Justice and the Good Society

Writing Philosophy

The true form in which truth exists can only be the scientific system of it; philosophy must be systematic.
— G. W. F. Hegel, 1770–1831

The will to a system is a lack of integrity . . . a subtle corruption, a philosopher trying to appear more stupid than he really is.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844–1900

Opening Questions
1. By now you should know fairly well which ideas form the basis of your philosophy. The question at this point is what to do with them. Write down in a short list (no more than ten lines) the ideas that you want to present and defend. Rank them according to their importance to you and rewrite the list in order of this ranking with the most important ideas first.

2. Imagine yourself with a particular reader. (It might be a friend; it might well be your instructor. It might be a wholly imaginary reader, such as one of the great philosophers in history.) Take your list again and rank your ideas, this time in order of their probable appeal to this reader. Which ideas may be wholly agreeable? Which ones may be disagreeable? In other words, which can you present rather matter-of-factly, and which ones will you have to argue for?

3. Take these two lists together and plan a strategy of presentation. Decide which idea or ideas to begin with, presumably on the basis of initial agreeability, and sketch out a series of arguments from idea to idea. Be sure you make it clear which ideas you consider most important, which are merely preliminary, and which you consider to be consequences of your main idea.

4. Write a one-page abstract—that is, a summary of your intentions— in which you describe to your imaginary reader what you ultimately intend to prove and how and why. (This will be the first of several write a final draft of your paper.)