prevention means reduction of risk of being ill or general promotion of wellness or it means in-time detection and prevention of further worsening, or even prevention of consequences of the existing illness, it is achieved through promotion of wellness. The philosophy of college claims that promotion of wellness is an important part of the cure, and my personal philosophy also supports this idea. Everyone has an ability to withstand the illness being provided with a professional and timely help. And then it is necessary to understand that nurses are able to provide that kind of help, but not everything can be done by nurses. Something is always left for the patient’s work.

The Framingham college course underlines the importance of nurses in preventive health care. Nurses can influence people and make decisions concerning their health conditions. It is not a part of usual nursing course, and it is important to integrate these principles of preventive health care into usual working practice. As I have mentioned, it is not that easy but in the long run worth doing. It requires new skills and knowledge of behavioral and natural sciences and change of attitude to the patient sometimes.

What is really important for the college philosophy is not just taking care of health, but providing education, assistance and advocacy to people. Nurses should not be just medical profession, they should communicate with their patients and involve them into decision making if necessary. But the role of nurse must be leading as nurses are responsible for all decisions. Also, nurses should hone their skills constantly in communities, within collectives, and strive for betterment of their nursing practice. Actually, promoting wellness is a complex mission and it requires certain skills and approaches.

I think that in general my personal philosophy does comply with the philosophy of the college. College philosophy requires nurses to learn constantly and to improve their skills, to change the professional attitude to patients from the medical to more humanistic, socioeconomic, etc. I understand that it is necessary and in the long run it will improve my nursing skills noticeably. Professional nurses should be able to help patients to withstand their illnesses, and not only by means of pills and injections. Promoting wellness is a part of prevention of future diseases. For me, this idea is really great and it is the very thing I need to study and promote. It corresponds to my idea of providing wellness through nursing, and to my philosophy of life.

Life is not easy, work is not easy, but we as nurses can ease lives of our patients and help them to recover. We are able to make the patient’s life healthier and better on the other level. All we need is improvement of nursing skills with social and humanities studies. Then patients face the reality and come up with idea that nothing comes without efforts. They realize that they are provided with extraordinary help but their wellness depends on their own efforts, too. So the philosophy of college, my personal professional philosophy and my philosophy of life are interwoven; though college idea of nursing is stable, my own convictions change as I learn more and improve my experience.

We as nurses are always working towards the highest level of wellness, either in our family, in our careers, or in our self. And we need to do the same for our patients, as we possess knowledge that is unavailable to our patients. We as nurses have an extraordinary influence on our patients and the public. We need to promote education and have the ability to promote compliance. We need to look at the patient or family as a whole and remember that at some point in time we will have someone in the health care system and could only wish the same care we would give.

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Philosophy essay writing guide

Introduction.

This guide is intended to give new students of philosophy some preliminary advice about writing philosophy essays at university. For many of you, writing a philosophy essay will be something of a new experience, and no doubt many of you will be a little unsure of what to expect, or of what is expected of you. Most of you will have written essays in school for English, History, etc. A philosophy essay is something a little different again. However, it is not an unfathomable, mysterious affair, nor one where anything goes.

Just what a philosophy essay is will depend a lot, as you'd expect, on just what philosophy is. Defining philosophy is always a more or less controversial business, but one way to think of what is done in university philosophy departments is to think of the difference between having a philosophy and doing philosophy. Virtually everyone "has a philosophy" in the sense that we have many basic beliefs about the world and ourselves and use certain key concepts to articulate those beliefs. Many of us initially come to thus "have a philosophy" (or elements of several philosophies) often only unconsciously, or by following "what's obvious" or "what everybody knows", or by adopting a view because it sounds exciting or is intellectually fashionable.

"Doing philosophy", on the other hand, is a self-conscious unearthing and rigorous examination of these basic beliefs and key concepts. In doing so, we try to clarify the meanings of those beliefs and concepts and to evaluate critically their rational grounds or justification. Thus, rather than having their heads in the clouds, philosophers are really more under the surface of our thinking, examining the structures that support - or fail to support - those who trust that they have their feet on the ground. Such examination may even help to develop new and firmer ground.

Doing philosophy, then, begins with asking questions about the fundamental ideas and concepts that inform our ways of looking at the world and ourselves, and proceeds by developing responses to those questions which seek to gain insight into those ideas and concepts - and part of that development consists in asking further questions, giving further responses, and so on. Human beings across the world have been engaged in this sort of dialogue of question and response for many centuries - even millennia - and a number of great traditions of reflection and inquiry have evolved that have fundamentally influenced the development of religion, art, science and politics in many cultures. The influence of philosophical thinking on Western civilization, in particular, can be traced back more than 2,500 years to the Ancient Greeks.

In philosophy, a good essay is one that, among other things, displays a good sense of this dialectic of question and response by asking insightful, probing questions, and providing reasoned, well-argued responses. This means that you should not rest content with merely an unintegrated collection of assertions, but should instead work at establishing logical relations between your thoughts. You are assessed not on the basis of what you believe, but on how well you argue for the position you adopt in your essay, and on how interesting and insightful your discussion of the issues is. That is to say, you are assessed on how well you do philosophy, not on what philosophy you end up having. Nonetheless, you ought to make sure that your essay's discussion is relevant to the topic. (See Section 5.2 below on relevance.)

It is hoped that you enjoy the activity of essay writing. If you have chosen to study Arts, it is likely that you will have a particular interest in - even a passion for - ideas and the variety of forms and genres in which ideas are expressed and explored. The argumentative or discursive formal academic essay is one such form, and one which can be a pleasure to read and to write. Thus, the assessment that is set in philosophy courses is primarily an invitation to you to pursue what is already (or, hopefully, soon to be) your own interest in writing to explore ideas. However, your immediate goal in writing an academic philosophy essay ought not to be to write a personal testament, confession or polemic. Rather, you should primarily aim at articulating, clearly and relatively dispassionately, your philosophical thinking on the topic at hand. Nevertheless, the kind and degree of personal development one can gain from taking up the challenge to think and to write carefully, clearly and thoroughly is certainly something to be greatly valued.

This guide is intended to help you get started in the business of writing philosophy essays. As you practise your philosophical writing skills, you will develop your own technique, and learn what is appropriate in each particular case. So you may well come to "work around" many of these guidelines. Nonetheless, it is important that you pass through that which you seek to pass beyond.* In addition to your own writing, your reading of other philosophers will help you to develop your sense of what constitutes good philosophical writing. As you read, note the various styles and techniques that philosophical authors employ in their treatment of philosophical issues. Practice and studying good examples, then, are the most valuable ways to develop your essay writing skills.

This guide is, moreover, only one of many publications that introduce philosophy students to essay writing. Some others you may like to consult include:

A. P. Martinich, Philosophical Writing, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1997)
J. Feinberg and R. Shafer-Landau, Doing Philosophy: A Guide to the Writing of Philosophy Papers, 2nd ed. (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 2001)
Z. Seech, Writing Philosophy Papers, 4th ed. (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 2003)
R. Solomon, "Writing Philosophy", Appendix to his The Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy, 6th ed. (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 2001)
S. Gorovitz et al., Philosophical Analysis: An Introduction to its Language and Techniques, 3rd ed. (New York: Random House, 1979)

Also, the websites of many philosophy departments in universities around Australia and the world contain downloadable essay writing guides or links to them.

*This phrase is adapted from Jacques Bouveresse, "Why I am so very unFrench", in Alan Montefiore, ed., Philosophy in France Today (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), p. 12.

What do I do in a Philosophy essay?

Philosophy essay topics are not designed to provide an intellectual obstacle course that trips you up so as to delight a malicious marker. They are designed to invite you to "grapple with" with some particular philosophical problem or issue. That is to say, they are designed to offer you an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of a particular philosophical problem or issue, and to exhibit your own philosophical skills of analysis, argumentation, etc. These twin goals are usually best achieved by ensuring that your essay performs two basic functions (your understanding and your skills apply to both):

an exposition of the problem or issue in question (often as it is posed in some particular text); and a critical discussion of the problem or text

These two functions can, but need not always, correspond to physically or structurally distinct sections of your essay. See Section 5.1.

The expository ("setting forth") aspect of your essay is where you should make clear what the issue is and why it is an issue. Where you are dealing with an issue as it is presented in some particular text, your aim should be to make clear what it is that the author in question meant in their text, what they see as the issue and why they see it as an issue. This does not involve merely quoting or paraphrasing a text. Of course, occasional quotation and paraphrase may be appropriate - sometimes necessary - but these ought not to constitute the sole or major content of your exposition. Where you do quote or paraphrase, make sure you attribute your sources in footnotes or endnotes. (See Section 7.)

Exposition is, then, primarily a matter of developing in your own words what you think the issue is or what you think the text means. In all expository work you should always try to give a fair and accurate account of a text or problem, even when the exposition becomes more interpretive rather than simply descriptive. You ought to be patient and sympathetic in your exposition, even if you intend later to criticise heavily the philosopher in question. Indeed, the better the exposition in this regard, usually the more effective the critique.

An important part of exposition is your analysis of the text or issue. Here you should try to "break down" the text, issue or problem into its constitutive elements by distinguishing its different parts. (E.g. "There are two basic kinds of freedom in question when we speak of freedom of the will. First, … . Second, …", or "There are three elements in Plato's conception of the soul, namely... He establishes these three elements by means of the following two arguments... ") This also involves showing the relationships between those elements, relationships which make them "parts of the whole".

As well as laying out these elements within a text or issue, you can also (when appropriate or relevant) show how a text or issue "connects up with" other texts, issues, or philosophical and/or historical developments, which can help to shed further light on the matter by giving it a broader context. (eg "Freedom of the will is importantly connected to the justification of punishment", or "Plato's tripartite theory of the soul bears interesting resemblances to Freud's analysis of the psyche", or "Kant's transcendental idealism can be seen as reconciling the preceding rationalist and empiricist accounts of knowledge".)

An exposition of a text need not always simply follow the author's own view of what it means. You should, of course, demonstrate that you understand how the author themself understands their work, but an exposition can sometimes go beyond this, giving another reading of the text. (eg "Heidegger might deny it, but his Being and Time can be read as developing a pragmatist account of human understanding.") A given text or issue may well be susceptible to a number of plausible or reasonable interpretations. An exposition should aim to be sensitive to such variety. When appropriate, you should defend your interpretations against rivals and objections. Your interpretation ought, though, to be aimed at elucidating the meaning or meanings of the text or issue and not serve merely as a "coat-hanger" for presenting your own favoured views on the matter in question, which should be left to your ...

Critical discussion

This is where your thought gets more of the centre stage. Here you should attempt to develop a response to the issues which your exposition has made clear, and/or, in the case of a discussion of some particular text, attempt to give a critical appraisal of the author's treatment of the issue. In developing a response to a philosophical problem, argumentation is, again, of central importance. Avoid making unsupported assertions; back up your claims with reasons, and connect up your ideas so that they progress logically toward your conclusions. Consider some of the various objections to and questions about your views that others might or have put forward, and try to respond to them in defence of your own line of thinking. Your goal here should be to discuss what you have expounded so as to come to some conclusion or judgement about it. ("Critical" is derived from the Ancient Greek for "to decide, to judge".) Critical discussion is thus not necessarily "destructive" or "negative"; it can be quite constructive and positive.

In the case of a critical appraisal of a particular author's text, you can negatively criticise the author's arguments by pointing out questionable assumptions, invalid reasoning, etc. If, on the other hand, you think that the text is good, then your critical discussion can be positive. This can be done by revealing its "hidden virtues" (that is, by showing that there is more to the author's arguments and views than what lies on the surface) and/or by defending an author against possible and/or actual criticisms. (eg "Norman Malcolm argues that Descartes is mistaken in assuming that dreams and waking episodes have the same content.* However, Malcolm fails to appreciate the subtlety of Descartes' argument in the First Meditation, which allows Descartes to claim . . .") Just to expound an author's arguments and then say "I disagree" or "That seems right" is not really enough - you need to "have something to say" about it. Of course, by all means go on, after finding fault with some philosopher, to answer in your own way the questions tackled or raised by the author. (eg "Simone de Beauvoir's analysis of women's oppression in The Second Sex suffers from serious weaknesses, as I have shown in Section 2 above. A better way to approach the issue, I shall now argue, is to . . .".)

Where you are not primarily concerned with evaluating or responding to a particular text, your critical discussion can be more focused on your own constructive response to the issue. (eg "Having used Dworkin's account to clarify the meanings of the concepts of 'the sanctity of life' and 'voluntariness', I shall now argue that voluntary euthanasia is morally permissible because its voluntariness respects what is of value in the notion of the sanctity of life" - where you now leave Dworkin behind as a source and move on to give your own account.)

* See Norman Malcolm, "Dreaming and Skepticism", in Willis Doney, ed., Descartes: A Collection of Critical Essays (London: Macmillan, 1967), p. 56.

Guide to researching and writing Philosophy essays

5th edition by Steven Tudor , for the Philosophy program, University of Melbourne, 2003.

This fifth edition of How to Write a Philosophy Essay: A Guide for Students (previous editions titled A Guide to Researching and Writing Philosophy Essays ) was prepared in consultation with members of the Philosophy program, the University of Melbourne. For advice and assistance on this and earlier editions, thanks are due to Graham Priest, Barry Taylor, Christopher Cordner, Doug Adeney, Josie Winther, Linda Burns, Marion Tapper, Kimon Lycos, Brendan Long, Jeremy Moss, Tony Coady, Will Barrett, Brian Scarlett, and Megan Laverty. Some use was also made of materials prepared by the Philosophy Departments of La Trobe University, the University of Queensland, and The Australian National University.

Disclaimer: University, Faculty and program rules

Please note: this booklet does not provide authoritative statements of the official policies or rules of the University of Melbourne, the Faculty of Arts, or the Philosophy program with regard to student essays and examinations or any other matters. Students should, therefore, not rely on this booklet for such information, for which they should consult the various appropriate notice boards, handbooks, websites, and/or members of staff.

Essay topics

What do philosophy essay topics look like? There are, very roughly, two basic kinds of philosophy essay topics: "text-focused" topics and "problem-focused" topics. Text-focused topics ask you to consider some particular philosopher's writing on some issue. (eg "Discuss critically David Hume's account of causation in Part III of Book I of his A Treatise of Human Nature " or "Was Wittgenstein right to say that 'the meaning of a word is its use in the language', in his Philosophical Investigations, Sec. 43?"). Problem-focused topics are more directly about a particular philosophical problem or issue, without reference to any particular philosopher's text. (eg "Is voluntary euthanasia morally permissible?" or "What is scientific method?")

There is another sort of topic, one which presents a statement and asks you to discuss it, where that statement is a "made up" or, at least, unattributed quote. (eg. "'Without belief in God, people cannot be moral'. Discuss.") I shall regard these as variations of the problem-focused type of topic. Where you are asked to discuss some such statement "with reference to" some specified text or philosopher, then that topic becomes more text-focused. (eg "'Without belief in God, people cannot be moral'. Discuss with reference to J.L. Mackie's Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong. ") Occasionally, a topic presents an unattributed statement, but the statement is, in fact, a quote from a particular philosopher you've been studying, or, at least, a good paraphrase of their thinking. (An example of the latter: "'All the ideas in our minds originate from either sense perception or our reflection upon sensory information.' Discuss.", in a course devoted to John Locke, whose views are summed up in the quoted statement, though those words are not actually his.) Should you take such topics as problem- or text-focused? Rather unhelpfully, I'll say only that it depends on the case. You might ask your lecturer or tutor about it. Whichever way you do take it, be clear in your essay which way you are taking it.

The difference between text-focused and problem-focused essay topics is, however, not very radical. This is because, on the one hand, any particular philosopher's text is about some philosophical problem or question, while, on the other hand, most philosophical problems (certainly virtually all those you will be given as essay topics at university) will have been written about by previous philosophers.

The basic way to approach text-focused topics, then, is to treat the nominated text as an attempt by one philosopher to deal with a particular philosophical problem or issue. The essay topic will, generally speaking, be inviting you to do philosophy with that philosopher, to engage with them in thinking about the issue, whether that engagement proves to be as an ally or an adversary. The chosen text will usually be one which has been (or deserves to be) influential or significant in the history of philosophy, but the task is not to pay homage to past masters. But, even if homage is your thing, the best way to do that here is to engage with the master philosophically.

With regard to problem-focused topics, you will often find your exploration of the problem aided by taking some text or texts which have dealt with it as reference points or prompts. This is not always strictly necessary, but many of you starting out in philosophy will find it helpful to do so - it can help you give focus to your response to the question. (Thus, you might, in an essay on the topic "Is voluntary euthanasia morally permissible?" take it upon yourself to use, for example, Ronald Dworkin's Life's Dominion and Peter Singer's Practical Ethics as reference points. Or, in an essay on the topic "What is scientific method?", you might set up your answer via a comparison of the two different accounts in Karl Popper's The Logic of Scientific Discovery and Paul Feyerabend's Against Method.*) How will you know which texts to adopt as reference points or prompts, if none is mentioned in the essay topic itself? One way is to consider what texts have already been mentioned with regard to the topic in your course reading guide and in lectures and tutorials. Another way is to do some of your own research. On this see Section 4 below.

* In this guide, in giving examples of how to go about answering an essay question, I am not necessarily giving any concrete or reliable advice for any particular topic. The examples are primarily to do with the form or style or strategy you might find helpful.

Researching your essay

To do research for your philosophy essay you need to do only two things: read and think. Actually, for problem-focused essays, thinking is the only truly necessary bit, but it's highly likely that you will find your thinking much assisted if you do some reading as well. Philosophical research at university is a little different to research in most other disciplines (especially the natural sciences), in that it is not really about "collecting data" to support or refute explanatory theories. Rather, the thinking that's involved in philosophical research (as part of one's preparation for philosophical writing) is more a matter of reflecting critically upon the problems in front of one. Researching the writings of other philosophers should, therefore, be primarily directed towards helping you with that reflection rather than aiming at gathering together and reporting on "the relevant findings" on a particular topic. In many other disciplines, a "literature review" is an important research skill, and sometimes philosophy academics do such reviews - but it is rare that philosophy students are asked to do one.

What, then, to read? It should be clear from your lectures and tutorials what some starting points for your reading might be. (All courses provide reading guides; many also have booklets of reading material.) Your tutor and lecturer are also available for consultation on what readings you might begin with for any particular topic in that subject. Independent research can also uncover useful sources, and evidence of this in your essay can be a pleasing sign of intellectual independence. Make sure, though, that what you come up with is relevant to the topic. (See Section 5.2 below on relevance.) Whichever way you proceed, your reading should be purposive and selective.

In the case of essay questions that refer to a particular text, you should familiarise yourself thoroughly with this text. Usually, such a text will be a primary text, i.e. one in which a philosopher writes directly about a philosophical issue. Texts on or about a primary text are called secondary texts. (Many philosophical works will combine these two tasks, and discuss other philosophical texts while also dealing directly with a philosophical issue.) Some secondary texts can be helpful to students. However, don't think you will only ever understand a primary text if you have a nice friendly secondary text to take you by the hand through the primary text. More often than not, you need to have a good grasp of the primary text in order to make sense of the secondary text.

How much to read? The amount of reading you do should be that which maximises the quality of your thinking - that is, you should not swamp yourself with vast slabs of text that you can't digest, but nor should you starve your mind of ideas to chew over. There is, of course, no simple rule for determining this optimal amount. Be wary, though, of falling into the vice of looking for excuses not to read some philosopher or text, as in "Oh, that's boring old religious stuff" or "She's one of those obscure literary feminist types", or "In X Department they laugh at you if you mention those authors in tutes". If someone wants a reason not to think, they'll soon come up with one.

Philosophical writings

Most philosophical writings come in either of two forms: books or articles. Articles appear either in books that are edited anthologies or in academic journals, such as Philosophical Quarterly or Australasian Journal of Philosophy. Some academic journals are also on the internet. Most articles in the journals are written by professional philosophers for professional philosophers; similarly with many books. But by no means let this put you off. Everyone begins philosophy at the deep end - it's really the only kind there is!

There are, however, many books written for student audiences. Some of these are general introductions to philosophy as a whole; others are introductions to particular areas or issues (eg biomedical ethics or philosophy of science). Among the general introductions are various philosophical dictionaries, encyclopedias and "companions". These reference works collect short articles on a wide range of topics and can be very useful starting points for newcomers to a topic. Among the most useful of the general reference works are:

Edward Craig, ed., The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (10 vols.) (London: Routledge, 1998)
Paul Edwards, ed., The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (8 vols.) (New York: Macmillan, 1967)
Robert Audi, ed., The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)
Ted Honderich, ed., The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995)
Simon Blackburn, The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996)
Thomas Mautner, ed., The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy (London: Penguin, 1998)
J.O. Urmson and Jonathan Ree, eds., The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy and Philosophers (London: Routledge, 1993)
Edward N. Zalta, ed., The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (an internet-based reference work: plato.stanford.edu/ )

Note taking

Note taking, like your reading, should not be random, but ought to be guided by the topic in question and by your particular lines of response to the issues involved. Note taking for philosophy is very much an individual art, which you develop as you progress. By and large it is not of much use to copy out reams of text as part of your researches. Nor is it generally helpful to read a great number of pages without making any note of what they contain for future reference. But between these two extremes it is up to you to find the mean that best helps you in getting your thoughts together.

Libraries and electronic resources

The University's Baillieu Library (including the Institute of Education Resource Centre), which is open to all members of the University, contains more than 2,500 years' worth of philosophical writings. The best way to become acquainted with them is by using them, including using the catalogues (including the Baillieu's on-line catalogues and subject resources web-pages), following up a work's references (and references in the references), intelligent browsing of the shelves, etc.

In the main Baillieu Library, the philosophical books are located (mostly) between 100–199 in the Dewey decimal system, and philosophical journals are located in the basement. The Reference section on the ground floor also has some relevant works. The Education Resource Centre also has a good philosophy collection.

In addition to hard-copy philosophical writings, there is also a variety of electronic resources in philosophy, mostly internet-based. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy was already mentioned above. Links to other useful internet sites (such as the Australasian Association of Philosophy website) can be found through the Baillieu Library's web-page and the Philosophy Department's web-page.

A strong word of warning, however, for the would-be philosophical web-surfer: because anyone can put material on a website, all kinds of stuff, of varying levels of quality, is out there - and new-comers to philosophy are usually not well placed to sort their way through it. Unless you have a very good understanding of what you're looking for - and what you're not looking for - most of you will be much better off simply carefully reading and thinking about a central text for your course, eg Descartes' First Meditation, rather than wandering about the internet clicking on all the hits for "Descartes". Exercise your mind, not your index finger.

Writing your essay

Planning and structuring your essay.

It is very important that you plan your essay, so that you have an idea of what you are going to write before you start to write it. Of course, you will most likely alter things in later drafts, but you should still start off by having a plan. Planning your essay includes laying out a structure. It is very important that your essay has a clearly discernible structure, ie that it is composed of parts and that these parts are logically connected. This helps both you and your reader to be clear about how your discussion develops, stage by stage, as you work through the issues at hand.

Poor essay structure is one of the most common weaknesses in student philosophy essays. Taking the time to work on the structure of your essay is time well spent, especially since skill in structuring your thoughts for presentation to others should be among the more enduring things you learn at university. A common trap that students fall into is to start their essay by writing the first sentence, then writing another one that seems to follow that one, then another one that sort of fits after that one, then another that might or might not have some connection with the previous one, and so on until the requisite 1,500 words are used up. The result is usually a weak, rambling essay.

There are, of course, no hard and fast rules about how to structure a philosophy essay. Again, it is a skill you develop through practice, and much will depend on the particular topic at hand. Nonetheless, it might be helpful to begin by developing an essay structure around the basic distinction between your exposition and your critical discussion (as discussed above). In this it will be important that you make clear who is putting forward which point, that is, make it clear whether you are presenting your own thoughts or are expounding someone else's. (Again, confusion in this regard is a common problem in student essays.) It can often help your structuring if you provide headings for different sections (possibly numbered or lettered). Again, this helps both your reader to follow your discussion and you to develop your thoughts. At each stage, show clearly the logical relations between and the reasons for your points, so that your reader can see clearly why you say what you say and can see clearly the development in your discussion.

Another key to structuring your essay can be found in the old adage "Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em. Tell 'em. Then tell 'em what you've told 'em", which provides you with a ready-made structure: Introduction, Main Body, and Conclusion.

In your Introduction, first introduce the issues the essay is concerned with. In doing so, try to state briefly just what the problem is and (if there is space) why it is a problem. This also applies, of course, to issues covered in text-focused essay topics. Next, tell the reader what it is that you are going to do about those problems in the Main Body. This is usually done by giving a brief sketch or overview of the main points you will present, a "pre-capitulation", so to speak, of your essay's structure. This is one way of showing your reader that you have a grasp (indeed, it helps you get a grasp) of your essay as a structured and integrated whole, and gives them some idea of what to expect by giving them an idea of how you have decided to answer the question. Of course, for reasons of space, your Introduction might not be very long, but something along these lines is likely to be useful.

In your Main Body, do what you've said you'll do. Here is where you should present your exposition(s) and your critical discussion(s). Thus, it is here that the main philosophical substance of your essay is to be found. Of course, what that substance is and how you will present it will depend on the particular topic before you. But, whatever the topic, make clear at each stage just what it is you are doing. You can be quite explicit about this. (eg "I shall now present Descartes' ontological argument for the existence of God, as it is presented in his Fifth Meditation. There will be three stages to this presentation.") Don't think that such explicitness must be a sign of an unsophisticated thinker.

A distinct Conclusion is perhaps not always necessary, if your Main Body has clearly "played out" your argument. So you don't always have to present a grand summation or definitive judgement at the end. Still, often for your own sake, try to state to yourself what it is your essay has achieved and see if it would be appropriate to say so explicitly. Don't feel that you must come up with earth-shattering conclusions. Of course, utter banality or triviality are not good goals, either. Also, your essay doesn't always have to conclude with a "solution" to a problem. Sometimes, simply clarifying an issue or problem is a worthy achievement and can merit first-class honours. A good conclusion to a philosophy essay, then, will usually combine a realistic assessment of the ambit and cogency of its claims with a plausible proposal that those claims have some philosophical substance.

What you write in your essay should always be relevant to the question posed. This is another common problem in student essays, so continually ask yourself "Am I addressing the question here?" First-class answers to a question can vary greatly, but you must make sure that your essay responds to the question asked, even if you go on to argue that the question as posed is itself problematic. (eg "To ask ‘What is scientific method?' presupposes that science follows one basic method. However, I shall argue that there are, in fact, several different scientific methods and that these are neither unified nor consistent.") Be wary, however, of twisting a topic too far out of shape in order to fit your favoured theme. (You would be ill-advised, for example, to proceed thus: "What is scientific method? This is a question asked by many great minds. But what is a mind? In this essay, I shall discuss the views of Thomas Aquinas on the nature of mind.")

This requirement of relevance is not intended as an authoritarian constraint on your intellectual freedom. It is part of the skill of paying sustained and focused attention to something put before you - which is one of the most important skills you can develop at university. If you do have other philosophical interests that you want to pursue (such as Aquinas on mind), then please do pursue them, in addition to writing your essay on the set topic. At no stage does the requirement of relevance prevent you from pursuing your other interests.

Citing Philosophical "Authorities"

There might be occasions when you want to quote other philosophers and writers apart from when you are quoting them because they are the subject of your essay. There are two basic reasons why you might want to do this. First, you might quote someone because their words constitute a good or exemplary expression or articulation of an idea you are dealing with, whether as its proponent, critic, or simply its chronicler. (eg "As Nietzsche succinctly put the point, 'There are no moral phenomena at all, only a moral interpretation of phenomena'.*") You may or may not want to endorse the idea whose good expression you have quoted, but simply want to use the philosopher as a spokesperson for or example of that view. But be clear about what you think the quote means and be careful about what you are doing with the quote. It won't do all the work for you.

The second reason you might want to quote a philosopher is because you think their words constitute an "authoritative statement" of a view. Here you want to use the fact that, eg Bertrand Russell maintained that there are two kinds of knowledge of things (namely, knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description) in support of your claim that there are two such kinds of knowledge of things. However, be very careful in doing this, for the nature of philosophical authority is not so simple here. That is to say, what really matters is not that Bertrand Russell the man held that view; what matters are his reasons for holding that view. So, when quoting philosophers for this second reason, be careful that you appreciate in what exactly the authority lies - which means that you should show that you appreciate why Russell maintained that thesis. Of course, you can't provide long arguments for every claim you make or want to make use of; every essay will have its enabling but unargued assumptions. But at least be clear about these. (eg "For the purposes of this essay, I shall adopt Russell's thesis* that ...").

* Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, trans. R.J. Hollingdale (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973 [first German ed.1886]), Sec. 108.

* See Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967 [first pub. 1912]), Ch. 5.

Philosophy is by its nature a relatively abstract and generalising business. (Note that abstractness and generality are not the same thing. Nor do vagueness and obscurity automatically attend them.) Sometimes a longish series of general ideas and abstract reasonings can become difficult for the reader (and often the writer) to follow. It can often help, therefore, to use some concrete or specific examples in your discussion. (Note that there can be different levels of concreteness and specificity in examples.)

Examples can be taken from history, current events, literature, and so on, or can be entirely your own invention. Exactly what examples you employ and just how and why you use them will, of course, depend on the case. Some uses might be: illustration of a position, problem or idea to help make it clearer; evidence for, perhaps even proof of, a proposition; a counter-example; a case-study to be returned to at various points during the essay; or a problem for a theory or viewpoint to be applied to. Again, be clear about what the example is and how and why you use it. Be careful not to get distracted by, or bogged down in, your examples. Brevity is usually best.

English expression

There's another old saying: "If you can't say what you mean, then you can't mean what you say" - and this very much applies to philosophical writing. Thus, in writing philosophically, you must write clearly and precisely. This means that good philosophical writing requires a good grasp of the language in which it is written, including its grammar and vocabulary. (See Section 9.3 for advice for people from non-English speaking backgrounds.) A high standard of writing skills is to be expected of Arts graduates. Indeed, this sort of skill will last longer than your memory of, for example, the three parts of the Platonic soul (though it is also hoped that some of the content of what you study will also stick). So use your time at university (in all your subjects) to develop these skills further.

Having a mastery of a good range of terms, being sensitive to the subtleties of their meaning, and being able to construct grammatically correct and properly punctuated sentences are essential to the clear articulation and development of your thoughts. Think of grammar, not as some old-fashioned set of rules of linguistic etiquette, but rather as the "internal logic" of a sentence, that is, as the relationships between the words within a sentence which enable them to combine to make sense.

Virtually all sentences in philosophical writing are declarative (ie. make statements), as opposed to interrogative, imperative or exclamatory types of sentences. There is some place, though, for interrogative sentences, ie. questions. (Note that, in contrast, this guide, which is not in the essay genre, contains many imperative sentences, ie. commands.) As you craft each (declarative) sentence in your essay, remember the basics of sentence construction. Make clear what the sentence is about (its subject) and what you are saying about it (the predicate). Make clear what the principal verb is in the predicate, since it is what usually does the main work in saying something about the subject. Where a sentence consists of more than one clause (as many do in philosophical writing), make clear what work each clause is doing. Attend closely, then, to each and every sentence you write so that its sense is clear and is the sense you intend it to have. Think carefully about what it is you want each particular sentence to do (in relation to both those sentences immediately surrounding it and the essay as a whole) and structure your sentence so that it does what you want it to do. To help you with your own sentence construction skills, when reading others' philosophical works (or indeed any writing) attend closely to the construction of each sentence so as to be alive to all the subtleties of the text.

Good punctuation is an essential part of sentence construction. Its role is to help to display the grammar of a sentence so that its meaning is clear. As an example of how punctuation can fundamentally change the grammar and, hence, meaning of a sentence, compare (i) "Philosophers, who argue for the identity of mind and brain, often fail to appreciate the radical consequences of that thesis." and (ii) "Philosophers who argue for the identity of mind and brain often fail to appreciate the radical consequences of that thesis." In the first sentence it is asserted (falsely, as it happens) that all philosophers argue for the identity of mind and brain; in the second, only some philosophers are said to argue for the identity of mind and brain. Only the punctuation differs in the two strings of identical words, and yet the meanings of the sentences are very different. Confusions over this sort of thing are common weaknesses in student essays, and leave readers asking themselves "What exactly is this student trying to say?"

It will be assumed that you can spell - which is not a matter of pressing the "spell-check" key on a word-processor. A good dictionary and a good thesaurus should always be within reach as you write your essay.

Also, try to shorten and simplify sentences where you can do so without sacrificing the subtlety and inherent complexity of the discussion. Where a sentence is becoming too long or complex, it is likely that too many ideas are being bundled up together too closely. Stop and separate your ideas out. If an idea is a good or important one, it will usually deserve its own sentence.

Your "intra-sentential logic" should work very closely with the "inter-sentential logic" of your essay, ie. with the logical relations between your sentences. (This "inter-sentential logic" is what "logic" is usually taken to refer to.) For example, to enable sentences P and Q to work together to yield sentence R as a conclusion, you need to make clear that there are elements within P and Q which connect up to yield R. Consider the following example: "Infanticide is the intentional killing of a human being. However, murder is regarded by all cultures as morally abhorrent. Therefore, people who commit infanticide should be punished." This doesn't work as an argument, because the writer has not constructed sentences which provide the connecting concepts in the various subjects and predicates, even though each sentence is grammatically correct (and possibly even true).

If you are concerned to write not only clearly and precisely, but also with some degree of grace and style (and I hope you are), it's still best to get the clarity and precision right first, in a plain, straightforward way, and then to polish things up afterwards to get the style and grace you want. But don't sacrifice clarity and precision for the sake of style and grace - be prepared to sacrifice that beautiful turn of phrase if its presence is going to send your discussion down an awkward path of reasoning. Aim to hit the nail on the head rather than make a loud bang. What you are likely to find, however, is that a philosophy essay which really is clear and precise will have a large measure of grace and style in its very clarity and precision.

Remember that obscurity is not a sign of profundity. (Some profound thought may well be difficult to follow, but that doesn't mean that one can achieve profundity merely through producing obscure, difficult-to-read writing.) Your marker is interested in what's actually in your essay, not what's possibly inside your head (or indeed what's possibly in some book you happen to have referred to in your essay). So avoid hinting at or alluding suggestively to ideas, especially where they are meant to do some important work in your essay. Instead, lay them out explicitly and directly. Of course, you won't have space to spell out every single idea, so work out which ideas do the most important work and make sure that you at least get those ideas clearly articulated. In expounding a text or problem that ultimately just is vague, muddled, or obscure, try to convey such vagueness, muddle or obscurity clearly, rather than simply reproducing it in your own writing. That is, be clear that and how a text or problem has such features, and then perhaps do your best to make matters clearer.

Despite these stern pronouncements, don't be afraid of sometimes saying things which happen to sound a little odd, if you have tried various formulations and think you have now expressed your ideas just as they should be expressed. Philosophy is often an exploratory business, and new ways of seeing and saying things can sometimes be a part of that exploration.

The need for clarity and precision in philosophical writing sometimes means that you need to stipulate your own meaning for a term. When you want to use a particular word in a particular way for the purposes of your essay - as a "technical term" - be clear about it. (eg "In this essay, I shall intend ‘egoism' to mean ...") Also, be consistent in your technical meanings, or else note when you are not. Be wary, though, of inventing too many neologisms or being too idiosyncratic in your stipulations.

With regard to what "authorial pronoun" to adopt in a philosophy essay, it's standard to write plainly in the first person singular ("I", "me", "my", etc.) rather than use the royal "we" (as in "we shall argue that ..."), or the convoluted quasi-legal indirect form ("It is submitted that ..."), or the scientific objectivity of a physics experimental report. Nonetheless, stick closer to "I argue", "I suggest", "my definition", etc., than to "I wish", "I hate", "my feeling", etc. A philosophy essay is still something more intellectual and formal than a personal reminiscence, polemic, or proclamation. In terms of audience, it's probably best to think of your reader as someone who is intelligent, open to discussion and knows a little about the topic you're writing on, but perhaps is not quite clear or decided about the issues, or needs convincing of the view you want to put forward, or is curious about what you think about the issues.

Try also to use non-discriminatory language, ie. language which does not express or imply inequality of worth between people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and so on. As you write, you will be considering carefully your choice of words to express your thoughts. You will almost always find that it is possible to avoid discriminatory language by rephrasing your sentences.

Other things to avoid:

waffle and padding
vagueness and ambiguity
abbreviations (this guide I'm writing isn't an eg. of what's req'd. in a phil. essay)
colloquialisms (which can really get up your reader's nose)
writing whose syntax merely reflects the patterns of informal speech
unnecessary abstractness or indirectness
unexplained jargon
flattery and invective
overly-rhetorical questions (do you really need me to tell you what they are?) and other flourishes

There are many guides to good writing available. Anyone who writes (whether in the humanities or the sciences, whether beginners or experienced professionals) will do well to have some on hand. Most good bookshops and libraries will have some. Among the most consulted works are (check for the latest editions):

J. M. Williams and G. C. Colomb, Style: Toward Clarity and Grace (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995)
W. Strunk and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th ed. (New York: Longman, 2000)
E. Gowers, The Complete Plain Words, 3rd ed. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987)
R. W. Burchfield, ed., The New Fowler's Modern English Usage (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996)
Pam Peters, The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1995)
Australian Government Publishing Service, Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers, 5th ed. (Canberra: AGPS, 1995)

Vocabulary of logical argument

Closely related to the above points about English expression is the importance of having a good grasp of what can rather generally be called "the vocabulary of logical argument". These sorts of terms are crucial in articulating clearly and cogently a logical line of argument. Such argumentation will, of course, be of central importance in whatever discipline you are studying, indeed in any sphere of life that requires effective thinking and communication. I have in mind terms such as these (grouped a little loosely):

all, any, every, most, some, none, a, an, the that, this, it, he, she, they if . . . , then. . . ; if and only if . . . , then . . . ; unless either . . . or . . .; neither . . . nor . . . not, is, are therefore, thus, hence, so, because, since, follows, entails, implies, infer, consequence, conditional upon moreover, furthermore which, that, whose and, but, however, despite, notwithstanding, nevertheless, even, though, still possibly, necessarily, can, must, may, might, ought, should true, false, probable, certain sound, unsound, valid, invalid, fallacious, supported, proved, contradicted, rebutted, refuted, negated logical, illogical, reasonable, unreasonable, rational, irrational assumption, premise, belief, claim, proposition argument, reason, reasoning, evidence, proof

Most of these are quite simple terms, but they are crucial in argumentative or discursive writing of all kinds. (Many are themselves the subject of study in logic, a branch of philosophy). The sloppy use of these sorts of terms is another common weakness in students' philosophy essays. Pay close and careful attention to how you employ them. Moreover, pay close and careful attention to how the authors you read use them. For further discussion of some of these terms and others, see:

Basic Philosophical Vocabulary, prepared by the staff of the Philosophy Department and available from the programs Office
Wesley C. Salmon, Logic, 2nd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1973)
Antony Flew, Thinking About Thinking (London: Fontana, 1985)
Graham Priest, Logic: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)
Joel Rudinow and Vincent E. Barry, Invitation to Critical Thinking, 4th ed. (Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace, 1999)

Revising your essay

It is virtually essential that you write a first draft of your essay and then work on that draft to work towards your finished essay. Indeed, several drafts may well be necessary in order to produce your best possible work. It is a rare philosopher indeed who can get things perfectly right on the first attempt, so be prepared to revise and re-develop what you write. Don't be too precious about what you have written, if it appears that it should be sacrificed in the revision process. There is usually a very marked difference between essays which are basically first draft rush-jobs done the night before they are due and those which have been revised and polished. Give yourself time to revise by starting writing early on. For most philosophy students, the greater part of the work in essay writing is in the writing, not in the preliminary researches and planning stages. So be wary of thinking "I've done all the research. I only need to write up my notes, which I can do the night before the essay's due". This is likely to lead to a weak, perhaps non-existent, essay (and very likely a sleepless night).

Stick to the word limit given for your essay. Why are word limits imposed? First, to give the markers a fair basis for comparing student essays. Second, to give you the opportunity to practise the discipline of working creatively under constraints. Skill in this discipline will stand you in very good stead in any sphere where circumstances impose limitations. Again, word limits are not constraints on your intellectual freedom. Outside your essay you are free to write without limit. But even there you'll probably find that your creativity is improved by working under a self-imposed discipline.

As a general rule, most student essays that fall well short of the word limit are weak or lazy attempts at the task, and most essays that go well over the limit are not much stronger or the result of much harder work - the extra length is often due to unstructured waffle or padding which the writer hasn't thought enough about so as to edit judiciously. If you structure your essay clearly, you'll find it easier to revise and edit, whether in order to contract or expand it. ("Hmm, let's see: section 2 is much longer than section 4, but is not as important, so I'll cut it down. And I should expand section 3, because that's a crucial step. And I can shift that third paragraph in the Introduction to the Conclusion.")

Plagiarism and originality

Plagiarism is essentially a form of academic dishonesty or cheating. At university level, such dishonesty is not tolerated and is dealt with severely, usually by awarding zero marks for a plagiarised essay or, in some cases, dismissing a student from the university.

When you submit your essay, you are implicitly stating that the essay is your own original and independent work, that you have not submitted the same work for assessment in another subject, and that where you have made use of other people's work, this is properly acknowledged. If you know that this is not in fact the case, you are being dishonest. (In a number of university departments, students are in fact required to sign declarations of academic honesty.)

Plagiarism is the knowing but unacknowledged use of work by someone else (including work by another student, and indeed oneself - see below) and which is being presented as one's own work. It can take a number of forms, including:

copying : exactly reproducing another's words
paraphrasing : expressing the meaning of another's words in different words
summarising : reproducing the main points of another's argument
cobbling : copying, paraphrasing or summarising the work of a number of different people and piecing them together to produce one body of text
submitting one's own work when it has already been submitted for assessment in another subject
collusion : presenting an essay as your own independent work when in fact it has been produced, in whole or part, in collusion with one or more other people

None of the practices of copying, paraphrasing, summarizing or cobbling is wrong in itself, but when one or more is done without proper acknowledgment it constitutes plagiarism. Therefore, all sources must be adequately and accurately acknowledged in footnotes or endnotes. (See Section 7.) Plagiarism from the internet in particular can be a temptation for a certain kind of student. However, be warned: there is a number of very good internet and software tools for identifying plagiarism.

With regard to collusion, it's undoubtedly often very helpful to discuss one's work with others, be it other students, family members, friends or teachers. Indeed, philosophy thrives on dialogue. However, don't kid yourself that you would simply be extending that process if you were to ask your interlocutor to join with you in the writing of your essay, whether by asking them to tell you what you should write or to write down some of their thoughts for you to reproduce in your essay. At the end of the day, you must be the one to decide what goes into your essay.

Originality

Students sometimes worry about whether they will be able to develop "original ideas", especially in light of the fact that nearly every philosophical idea one comes up with seems to have been thought of before by someone else. There is no denying that truly original work in philosophy is well rewarded, but your first aim should be to develop ideas that you think are good and not merely different. If, after arguing for what you believe is right, and arguing in way that you think is good, you then discover that someone else has had the same idea, don't throw your work away - you should feel vindicated to some extent that your thinking has been congruent with that of another (possibly great) philosopher. (If you have not yet handed your essay in when you make this discovery, make an appropriately placed note to that effect.) Don't be fooled, however, into thinking that plagiarism can be easily passed off as congruent thinking. Of course, if that other philosopher's ideas have helped you to develop your ideas, then this is not a matter of congruent ideas but rather of derivative ideas, and this must be adequately acknowledged. If, after developing your ideas, you discover that they are original, then that is an added bonus. But remember that it is more important to be a good philosopher than an original one.

Quotations, footnotes, endnotes and bibliography

Quotations in your essay should be kept to a minimum. The markers know the central texts pretty well already and so don't need to have pages thereof repeated in front of them. Of course, some quotation will usually be important and useful - sometimes essential - in both exposition and critical discussion.

When you quote the words of someone else directly, you must make the quotation clearly distinct from your own text, using quotation marks . (eg "Descartes said that 'it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once.'* He makes this claim …" - where the words quoted from Descartes are in 'single quotation marks'. Note that it is relatively arbitrary whether one uses 'single' or "double" quotation marks for "first order" quotations, but whichever style you adopt, use it consistently in the one essay.) Alternatively, where the quoted passage is greater than three lines, put the quoted words in a separate indented paragraph , so that your essay would look like this:

In his First Meditation , Descartes argues as follows:

Whatever I have up till now accepted as most true I have acquired either from the senses or through the senses. But from time to time I have found that the senses deceive, and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once.* In this essay I shall argue that prudence does not in fact require us to distrust our senses and that Descartes's sceptical method is therefore seriously flawed.

In both cases, the quotations must be given proper referencingin a footnote or endnote.

When you are not quoting another person directly, but are still making use of their work - as in indirect quotations (eg "Descartes says that it is wise not to trust something that has deceived us before"*), paraphrases, summaries, and cobblings - you must still acknowledge your debts, using footnotes or endnotes.

* Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy , trans. John Cottingham (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986 [first French ed., 1641]), p. 12.

Footnotes and endnotes

Footnotes appear at the foot of the same page on which the cited material appears, clearly separated from the main body of the text, each one clearly numbered. Endnotes appear at the end of the essay, again clearly separated from the main body of text, numbered and headed "Endnotes" or "Notes". Either method is acceptable, but you should choose one and stick with it throughout the one essay.

Below are some examples of how to put the relevant referencing information in footnotes and endnotes. This is not intended as an exercise in pedantry, but as a guide to how to provide the information needed for adequate referencing. The reason we provide this information is to enable our readers to find the sources we use in order to verify them and to allow them to pursue the material further if it interests them. In your own researches you will come to value good referencing in the texts you read as a helpful source of further references on a topic. Again, it is this sort of research skill that an Arts graduate will be expected to have mastered.

There are various conventions for writing up footnotes and endnotes. The Philosophy Department does not require that any particular convention be followed, only that you be consistent in your use of the convention that you do choose. For other conventions see the style guides mentioned above, or simply go to some texts published by reputable publishers and see what formats they employ.

Imagine, then, that the following are endnotes at the end of your essay. I will explain them below.

James Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy , 2nd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993), p. 25.
Philippa Foot, "Moral Relativism", in Michael Krausz and Jack W. Meiland, eds., Relativism: Cognitive and Moral (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), p. 155.
Ibid., p. 160.
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, trans. H. J. Paton (New York: Harper and Row, 1964 [first German ed., 1785]), p. 63.
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, (London: Dent, 1973 [first pub. 1651]),p. 65.
Rachels, The Elements, p. 51.
Peter Winch, "The Universalizability of Moral Judgements", The Monist 49 (1965), p. 212.
Antony Duff, "Legal Punishment", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2001 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2001/entries/legal-punishment/ at 15 June 2003, sec. 6.

Notes explained

This is your first reference to a book called The Elements of Moral Philosophy. The title is given in full and in italics. If you are unable to use italics, then you should underline the title. The book's author is James Rachels. It's the 2nd edition of that book, which was published in New York, by the publishers McGraw-Hill, in 1993. The page you have referred to in your main text is page 25
This is your first reference to Philippa Foot's article, "Moral Relativism", the title of which is put in "quotation marks". This article appeared in a book (title in italics) which is an anthology of different articles, and which was edited by Krausz and Meiland (names in full). The rest is in the same style as note (1)
"Ibid." is short for "ibidem", which means "in the same place" in Latin. Use it on its own when you want to refer to exactly the same work and page number as in the immediately preceding note. So here the reference is again to Foot's article at page 155
Ditto, except this time you refer to a different page in Foot's article, namely page 160
This is reference to a book by Kant. Same book details as per note (1), except that, because this is a translation, you include the translator's name, and the date of the first edition in the original language
This is a book reference again, so it's the same as note (1), except that, because it's an old book, you include the date of the original edition. (How old does a book have to be before it merits this treatment? There is no settled view. Note, though, that this convention is not usually followed for ancient authors)
Here you are referring to Rachels' book again, but, because you are not in the very next note after a reference to it, you can't use "ibid.". Simply give the author's surname and a short title of the book, plus page reference. There is also a common alternative to this, whereby you give the surname, and write "op. cit." (which is short for "opere citato", which is Latin for "in the work already cited") and page reference (eg "Rachels, op. cit., p. 51.") Your reader then has to scan back over the notes to see what that "op." was exactly. The first option (author plus short title) is usually easier on the reader
This is a reference to an article by Peter Winch in a journal called The Monist. The article's title is in "quotes", the journal title is in italics. The volume of the journal is 49, the year of publication is 1965, the page referred to is p. 212
This is a reference to an article in the internet-based Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The article is titled "Legal Punishment" and was written by Antony Duff. The Encyclopedia was edited by Edward N. Zalta. Note that I have basically followed the mode of citation that the Encyclopedia itself recommends. (This is one sign of the site being a reputable one. Where a site makes such a recommendation, it's best to follow it.) I have, however, also added the date on which the article was retrieved from the site, and put the author's given name first, to be consistent with the other footnotes. I have also added the reference to section 6, in an effort to be more precise as to where in the article the material I used came from. Since web pages aren't numbered in the manner of hard copy works, it will help if you are able to refer to some other feature, such as paragraphs or sections, so as to pin-point your reference. In the absence of a site recommending a mode of citation to its own material, the basic information needed for adequate citation of internet-based material is (where identifiable) the author, the document title, the year the document was created, the website name, the uniform resource locator (URL) in <arrow-brackets>, date of retrieval, and a pin-point reference*

* I am here following the mode of citation of internet materials recommended in Melbourne University Law Review Association Inc, Australian Guide to Legal Citation , 2nd ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Law Review Association Inc, 2002), pp. 70-73. I have, though, added the desirability of a pin-point reference.

Bibliography

At the end of your essay (after your endnotes, if used) you should list in a bibliography all of the works referred to in your notes, as well as any other works you consulted in researching and writing your essay. The list should be in alphabetical order, going by authors' surnames. The format should be the same as for your notes, except that you drop the page references and should put surnames first. So the bibliography of our mock-essay above would look like this:

Duff, Antony, "Legal Punishment", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2001 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2001/entries/legal-punishment/ at 15 June 2003
Foot, Philippa, "Moral Relativism", in Michael Krausz and Jack Meiland, eds., Relativism: Cognitive and Moral (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982)
Hobbes, Thomas, Leviathan (London: Dent, 1973 [first pub.1651])
Kant, Immanuel, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals , trans. H.J. Paton (New York: Harper and Row, 1964 [first German ed. 1785])
Rachels, James, The Elements of Moral Philosophy , 2nd ed., (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993)
Winch, Peter, "The Universalizability of Moral Judgements", The Monist 49 (1965)

Presentation of essays and seeking advice

Generally, you should present an essay that is legible (hand-writing is OK, but typed or word-processed essays are preferable), in English, on one side of pieces of paper that are somewhere in the vicinity of A4 size and are fixed together . You should attach a completed Cover Sheet provided by the Philosophy program. Plastic document covers, spiral binding and other forms of presentational paraphernalia are not necessary (nor are they usually even desirable, as they mostly just get in the marker's way).

Late essays

Late essays are penalised . (For details of penalties consult the Philosophy program's notice board.)

Essays not handed in

Essays not handed in at all get zero marks. An essay that is handed in but gets a mark below 50 (and so is technically a "failed" essay) still gets some marks. (At least, it will so long as it's not so extremely late that the deducted marks wipe out all the marks it would have received if handed in on time.) All marks received for your essay (whether pass or fail) go toward your final score in the subject. Therefore, even if you think your essay is bound to fail (but please let your marker be the judge of that), or the due date has already passed, or both, it is still in your interests to hand your essay in .

Tutors and lecturers

Philosophy staff are not there just to be listened to by you; they are also there to listen to you. So don't hesitate to contact your tutor or lecturer to discuss questions or problems you have concerning your work.

If you have a legitimate excuse, you may be granted an extension on the due date for your essay by the lecturer in charge. Similarly, special consideration may also be granted when illness or other circumstances adversely affect your work. Applications for special consideration are made online via the Special Consideration web page.

Student counselling

Some personal or non-philosophical academic difficulties you might have you might want to discuss with someone other than your tutor or lecturer. Student Counselling and Psychological Services are there for you to discuss all sorts of problems you might encounter. Please consult your student diary for details on the counselling service.

English language assistance

As noted above, good philosophical writing requires a good grasp of the language in which it is written. If you are from a non-English speaking background and are having difficulties with your English expression in an academic context, you might like to make use of the services provided by Student Services Academic Skills . Many native English speakers, too, can benefit from short "refresher" courses and workshops run by the Centre. Please consult your student diary for details about this service.

A bit on Philosophy exams

Essays of the sort discussed so far in this guide are not the only form of assessment in the Philosophy program - examinations are also set. What is to be said about them?

First, not much that is different from what's been said above about philosophy essays. This is because what you write in a philosophy exam is none other than a philosophy essay . Have a look at past philosophy exam papers, in the Gibson and Baillieu libraries, to get a feel for them. The only basic difference between essays and exams is the matter of what constraints you're working under. Essays have word limits; exams have time limits . Again, stick to them. (Actually, you'll be made to stick to them by the exam invigilators.)

It's best, then, to think about how long to spend writing on an exam essay topic, rather than about how many words to write on it. Simple arithmetic will tell you how much time to spend on each exam question. (eg if you have a 2-hour exam and have to answer 3 questions, each worth one-third of the exam mark, then spend 40 minutes on each question.) Avoid the trap of "borrowing time" from a later question in order to perfect your answer to an earlier question, and then working faster on the later questions to catch up on lost time - this is likely to get you in a tangle. There are no word limits in philosophy exam essays, but don't think that the more you scrawl across the page, the more marks you'll get. Nonetheless, use the time you've got so as to maximise your display of your philosophical understanding and skills in answering the question.

Planning and structuring remain very important in exam essays. With regard to the niceties of footnotes, endnotes and bibliographies, etc., these are not necessary, so don't waste time on these. However, if you quote or refer to a specific passage from a text, do indicate clearly that it is a quotation or reference. (The principle of being clear as to who is saying what remains central.) If you have the reference handy, just put it briefly in the text of your exam essay. (eg "As Descartes says in Meditation I (p. 12), . . ." or "'[I]t is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once' (Descartes, Meditation I, p. 12)".) Generally speaking, you will show your familiarity with any relevant texts by how you handle them in your discussion. This is also true for your non-exam essays.

Your preparation for the exam should have been done well before entering the exam hall. Note that various subjects have restrictions on what texts and other items can be brought into the exam hall. (Consult the Philosophy program's notice board for details.) Many subjects will have "closed book" exams. Even if an exam is "open book", if you are properly prepared, you should not need to spend much time at all consulting texts or notes during the exam itself.

You won't have time for redrafting and revising your exam essay (which makes planning and structuring your answers before you start writing all the more important). If you do want to delete something, just cross it out clearly. Don't waste time with liquid paper or erasers. Write legibly . Don't wr. "point form" sav. time. Diff. kn. mean. use incomp. sent.

Finally, read the instructions at the beginning of the exam paper. They are important. (eg it's not a good strategy to answer two questions from Part A, when the Instructions tell you to answer two questions, one from Part A and one from Part B.) Note the (somewhat quaint) University practice of starting Reading Time some time before the stated time for the exam. Philosophy exams usually have 15 minutes of reading time. (Check for each of your exams.) So, if your exam timetable says the exam is at 2.15 pm, with reading time of 15 minutes, then the reading time starts at 2.00 pm and the writing time starts at 2.15pm - so get to the exam hall well before 2.00 pm. Reading time is very important. Use it to decide which questions you'll answer and to start planning your answers.

Checklist of questions

Do I understand the essay question ? Do I know when the essay is due ?
Do I know which texts to consult? Do I know where to find them?
Have I made useful notes from my reading of the relevant texts?
Have I made a plan of how I'll approach the question in my essay?
Have I given myself enough time to draft and redraft my essay?
Have I written a clearly structured essay? Is it clear what each stageis doing? Do I do what I say I'll do in my Introduction?
Have I clearly distinguished exposition and critical discussion ? Have I given a fair and accurate account of the author(s) in question?
Is my response to the topic relevant ? Do I answer the question? Have I kept my essay within the general bounds of the topic?
Have I displayed a good grasp of the vocabulary of logical argument ? Are my arguments logically valid and sound? Are my claims supported by reasons ? Am I consistent within my essay?
Is my English expression clear and precise ? Are my grammar, punctuation and spelling correct? Have I said what I meant to say? Is my writing legible?
Have I fully acknowledged all my sources in footnotes or endnotes? Are my quotations accurate? Have I included a bibliography ?
Do I need to revise any part of my essay again?
Have I made a copy or photocopy of my essay for myself?
Have I kept the receipt for my handed-in essay?

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Be True. Be Strong. Be Focused.

How to Form a Personal Philosophy: 7 Questions to Ask Yourself

May 31, 2022

how to form a personal philosophy graphic

Forming a personal philosophy isn’t easy – but it’s worth it. A personal philosophy provides you with a fundamental framework for creating a meaningful life. You can use it to align all facets of your higher self and find a purpose in everything you do .

Many people flow through life with no personal guidance system in place. From this position of uncertainty, we end up breezing through life with little direction and struggle to meet our long-term goals .

By forming a personal philosophy, you create an invitation to exist intentionally and catapult yourself towards your vision of a fulfilled life.

Whether you’re reinventing yourself or about to shift careers , a personal philosophy gives you the blueprint to ensure that you approach everything in life with intention, regardless of your current circumstances.

Does the idea of a personal philosophy resonate with you? Then keep reading to discover how to form a personal philosophy and create a life worth living.

What Is a Personal Philosophy?

Creating a personal philosophy is the secret ingredient to living a deep and meaningful life of purpose.

It’s a set of principles, unique to you, that guide you towards achieving your greatest dreams and aspirations.

A personal philosophy is a means of matching your thought patterns with your values, goals, and overall life vision. It’s the stepping stone towards living in alignment with your truth and reaching your highest self.

An article from the Journal of Space Philosophy explains that every human being has a personal philosophy that’s influenced by genetics, environment, and a lifetime of learning.

In this philosophical piece, Robert Krone suggests that:

“A small percentage of humans have explicitly documented their own philosophy as an analysis of their own value systems, or to understand the values, sources, and influences on their beliefs over time.” Robert Krone

Philosophy, in general, provides you with the means to deepen your understanding and improve your intelligence. Personal philosophies provide motivational guidelines that nurture expansive thinking and soul searching, ultimately enhancing your quality of life.

7 Questions to Guide You When Forming Your Personal Philosophy

Personal philosophies can be a wonderful ignition for your self-discovery journey. Devote this time to you, and let yourself be vulnerable in this period of discovery.

Below you will find an outline of 7 questions that will ignite inspiration and guide your mind towards new paradigms of thought.

Take some time on each to really dig deep and do the work.

1. What Are Your Core Values?

Begin by asking yourself, “What are my core values?”

Understanding your core values offers you an insight into your true identity and sets the bar for establishing core moral principles.

What values drive your actions?

As you write out each value, attach a definition to each and add a line or two about how you envision aligning your actions with your values.

For example:

“I live and work with honor. I believe that everything I do must come from a place where honesty springs up like the headwaters of the river. In decisions and actions, I allow integrity to be my first and foremost directive. I do not expect to be perfect at this. I do expect integrity to be a constant ideal.”

By outlining your core values, you are building the foundations of your truth. Once you understand what you hold close to your heart, you can then discover ways to align your actions and values to reach your goals.

If you need some guidance, check out my course, Be True: Discover Your Core Value System . In it, I personally walk you through proven exercises to discover your true self, find your truth and begin living it.

2. What Are Your Most Deeply Rooted Beliefs?

Take a moment to venture inwards.

Dive deep into the core of your being and unearth the beliefs rooted in your soul. These can be associated with your worldviews or that in which you have great faith.

Share or write down two or three of your most potent, deeply-rooted beliefs that are ingrained into your soul. These deeply-rooted beliefs are the ones that influence your perception and how you view the world.

A podcast episode by Boss Project on the subject demonstrates how our deeply-rooted beliefs are influenced by our environment and social norms.

When you react to a situation, rather than consciously responding, it’s your deeply-rooted belief system, crafted from your upbringing and life experiences, that triggers you to act, often without thinking.

Outlining these beliefs for your personal philosophy allows you to truly understand what you stand for and, in turn, allows you to create life guidelines that are rooted in your truth. It’s like planting a seed of sincerity and watching it grow as you evolve.

3. What is Your Life’s General Philosophy?

Now that you’ve taken some time to explore your core values and fundamental beliefs, it’s time to outline your general philosophy for life.

For this step, take a look at the principal thoughts which have blossomed from the experience, knowledge, and wisdom you have gained so far.

The basis of identifying a general philosophy starts with one question:

What is the meaning of life?

According to Joseph Campbell, “The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.”

This means that the answer to this question is different for every single person.

From the second we are born into this earth, we each have a unique experience influenced by many internal and external elements.

The meaning of life varies according to different philosophies , but this question is for you and you alone.

Write down what you believe your life’s general philosophy is – what you believe your life’s meaning is – and allow this to guide you down the path towards success, satisfaction, and fulfillment.

4. What Are the Metrics by Which You Measure Success?

We all want to succeed in life, but understand that success looks different to everyone.

You may believe that you have ‘made it’ if you are excelling in your career. If you’re more family-orientated, you may feel that you’ve made it when you have created a beautiful family surrounded by love.

Regardless, by understanding success as it relates to you, you can inspire to integrate this definition into your personal philosophy and set out the actions you need to align with in order to achieve it.

Ask yourself – what does success mean to you ?

The answer to this intuitive question empowers you to define success broadly, in the context of your life and in relation to the unique challenges you face.

You can dissect this into different timeframes and metrics such as daily, annually, or even a lifetime measure of success.

Outline how you hope to achieve success using the most meaningful metric for you.

What does success mean to you?

“When this life comes to an end I will measure success by how open my mind has remained and how soft my heart still is.”

5. What Do You Feel Is Your Life’s Purpose?

It’s not uncommon for people to not yet know their life’s purpose.

Whether it relates to your career, passions, or relationship with others, each of us has a reason as to why we are here, on earth – but we might not yet know it.

Finding purpose in life can be difficult for some yet easy for others. It may take weeks, years, or even a lifetime. But once you have an understanding of what this purpose is you can live each day intentionally, consistently doing the things that are in alignment with your truth.

You can choose to add this step in or leave it out; it’s totally up to you. If you are exploring this step, see if you can write up no more than three sentences about what you sense your life’s purpose to be.

To make things even more simple, make the statement high-level, and less specific.

What do you feel is your life’s purpose?

“My purpose in life is to provide as much love as I can to those around me. I want to enrich my immediate environment and community. I want to leave the world a better place than when I arrived in it.”

You can take this exercise further by developing a full personal purpose statement .

A study on purpose, hope, and life satisfaction by the Journal of Positive Psychology states that when individuals, no matter what age they are, identify with a purpose in life, they experience greater life satisfaction.

Once you feel that you know your purpose, you can translate these inspiring and actionable guidelines into your personal philosophy. This in turn allows you to lead your life, nurture your relationships and achieve your goals with a sense of gratification.

6. What Are Your Greatest Strengths?

As with everything in life, we embody both strengths and weaknesses and translate these into everything we do.

Identifying each of these can attribute great value to your life, and help you understand where you already excel and where you can improve.

So ask yourself, “ What am I good at? ”

What are my greatest strengths in life?

Take some time to learn how to identify your strengths . While your strengths may change as your work life and circumstances shift, start with today.

Create a list and layout the great traits that allow you to elevate your everyday life and allow you to thrive.

For example, you may excel at what you do for a living, you may have a heart of gold that supports others, you may be the first person people call if they need help creating a PowerPoint presentation, and so on.

By adding your greatest strengths into your personal philosophy, you can identify how to take advantage of the skills that enhance your life and do more of what you are good at.

In fact, Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains that doing something that you love, whether that’s work or play, invites you into a flow state.

It’s from this state of flow that you tap into your creativity, encourage free-thinking, and in turn increase your chances of success.

7. What Do You Need in Life?

As the final question for guiding your personal philosophy, ask yourself, “What is essential in my everyday life?”

Each of us has our own unique needs and when these are met, we are the best version of ourselves.

List the needs that you require at this moment in time. Next to each need, attach an intention for how you intend to meet these.

For example:

What do you need in life?

“In my day-to-day life, I search for peace amidst the chaos. In every moment, I sprinkle a sense of calmness onto all situations as it’s from this place of serenity that I can make conscious choices that are beneficial for me, others around me, and the environment. Even when I have no control over outside circumstances, I always have a choice to venture inwards where true peace resides.”

Maybe you are unsure as to what you truly need from this lifetime. That’s okay. Why not first figure out how to discover your passion and take it from there?

When we lead from the heart, we can never go wrong.

Philosophy in Practice: Examples of Personal Philosophy

We’ve shared the questions to ask yourself when forming your own personal philosophy, now let’s take a look at some examples of how they might look:

1. Failure Inspires Positive Change

This example is a life philosophy someone might create to remind themselves to embrace challenges and the unavoidable setbacks they will face on their path to success. It will guide and inspire them to keep going, especially when things get tough.

Nothing worth having in life ever comes easy. It’s only natural to experience failure along the way when pursuing your dreams.

Keep in mind that failure is not the end. Rejection is only redirection that can support you on this journey called life.

No matter whether it’s in your personal, career, or romantic life— failure welcomes learning curves and can even be an invitation down the path less taken.

The path to success is never a straight line. It involves frustration, setbacks, replanning, but most importantly, continued effort. And from there springs ultimate satisfaction and achievement.

Core values:

2. Always Act From a Place of Integrity

Someone with this life philosophy wants to remain true to themselves in all situations, and build authentic connections to enrich their lives.

When you make decisions based on honesty you can stand up for what you believe in while also staying humble.

It’s from this place that you can stay rooted in your truth while also staying open-minded to others’ perceptions.

Treat every interaction as an opportunity to discover something new. You might just find learning something from welcoming a different outlook.

Open-mindedness

Take the First Step Towards True Purpose

Discovering the right direction in life isn’t always easy. And often it’s not about the destination but the beautiful, complicated, and sometimes painful journey along the way.

It may take exploring different avenues before you discover and unleash your true purpose. By dedicating time to understanding your values, beliefs, and goals through developing a personal philosophy, you’ll get there.

One step at a time.

And when you do, I promise it’ll all be worth it.

If you need a push in the right direction, check out my Online Course: Believing in Yourself . You’ll learn a number of proven methods to push past self-doubt, take action and achieve your goals.

About Lyn Christian

Hi there, I'm Lyn . My purpose is to support you to earn a living and live your life by doing what inspires you. To accomplish this, I work as a coach, consultant, TEDx speaker, author and founder of SoulSalt Inc.

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Tackling the Philosophy Essay: A Student Guide

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This short book, written by recent Cambridge PhD students, is designed to introduce students to the process of writing an essay in philosophy. Containing many annotated examples , this guide demonstrates some of the Do's and Don'ts of essay writing, with particular attention paid to the early stages of the writing process (including the creation thesis statements and essay outlines). This book may also be useful to instructors looking for teaching-related resources.

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To view information relating to the presentation of extended essays, dissertations and general paper (all parts) see Undergraduate Exams .

Tackling the Philosophy Essay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License . You are free to download, copy, reuse, distribute and adapt this work as long as it is for non-commercial purposes, is also under the same licence, and attributes the original work to the authors. If in doubt, or if you wish to collaborate or address any issues found, please feel free to email the authors at [email protected]

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Writing A Philosophy Paper

THINGS TO AVOID IN YOUR PHILOSOPHY ESSAY

Lengthy introductions. These are entirely unnecessary and of no interest to the informed reader. There is no need to point out that your topic is an important one, and one that has interested philosophers for hundreds of years. Introductions should be as brief as possible. In fact, I recommend that you think of your paper as not having an introduction at all. Go directly to your topic.
Lengthy quotations. Inexperienced writers rely too heavily on quotations and paraphrases. Direct quotation is best restricted to those cases where it is essential to establish another writer's exact selection of words. Even paraphrasing should be kept to a minimum. After all, it is your paper. It is your thoughts that your instructor is concerned with. Keep that in mind, especially when your essay topic requires you to critically assess someone else's views.
Fence sitting. Do not present a number of positions in your paper and then end by saying that you are not qualified to settle the matter. In particular, do not close by saying that philosophers have been divided over this issue for as long as humans have been keeping record and you cannot be expected to resolve the dispute in a few short pages. Your instructor knows that. But you can be expected to take a clear stand based on an evaluation of the argument(s) presented. Go out on a limb. If you have argued well, it will support you.
Cuteness. Good philosophical writing usually has an air of simple dignity about it. Your topic is no joke. No writers whose views you have been asked to read are idiots. (If you think they are, then you have not understood them.) Name calling is inappropriate and could never substitute for careful argumentation anyway.
Begging the question. You are guilty of begging the question (or circular reasoning) on a particular issue if you somehow presuppose the truth of whatever it is that you are trying to show in the course of arguing for it. Here is a quick example. If Smith argues that abortion is morally wrong on the grounds that it amounts to murder, Smith begs the question. Smith presupposes a particular stand on the moral status of abortion - the stand represented by the conclusion of the argument. To see that this is so, notice that the person who denies the conclusion - that abortion is morally wrong - will not accept Smith's premise that it amounts to murder, since murder is, by definition, morally wrong.
When arguing against other positions, it is important to realize that you cannot show that your opponents are mistaken just by claiming that their overall conclusions are false. Nor will it do simply to claim that at least one of their premises is false. You must demonstrate these sorts of things, and in a fashion that does not presuppose that your position is correct.

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING YOUR PHILOSOPHY PAPER

Organize carefully. Before you start to write make an outline of how you want to argue. There should be a logical progression of ideas - one that will be easy for the reader to follow. If your paper is well organized, the reader will be led along in what seems a natural way. If you jump about in your essay, the reader will balk. It will take a real effort to follow you, and he or she may feel it not worthwhile. It is a good idea to let your outline simmer for a few days before you write your first draft. Does it still seem to flow smoothly when you come back to it? If not, the best prose in the world will not be enough to make it work.
Use the right words. Once you have determined your outline, you must select the exact words that will convey your meaning to the reader. A dictionary is almost essential here. Do not settle for a word that (you think) comes close to capturing the sense you have in mind. Notice that "infer" does not mean "imply"; "disinterested" does not mean "uninterested"; and "reference" does not mean either "illusion" or "allusion." Make certain that you can use "its" and "it's" correctly. Notice that certain words such as "therefore," "hence," "since," and "follows from" are strong logical connectives. When you use such expressions you are asserting that certain tight logical relations hold between the claims in question. You had better be right. Finally, check the spelling of any word you are not sure of. There is no excuse for "existance" appearing in any philosophy essay.
Support your claims. Assume that your reader is constantly asking such questions as "Why should I accept that?" If you presuppose that he or she is at least mildly skeptical of most of your claims, you are more likely to succeed in writing a paper that argues for a position. Most first attempts at writing philosophy essays fall down on this point. Substantiate your claims whenever there is reason to think that your critics would not grant them.
Give credit. When quoting or paraphrasing, always give some citation. Indicate your indebtedness, whether it is for specific words, general ideas, or a particular line of argument. To use another writer's words, ideas, or arguments as if they were your own is to plagiarize. Plagiarism is against the rules of academic institutions and is dishonest. It can jeopardize or even terminate your academic career. Why run that risk when your paper is improved (it appears stronger not weaker) if you give credit where credit is due? That is because appropriately citing the works of others indicates an awareness of some of the relevant literature on the subject.
Anticipate objections. If your position is worth arguing for, there are going to be reasons which have led some people to reject it. Such reasons will amount to criticisms of your stand. A good way to demonstrate the strength of your position is to consider one or two of the best of these objections and show how they can be overcome. This amounts to rejecting the grounds for rejecting your case, and is analogous to stealing your enemies' ammunition before they have a chance to fire it at you. The trick here is to anticipate the kinds of objections that your critics would actually raise against you if you did not disarm them first. The other challenge is to come to grips with the criticisms you have cited. You must argue that these criticisms miss the mark as far as your case is concerned, or that they are in some sense ill-conceived despite their plausibility. It takes considerable practice and exposure to philosophical writing to develop this engaging style of argumentation, but it is worth it.
Edit boldly. I have never met a person whose first draft of a paper could not be improved significantly by rewriting. The secret to good writing is rewriting - often. Of course it will not do just to reproduce the same thing again. Better drafts are almost always shorter drafts - not because ideas have been left out, but because words have been cut out as ideas have been clarified. Every word that is not needed only clutters. Clear sentences do not just happen. They are the result of tough-minded editing.

There is much more that could be said about clear writing. I have not stopped to talk about grammatical and stylistic points. For help in these matters (and we all need reference works in these areas) I recommend a few of the many helpful books available in the campus bookstore. My favorite little book on good writing is The Elements of Style , by William Strunk and E.B. White. Another good book, more general in scope, is William Zinsser's, On Writing Well . Both of these books have gone through several editions. More advanced students might do well to read Philosophical Writing: An Introduction , by A.P. Martinich. Some final words should be added about proofreading. Do it. Again. After that, have someone else read your paper. Is this person able to understand you completely? Can he or she read your entire paper through without getting stuck on a single sentence? If not, go back and smooth it out. In general terms, do not be content simply to get your paper out of your hands. Take pride in it. Clear writing reflects clear thinking; and that, after all, is what you are really trying to show.

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Developing Your Personal Philosophy of Life

7 tensions to resolve..

Posted January 8, 2020 | Reviewed by Kaja Perina

From Plato to Stephen Covey, it’s long been argued that life is more meaningful if guided by a foundational personal philosophy .

To that end, here are seven tensions the resolutions of which can help you develop your personal philosophy. Of course, you could choose a moderate position within each of these polar pairs but often people choose to aim toward one side or the other.

Planning vs. living in the moment. Clichés exist on both poles. Ben Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail.” On the other hand, Emily Dickinson wrote, “Forever is composed of nows.” In deciding which way you want to lean, it may help to look at your track record: To date, has your planning been worth it? Or has your planning too often been wrong? Has it shepherded you toward worthy paths or closed to you opportunities you should have taken? Or has your planning too often kept you from appreciating your present moments, always looking ahead as I foolishly did when, as a 20-year-old touring Paris, I raced through the Louvre so I could make it to the Tuilieries before closing time?

Practical vs. idealistic. We have been preached both: “Be realistic,” and on the other hand, “Dream big. Follow your passion.” Which side to tilt toward may depend on your self-efficacy : Bright, driven, non-procrastinators have a better chance of achieving their idealistic dreams or at least, as suggested in another cliché: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars,” (Norman Vincent Peale).

Disciplined vs. laid-back. Many people find it more pleasurable to be laid-back. The question is whether that will contribute, net, to your success and contentment, or at minimum, will the decrement to your success be worth it? On the other hand, some people enjoy the process of being disciplined or at least are willing to be disciplined in the service of more successful outcomes. The question is, “How about you?”

Reflective vs. impulsive. Some of this is hard-wired. Impulsivity has a significant genetic component , but it’s not completely genetic. Again, look at your track record: Have you been more successful by making quick decisions and thus getting more done? Or have you been more successful when taking your time, reflecting, considering more of the implications?

Just vs. merciful. Solid arguments can be made for leaning either way. Justice, by definition, means that people get what, on the merits, they deserve. How primary is that to you? Other people prefer a life tilted more toward mercy: Even if, on the merits, a person deserves less, the mercy-centric person leans toward giving people a break. How about you?

Self-critical vs. self-accepting. Some people feel it’s worth being hard on themselves: being self-critical and ever trying to improve. On the other hand, other people feel that’s too big a price to pay and/or that enough of who they are is hard-wired or has been molded by early experience and current externalities that they’d rather focus on self-acceptance.

Self-reliant vs. communitarian. There are quotable quotes at both poles. Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre wrote, “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.” In contrast, Hillary Clinton famously said, “It takes a village.” Again, look at your track record. Has your reliance on other people yielded more benefit than liability to you and perhaps to them? Or have you done better by focusing on self-reliance?

The takeaway

So, do you want to write bullets or a paragraph or two describing your personal philosophy? If so, yes, consider the aforementioned seven tensions but there may be other factors that merit consideration. A few possible examples: the role of spirituality or religion? Your work or relationship non-negotiables? Your ethical red line in the sand?

If you might find a model helpful, I offer my philosophy of life here.

Most people don’t follow their personal philosophy assiduously, but developing one can create guideposts that can help you live the life you want to live.

I read this aloud on YouTube.

Marty Nemko, Ph.D ., is a career and personal coach based in Oakland, California, and the author of 10 books.

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11 Best Personal Philosophies To Guide Your Life

If someone asked you, “What’s your personal philosophy?” would you know how to answer them?

You probably have some idea of what’s important to you, but have you ever created a statement that sums it up?

Look at a list of personal values, and some will stand out for you.

We all have different reasons for our goals and actions.

Everything you do has a purpose, even if you don’t consciously acknowledge it.

Every successful person has chosen to follow a philosophy based on their core values.

You can do the same. But first, you need to know precisely what that is.

What Is a Personal Philosophy?

How to create your personal philosophy , 1. do no harm. , 2. there are no failures — just results to learn from. , 3. you are here to make good things happen., 4. keep stretching and challenging yourself., 5. the flow state is where the magic happens. , 6. you don’t have to understand everything. , 7. personal integrity should guide every action. , 8. impact matters more than intent., 9. be mindful in both your personal and professional life. , 10. learn by doing., 11. be bold, and have big dreams., ready to write your personal philosophy.

You make daily choices to work towards a goal. Smaller goals guide your days, while long-term goals guide months and years of your life. All of those goals are based on your core values, which determine the rules you live by.

Those rules are known as your personal philosophies. Some of these philosophies may be tied to your religion or culture, but philosophies vary from person to person even within those frameworks.

You can base your personal philosophy on the following questions:

What are you passionate about? Or what inspires you?
How would you describe your ideal life?
What elements or values do your passions and ideal life have in common?
What habits do you have that relate to those values?
How would you sum up your goals and outlook on life, using these values?

Now you have a general idea of what it is, how do you write a personal philosophy?

We’ve outlined a few steps to help you if you don’t know where to start.

Start with a list of 10 to 20 personal values.
Narrow down your list to 3 to 5 core values.
Think about why each of these values is so important to you.
For each one, write about how you put those values into daily practice.
Connect each value to your long-term goals and aspirations.
Write a few sentences about how these values define and guide you.
Condense those into one sentence that sums up your primary motivation.

If you’d like some help identifying your values, look at our extensive list of 400 value words.

11 Personal Philosophy Examples

Your personal philosophy will no doubt resonate with others. And it will express values like the ones you’ll see in the following life philosophy examples, each of which are important for everyone. Read these for inspiration and to help you articulate your own.

Striving for success is a good thing only if it does not harm others. A victory that comes at someone else’s expense won’t get you closer to becoming a person you’d be proud of.

When you undertake a challenge, commit to doing whatever it takes to get the best result for everyone involved — and for everyone likely to be affected by it.

The more you value your connection to other humans and all life, the less you’ll want to be part of something that violates the rights of any.

Respect others enough to be conscious of how your words and actions affect them to choose the best way forward. And look beyond the surface to see which endeavors genuinely seek the good of all.

Personal values:

Tenacity is behind this philosophy; no matter what happens to you, you keep going.

No matter how many less-than-desirable results you get, you keep moving toward your goal and taking action to get closer to it.

You know that every so-called failure is just a result you can learn from, and you view setbacks with a growth mindset to seek out the lesson.

You look at what went wrong or what you can do to get a better result next time. And you try again.

You don’t accept failure because every result that falls short of your hopes teaches you more than you might expect.. Every faltering step is still a step.

Personal values:

This is your philosophy (or part of it) If you believe your purpose in life is to make good things happen for the people in your world — those you love, those in your community, and those beyond it.

professional older man at desk personal philosophies to guide your life

You’re here to make the world better, one person and one action at a time. You believe your life won’t be well-spent unless you have a positive impact on those around you.

All things in moderation, though. If you take on too much responsibility, you’ll always feel that it’s not enough whatever you do. And you’ll burn out.

Be as kind and compassionate toward yourself as you are to others.

Relationships
Empathy

This one is about courage since it requires you to step outside your comfort zone. You know that a world of life-changing opportunities exists outside it.

How can you do this?

Take a hard look at your comfort zone and what it’s kept you from doing.
Commit to doing something that seems beyond your present ability.
Watch those who’ve accomplished things you think are beyond your ability.
Learn what they’re doing differently, and do it yourself (as long as it does no harm).
If you don’t know what to do, act as if you do, and take action.

Take it one step at a time, but keep stepping. Keep trying new things. Continue asking yourself challenging questions. Don’t wait for someone else to challenge you.

Cognitive understanding is great, but if you’ve ever been in a state of creative flow, you know that the difference between the flow state and cognitive understanding is like the difference between intuition and reasoning.

There are advantages to letting go of conscious control and allowing the flow to take you over. You become a conduit of thoughts, ideas, and feelings you didn’t know were accessible to you.

Getting into a flow state indeed takes more than willingness. But once you learn how to access that state, you won’t be content with what your conscious mind can figure out.

And you’ll want to help others experience the same creative flow.

Imagination

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People develop and shape their personal philosophy during the whole life. Some circumstances may radically change our views, depending on our age, social status and personal qualities. As for me, at this stage of my life I canât say it for sure that my personal philosophy is complete and well-shaped. In my research paper I want to express my views on several sides of human life. Iâd like to attract attention to such concepts as sense of life and happiness, good and evil, morality and faith in God, love and death, eternal life values, karma and religion. Iâll answer the questions what love and happiness mean for me personally. I understand that the concept of life philosophy is really versatile and itâs hard to express personal views on so many aspects. Thatâs why my research deals with only those things which are important for me at this stage of my life.

If you look at life from different sides for some period of time, and then gather all your thoughts into one picture â that would be your life philosophy.

Humans strive to find out and clearly define the sense of their living, and feel unhappy and desperate without it. Each person has his own sense of life and discovers it for himself only. There are people who live their lives without asking what they are living for. Personally I have always been concerned with this question and I think it is important to have at least some slightest peace of sense in life. Sometimes I feel myself broken and empty. It happens when I donât see what I am living for. But I remember wise words that âlife is too short to regretâ. From time to time I feel lonely and dissatisfied with my life, but then unexpectedly I meet a nice person or find an interesting activity, and feel happy again. Thatâs why I think that everything depends on how we see life, and even in the most desperate situation one may find the way out.

People explore the world around and gradually get acquainted with it. People get knowledge as a moving factor of human development. Life philosophy in general means understanding of personal inner world and world around. I presume that there are certain variants of life, which people choose according to their life circumstances. âThe variant of lifeâ is a psychological characteristic of individual existence, which is defined by the attitude of people to life. Such variants form human personality and make it more typical. Life of people is many-sided and Iâm still trying to find my own way in it. No matter whether someone is a writer or a reader, his aim is to live his own life, without prescribed or forced stereotypes. Creative work and desire for self-improvement are two things which are important for me in my present life. Creative people have an opportunity to ignore senseless existence. We live and work because of necessity and social duty. On the contrary creative work is inspired by our inner state. Creative people are left to their own devices. Everything depends only on personal initiative. My deep interest and curiosity to explore the world around make me move forward. On the other hand I think that one more sense in my life in desire to improve present state of things. I strive to achieve goals in life and accomplish success. But I also understand that it canât last forever. My life is not a constant pursuit of happiness; as I take into account my abilities and chances. I understand that one person canât achieve great results without much effort. Life of a person who always moves forward is full of worries and strain. People always want something and in order to get it, they solve problems and overcome life calamities. If I strive to achieve goals, it means Iâm not satisfied with my present life and surrounding world. On the other hand I canât hope for anything if I donât believe in future success. Iâm optimistic and always hope for better future. A wise phrase of Salvador Dali slipped through my mind:

Donât be afraid of perfection, as youâll never achieve it. The more so, that there is nothing good in it.

But even though I consider Salvador Dali is right, I still try to achieve what Iâm able to. Itâs like in âAlchemistâ by Paulo Coelho: If you have a strong desire, the whole Universe will help you to make your dreams come true. Spiritual growth is a constant widening of our knowledge and experience.

Life sense helps people to survive. If we loose it, we start thinking of suicide and each of us finds own reasons for it. Despair and crucial life events make people think there is nothing worth living for and no opportunities to realize. But sense in life shows us the way to overcome difficulties and move forward.

Speaking about such important philosophic problems, I canât help mentioning the role of fate and karma. These concepts are often mixed up, as the majority of people consider that karma means fate, but I think it is far from truth. According to a widely spread opinion, fate is an unchangeable predetermination of life obstacles (usually negative ones). As for me, I reject such views. No doubt that people are able to change karma, as everything depends on their personal strength and choice. Many people think that together with their belief in karma, they should accept the idea of reincarnation. But I think that one should not necessarily believe in reincarnation in order to understand karma. The concept âkarmaâ means âreason and consequenceâ, depending on our thoughts and actions. In other words, one builds his life on his own. I believe in it and feel myself responsible for everything that happens in my life. But on the other hand I understand that certain events in life are caused by outer force â God, obstacles, luck or occasion. We meet new people, move to a new place, get interested in new activities â all these changes in our life were not decided in advance; they happened because of our choice. The concept of karma implies that people have wide choices in life. I create my karma, rule my own life, and can change everything for the better. In other words I can explain karma as following: if you act well, the results will be good and vice versa. Pleasure and pain are caused by our virtuous and evil actions.

Iâm not a religious person to full extent. Having read much about different religions, I understood that the faith in its true meaning should be inside us. No matter whether a person visits church or not, he should choose either to believe in God or not on his own. I respect all religious streams and accept certain ideas from all of them. For example, in spite the fact that Christianity is closer to me than Eastern religions, Iâm more likely to believe in reincarnation. I just canât accept Christian views that after death people would find themselves either in the heaven or in the hell, according to their righteousness in terrestrial life. The belief in constant return to this world is somehow closer to me. Thatâs why I canât say firmly what religion is better for me. In every religion one may find something close to his outlook. Christians believe that humans have two specific peculiarities. First of all, as they are created in the likeness of God, it is right to consider that they reflect his characterã(Evans, 1986). God is considered to be good; it means that people are also good-natured. Second aspect is that we live to enjoy spiritual relationship with God, through praying and visiting church. Personally I donât visit church and know only a few prayers, but I have inner belief and I think thatâs enough. Religion is something personal. I think that each person needs God, but canât truly be happy without Him. Human beings tend to widen their life philosophy and experience, and learn more about this world. As a result among the representatives of humanity, there is a great variety of life understanding. This understanding is our religion. Thatâs why I think that each person has his own religion, which is a system of ideas and beliefs concerning our world. Some people see the Universe as something chaotic and senseless. Others think that humanity lives in the world with numerous laws and if we break those laws, it would bring us misfortune and destruction. No matter what views people have, I consider it to be religion.

I want to draw attention to another aspect of my philosophy â love. I understand that an attempt to investigate love is connected with a great mystery. Love is too deep and immeasurable, and we canât wholly explore it. I think that for the majority of people love defines happiness. When I do not love and donât feel care from the side of close people, I canât be happy to full extent, no matter how successful my career is. Speaking about love, I canât help saying that it is closely connected with death. I think that if people didnât know they were mortal, they wouldnât be able to love so passionately. They wouldnât be able to experience so powerful emotions and feelings. Love means being open to everything positive in this world (care, attention, joy), and negative either (grieve, gloom and disappointment). When people fall in love, they see world around from a new side. Anxiety and gladness are directly related to love. I mean that at first a person is anxious about whether his beloved shares his feelings or not. But in fact these fear and anxiety donât vanish when a person wins somebodyâs affection. When a person deals with unrequited love, he is at least able to continue his usual everyday existence.

Love reminds us of death. When one of our friends or close relatives dies, we understand how fleeting, ephemeral and irretrievable our life is. Past years will never return. What is not said or done will remain in the past forever and there is nothing to do with it. May be for this reason people try to take all chances and opportunities, provided by fate. Many people feel the value of love, friendship, loyalty and faithfulness only at the moment of someoneâs death. I doubt we would be able to love, if we knew that we would never die.

Love is the complete addiction to another person. When I fell in love, I began to look at this world through the eyes of my beloved. Love acts like a drug. It occupies thoughts, reason and time. Being away from beloved is extremely crucial for a person in love. Faithful love is happiness; happiness is sense of life. Even though, being apart from beloved may be dreadful and unbearable, it would strengthen feelings and remind of past happy days. Itâs better to try but fail, than not to try, fearing to fail. People, who fear to live and love sincerely, would never feel happy and satisfied.

What is happiness? One can talk for hours, answering this question. In fact happiness is to see that close people, parents, beloved and friends are happy. True happiness is when you are able to help other people and make them happy. Someone would say that they feel happy when their personal desires and wishes are fulfilled. I canât completely agree here. Our personal satisfaction is temporary happiness. This feeling is likely to vanish very soon and weâll forget about it. People think they would be happy if they earn much money or achieve higher position in life. But still they wonât be pleased forever. One should value each moment if he really wants to be happy. Nobody cares how much money you have. The thing that matters is happiness of people around. We often painfully react on other peopleâs sorrows and misfortunes. By helping other people, fulfilling their needs and dreams, we would become happier ourselves. Iâd like to repeat a widely known saying: treat other people in the way you want to be treated by them.

What does moral mean? Moral is a system of views and norms, which occupy the concepts of good and evil, justice, conscience and sense of life. Moral helps people to move forward on the way to self-improvement. Moral defines certain values, which regulate human behavior. Each person is free to decide whether to follow this system of norms or not. Those, who donât accept social rules, become either criminals or outsiders. According to good or evil actions people would be later judged by society and God. On the other hand people shouldnât be forced to act virtuously; it should be a free-willed and unselfish choice. For example, according to moral norms one should help weak people. Originally it shows human kindness and readiness to sacrifice certain things for the sake of other people. But different people have different motives of virtuous actions. Some people help others because they want to be altruistic in public eyes. Other people follow the Commandments of God. Still others help weak people hoping for approval in society. We canât say for sure that each virtuous deed is moral because we donât know what made people do it. Each of us has own understanding of what is right and what is wrong.

What is good and evil? Evil is lack of good. It doesnât exist in reality; it is just a possible condition of life, because people always have a right to choose between good and evil. For example, a usual knife is not an evil as it is, but it turns into an evil in the hands of a criminal. The same knife can be used by a doctor to rescue human life. God gives people a chance to decide what to do with this knife. There have been lots of battles in the long human history. But probably the greatest of all is the battle between evil and good, decency and immorality, altruism and egoism, love and hatred. We face this battle in our everyday life, and try to distinguish evil from good. People choose certain system of values, and follow it in life. Kindness is important for our spiritual health; evil is like a venom. Kindness is not simply a moral duty; it is nutrition for our soul in the first place. Good can exist in various forms and conditions: books, attitude to people, technical progress and justice. All of these things have common positive meaning for human life; all of them fulfill social and spiritual needs of people. Good means peace, love, respect, attention and mutual care. In this way it represents everything positive in the sphere of morality. On the contrary, evil contradicts with moral ideals, and hampers people on their way to happiness and joy.

Why do good and evil exist? We try to understand why our impartial God let violence, aggression and pain penetrate the world. To answer this question, I still should admit that people were given freedom of choice. Without it human life would be senseless. God wants us to act in a virtuous way. It is for people to decide whether to follow His will or not. There are philosophers who think that evil and good are two equal forces. But I think that people are kind beings, because they were created in the likeliness with our kind God. In our hearts we approve virtue and reject immorality. Nevertheless discussion of this topic would hardly be able to eliminate pain and sorrow from our world, penetrated with tears of history. Everybody knows consequences of evil. Nevertheless I keep to the point that life calamities strengthen human spirit and inner force. And I hope that new generations wonât repeat mistakes of their ancestors. Iâm an optimist and I think that it is important to concentrate on those virtuous deeds which we are able to do now, because thereâs no sense in thinking about past negative events all the time.

In conclusion Iâd like to say that our personal philosophy may change due to the conditions we live in and people we meet. In my research paper I expressed my opinion on common human values, which are important for me.

Fromm, Erich. The Art of Loving. Harper & Row, 1956.
Williams, Mary. Constructing a Life Philosophy, 2005.
Evans, Stephen. The Quest for Faith. The Mystery of persons and Belief in God. Inter Varsity Press, 1986.

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50 Nursing Philosophy Examples + How To Write Your Own

From the first semester of nursing school, aspiring nurses learn about the ethics and values associated with becoming a nurse. However, there comes a time when each nursing student or nurse must decide what they value most and how to incorporate those things into their roles as nurses. This important step is often referred to as establishing a personal philosophy of nursing. Perhaps you have heard of nursing philosophies but are unsure how to develop your personal philosophy. Have you wondered or asked, "What are some good personal philosophy of nursing examples?" If this sounds like you, keep reading! In this article, I will share some insight about nursing philosophies and provide you with information about 50 nursing philosophy examples + how to write your own.

What Is A Personal Philosophy Of Nursing?

Does every nurse have a personal nursing philosophy, what are the key components of a personal nursing philosophy, • knowledge:, 7 reasons why having a personal nursing philosophy is so important for your career, what are some good personal philosophy of nursing examples, how to write your own personal philosophy of nursing statement, 1. define what nursing means in your perspective., 2. ask yourself what personal experience relates to your passion for nursing., 3. consider how you want to impact patients, families, and communities through your role as a nurse., 4. highlight your skills., 5. define your personal and professional values., 8 questions to ask yourself when developing your own personal philosophy of nursing, question #1: why did i choose to become a nurse, how to find an answer to this question:, question #2: what are my personal beliefs about nursing, question #3: what qualities make someone a great nurse, question #4: what skills should all nurses have, question #5: why is nursing important to me, question #6: what theories do i have about nursing, question #7: what values should nurses consider important, question #8: would i choose this career again, useful online resources to learn more about nursing philosophy, blogs/websites, youtube videos, bonus 5 important things to keep in mind when writing your personal philosophy of nursing statement, 1. keep it simple., 2. show you are prepared for action., 3. be yourself., 4. be open to change if needed., 5. make a copy for yourself and keep it visible., my final thoughts, frequently asked questions asked by our expert, 1. what was florence nightingale's philosophy of nursing, 2. is there a set format or right way to write a personal philosophy of nursing statement, 3. how do i start my nursing philosophy statement, 4. how can a nurse determine whether her nursing philosophy is good, 5. how long should a personal nursing philosophy statement be, 6. when should i write my nursing philosophy, 7. can i change my nursing philosophy from time to time, 8. how to write the introduction of my personal nursing philosophy, 9. should nursing students have a personal philosophy of nursing, 10. does an informatics nurse have a personal philosophy of nursing, 11. do nursing organizations have their own philosophy of nursing, 12. how does nursing philosophy influence nursing practice, 13. is it required for every nurse to have a personal nursing philosophy, 14. what happens if a nurse does not have a personal philosophy of nursing, 15. what are some famous personal philosophy of nursing quotes.

Home — Essay Samples — Philosophy — Personal Philosophy — My Personal Philosophy of Education

My Personal Philosophy of Education

Categories: Personal Philosophy Philosophy of Education

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Updated: 13 November, 2023

Words: 1412 | Pages: 4 | 8 min read

The essay analyzes the author's personal philosophy of education as a student and an aspiring teacher. The author emphasizes the importance of gaining knowledge from education, even when faced with the challenges of a heavy workload and academic stress. They believe that completing the work and gaining knowledge is a privilege and that building a strong connection with professors is crucial for successful learning.

The author's philosophy of education revolves around the idea that every child should have the right to high-quality education. They reflect on their experiences with various teachers and teaching styles, recognizing the impact that exceptional educators can have on students' lives. The author values teachers who can establish personal connections with students and make learning enjoyable.

The influence of scholars such as John Dewey and Jean Piaget is evident in the author's philosophy. They appreciate Dewey's emphasis on learning through experience and Piaget's contributions to child development theory. The author believes in creating a learning environment where students actively participate in their education and where motivation is nurtured.

Introduction, my philosophy of education, influence of scholars, video version.

Berk, L.E. (2012). Infants and Children; Prenatal through Middle Childhood. Pearson; New York, New York.
Talebi, K. (2015). John Dewey--Philosopher and Educational Reformer. Online Submission, 1(1), 1-13.

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The essay analyzes the author's personal philosophy of education as a student and an aspiring teacher. The author emphasizes the importance of gaining knowledge from education, even when faced with the challenges of a heavy workload and academic stress.

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Personal Philosophy Examples

2. Bill Gates

3. Richard Branson

4. Maya Angelo

5. Jeff Bezos

6. Mark Zuckerberg

7. Oprah Winfrey

8. Einstein

9. Nelson Mandela

10. Walt Disney

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Guide to researching and writing Philosophy essays

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Essay topics

Researching your essay

Philosophical writings

Note taking

Libraries and electronic resources

Writing your essay

Citing Philosophical "Authorities"

English expression

Vocabulary of logical argument

Revising your essay

Plagiarism and originality

Originality

Quotations, footnotes, endnotes and bibliography

Footnotes and endnotes

Notes explained

Bibliography

Presentation of essays and seeking advice

Late essays

Essays not handed in

Tutors and lecturers

Student counselling

English language assistance

A bit on Philosophy exams

Checklist of questions

Additional menu

How to Form a Personal Philosophy: 7 Questions to Ask Yourself

What Is a Personal Philosophy?

7 Questions to Guide You When Forming Your Personal Philosophy

1. What Are Your Core Values?

2. What Are Your Most Deeply Rooted Beliefs?

3. What is Your Life’s General Philosophy?

What is the meaning of life?

4. What Are the Metrics by Which You Measure Success?

What does success mean to you?

5. What Do You Feel Is Your Life’s Purpose?

What do you feel is your life’s purpose?

6. What Are Your Greatest Strengths?

What are my greatest strengths in life?

7. What Do You Need in Life?

What do you need in life?

Philosophy in Practice: Examples of Personal Philosophy

1. Failure Inspires Positive Change

2. Always Act From a Place of Integrity

Take the First Step Towards True Purpose

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THINGS TO AVOID IN YOUR PHILOSOPHY ESSAY