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List of 200+ Philosophy Essay Topics and Questions For Students

Updated 18 Jun 2024

While the majority of university students may assume that choosing a philosophy essay topic is easy, it does not work well in practice. Depending on what philosophy school you would like to choose, you should think of a list that must be brainstormed. Therefore, our philosophy essay topics below are meant to keep you inspired and help you see practical examples that can serve as a starting point. You will also learn how to write a philosophy essay and how to tell a good topic from a poor one. When you have a good idea to start with, you will already overcome the challenges of finding a good topic.

✍️ Writing Philosophy Essay: Definition & Tips

Before you start with philosophy paper topics, ensure that you know the basics of essay writing. Begin with essay structure to academic features, take time to study your grading rubric and ask our  essay service questions when something is unclear. Here is what you must consider:

• Ensure that you envision your philosophy essay’s topic by narrowing things down.
• Create an outline by choosing various key arguments.
• Read various literature dealing with the things that interest you.
• Focus on your weaknesses by looking up terms and facts.
• Choose your research methodology: persuasive, argumentative, explanatory, etc.
• Create a bibliography to support chosen ideas with reliable sources.

Your philosophy research paper topics structure should follow these aspects:

• Compose a strong thesis statement.
• Use your key arguments as the body paragraph topic sentences.
• Add a hook sentence to your introduction part.
• Provide evidence for each idea that is not yours.
• Present your ideas with the help of bridging words.
• Add counter-argument ideas if it is necessary to support your point.

Tips on Writing Philosophy Essay

• Explain a philosophical concept.
• Provide real-life examples to help your audience understand complex aspects.
• Compare theories by seeking contrasts.
• Structure your philosophical ideas from easy to complex.
• Provide personal analysis to support each argument.

Once again, always provide due evidence if you are using any external ideas!

What are some Philosophy topics?

Some topics may deal with the nature of human existence, the things we know, the definition of concepts, and moral ethics. It is also possible to choose case study examples by turning to the works of Socrates, Plato, or more modern philosophers like John McDowell.

📙 50 Philosophy Essay Topics

We shall start with not-so-difficult philosophical ideas that will deal with the general subjects related to this challenging field of science. While Philosophy is about thinking and analysis, your research writing should not be vague or unclear. Read your chosen topics aloud, change the wording, and see whether you can support some paradigms with good sources and explanatory analysis.

• The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: Rights and Wrongs
• Existentialism in the 21st Century: Relevance and Application
• The Philosophy of Mind: Consciousness and Identity
• Stoicism as a Way of Life: Practical Applications
• The Impact of Nietzsche's Übermensch on Modern Society
• The Concept of Justice in Plato’s Republic
• Free Will vs. Determinism: The Philosophical Debate
• The Role of Suffering in Human Development According to Buddhism
• The Ethics of Genetic Engineering: Playing God or Advancing Humanity?
• The Influence of Social Media on Personal Identity
• The Philosophy of Language: Meaning and Interpretation
• Environmental Ethics: Responsibilities to Nature and Future Generations
• The Problem of Evil: Philosophical and Theological Perspectives
• The Concept of Happiness in Aristotelian Ethics
• Feminist Philosophy: Theories and Implications
• The Intersection of Philosophy and Science: Conflicts and Complementarities
• The Philosophy of Education: Purpose and Approach
• The Concept of Liberty in Political Philosophy
• The Ethics of Care: A Challenge to Traditional Moral Theories
• The Philosophy of Art: Aesthetics and Meaning
• The Notion of Self in Eastern and Western Philosophies
• The Ethics of Animal Rights and Welfare
• The Philosophy of Religion: Faith vs. Reason
• The Impact of Technology on Society: A Philosophical Inquiry
• The Concept of Duty in Kantian Ethics
• The Philosophy of History: Patterns, Progress, and Purpose
• The Role of Intuition in Philosophical Thought
• The Ethics of Euthanasia: Autonomy and Morality
• The Philosophy of Space and Time: Understanding the Universe
• The Notion of Justice in Rawls vs. Nozick
• The Philosophy of Friendship: Aristotle’s View and Modern Perspectives
• The Concept of Beauty: Subjective vs. Objective Standards
• The Ethics of Globalization: Economic Justice and Human Rights
• The Influence of Hegel’s Dialectics on Contemporary Thought
• The Philosophy of Sport: Fair Play, Competition, and Virtue
• The Notion of Truth in Postmodern Philosophy
• The Ethics of Immigration: Rights, Policies, and Morality
• The Role of Logic in Philosophical Argumentation
• The Philosophy of Love: From Plato to Modern Times
• The Ethics of Surveillance: Privacy vs. Security
• The Concept of Power in Foucault’s Philosophy
• The Philosophy of Leisure: The Value of Free Time in a Productive Society
• The Ethics of Consumption: Materialism and Sustainability
• The Notion of Community in Communitarian Philosophy
• The Philosophy of Language and Technology: Communication in the Digital Age
• The Ethics of War: Just War Theory and Pacifism
• The Concept of Alienation in Marxist Philosophy
• The Philosophy of Humor: What Makes Something Funny?
• The Ethics of Cloning: Human Dignity and Reproductive Technology
• The Philosophy of Aging: Wisdom, Ethics, and the Value of Life

Remember that you can always narrow things down to what fits your essay!

📝Easy Philosophy Paper Topics

These easy Philosophy essay topics should provide you with a basic idea before we proceed with more complex ideas:

• The Concept of Happiness: What Makes Life Fulfilling?
• Free Will vs. Determinism: Do We Truly Have Choices?
• The Ethics of Animal Rights: Should Animals Have the Same Rights as Humans?
• The Impact of Technology on Society: A Philosophical Perspective
• The Philosophy of Friendship: What Makes a Good Friend?
• Introduction to Stoicism: How Can Stoic Principles Improve Our Lives?
• The Role of Education in Shaping Society
• Personal Identity: What Makes You, You?
• The Ethics of Euthanasia: Right to Die or Duty to Live?
• The Philosophy Behind Environmental Conservation
• Happiness vs. Pleasure: Understanding the Difference
• The Importance of Ethics in Business
• Understanding Empathy: Its Importance and Impact
• The Concept of Justice in Modern Society
• Mindfulness and Philosophy: Living in the Moment
• The Influence of Media on Public Opinion: A Philosophical Analysis
• The Philosophy of Art: What is Artistic Beauty?
• The Concept of Duty: Kantian Ethics Explained
• Philosophical Perspectives on Poverty and Wealth
• The Role of Intuition in Decision Making

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☝️ Argumentative Philosophy Essay Topics

They are meant for clear arguments where you make a stand with an aim to defend what you believe in or bring up arguments to discuss things with your fellow students. Here are some ideas:

• Is Morality Relative or Absolute?
• Can Free Will Exist in a Deterministic Universe?
• Is Artificial Intelligence a Threat to Human Existence?
• Do Humans Have an Obligation to Preserve the Natural Environment?
• Is the Concept of the Social Contract Relevant in Today's Society?
• Should Genetic Engineering Be Subject to Ethical Limitations?
• Is Democracy the Best Form of Government?
• Can War Ever Be Justified Ethically?
• Is Capital Punishment Morally Defensible?
• Does the Existence of Evil Disprove the Existence of God?
• Is Euthanasia Ethically Permissible?
• Should Wealth Redistribution Be a Central Aim of Society?
• Is Education a Right or a Privilege?
• Does Technology Enhance or Diminish Human Interaction?
• Is Animal Testing Justifiable?
• Can Objective Truth Exist in Morality?
• Is the Pursuit of Happiness a Worthwhile Life Goal?
• Should Privacy Be Sacrificed for Security?
• Is Censorship Ever Justifiable in a Free Society?
• Does Society Have a Duty to Provide Healthcare to All Its Citizens?

📚 Practical Philosophical Topics For Essays

If you can apply a school of philosophy or some subject in practice, take a look at these Philosophy essay ideas:

• The Ethics of Consumerism: Philosophical Perspectives on Consumption and Sustainability
• Philosophy in the Workplace: Ethical Leadership and Corporate Responsibility
• The Role of Philosophy in Education: Teaching Critical Thinking and Ethical Reasoning
• Mental Health and Well-being: A Philosophical Examination of Happiness and Fulfillment
• Digital Life: The Impact of Social Media on Identity and Relationships
• Environmental Ethics: Philosophical Approaches to Climate Change and Conservation
• The Philosophy of Science: Understanding the Limits and Possibilities of Scientific Knowledge
• Philosophical Perspectives on Gender Equality and Feminism
• The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: Rights, Responsibilities, and the Future of AI
• Philosophy of Religion: Faith, Rationality, and the Meaning of Life
• The Intersection of Philosophy and Art: Aesthetics and the Value of Art
• Philosophical Approaches to Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding
• The Ethics of Healthcare: Patient Rights, Access, and the Doctor-Patient Relationship
• Philosophy and Political Activism: The Role of Ideas in Social Movements
• The Philosophy of Language: Communication, Misunderstanding, and Meaning
• Ethical Consumerism: The Moral Implications of Our Purchasing Choices
• The Ethics of Technology: Privacy, Surveillance, and Freedom in the Digital Age
• Philosophy of Education: The Purpose and Value of Learning
• The Ethics of Immigration: Rights, Policies, and Global Responsibility
• Philosophical Perspectives on Aging and Mortality

🌎 Worldview Essay Topics

This section is dedicated to those subjects that reflect how a person sees the world. It brings up philosophy essay questions that sum up what a person beliefs in. For example:

• The Influence of Culture on Moral Values: A Comparative Analysis
• Existentialism and the Search for Meaning in the Modern World
• The Impact of Religion on Worldviews: A Global Perspective
• Humanism vs. Spiritualism: Contrasting Life Philosophies
• The Role of Science in Shaping Contemporary Worldviews
• Eastern vs. Western Philosophies: Diverse Paths to Understanding Reality
• The Concept of Karma in Different Cultural Contexts
• Materialism and Consumer Society: Philosophical Critiques
• The Philosophy of Time: How Different Cultures Understand Time
• Environmental Worldviews: From Anthropocentrism to Eco-centrism
• The Digital Age and Its Impact on Human Perception and Interaction
• Fate vs. Free Will: Determining the Course of Our Lives
• The Notion of the Self in Philosophy and Psychology
• Globalization and Its Effects on Cultural Identity and Worldviews
• Postmodernism: Challenging Traditional Narratives and Beliefs
• The Concept of Utopia: Visions of a Perfect Society
• Ethical Relativism: Understanding Morality in a Pluralistic World
• The Intersection of Art and Philosophy in Shaping Worldviews
• Philosophical Perspectives on Death and the Afterlife
• Technology and Transhumanism: Redefining Human Nature and Future

📖 Plato Essay Topics

It is hard to find another personality that would be as important for the field of Philosophy as Plato. Here are several philosophy topics for essays that deal with Plato’s beliefs and the timeless heritage. For example:

• The Theory of Forms: Understanding Plato's Concept of Reality
• Plato's Allegory of the Cave: Interpretations and Implications
• Justice in Plato's Republic: An Analysis of His Ideal State
• Plato and Democracy: Critique and Perspectives
• The Role of the Philosopher-King in Plato's Ideal Society
• Plato's Concept of the Soul: Tripartite Structure and Its Significance
• Education in Plato's Republic: Methods and Philosophical Foundations
• Plato's Views on Art and Imitation: An Examination of the Ion and the Republic
• The Significance of Plato's Academy in the Development of Western Philosophy
• Comparative Analysis: Plato and Aristotle on Virtue and Happiness
• Plato's Symposium: Love, Beauty, and the Path to the Divine
• The Influence of Socratic Method on Plato's Dialogues
• Plato's Critique of Sophistry and Its Relevance Today
• The Concept of Eudaimonia in Plato's Ethical Philosophy
• Plato's Timaeus: Cosmology and the Nature of the Physical World
• Plato and the Theory of Knowledge: Justified True Belief
• The Role of Myth in Plato's Philosophy: From the Gorgias to the Phaedrus
• Plato's Political Philosophy: The Challenges of Realizing the Ideal State
• The Immortality of the Soul in Plato's Phaedo: Arguments and Critiques
• Plato's Influence on Christian Thought and Theology

💡 Enlightenment Essay Topics

This section explores interesting topics that relate to the period of Enlightenment. Here is the list to consider:

• The Role of Reason in the Enlightenment: A New Approach to Knowledge
• Voltaire and the Fight for Religious Tolerance
• The Impact of the Enlightenment on Modern Democratic Thought
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Concept of the Social Contract
• Enlightenment Critiques of Monarchy and the Path to Republicanism
• The Influence of Enlightenment Thought on the French Revolution
• Comparative Analysis of the Scottish and French Enlightenment
• Women of the Enlightenment: Contributions and Challenges
• The Enlightenment and Its Role in the Development of Modern Science
• Immanuel Kant and the Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Freedom
• The Enlightenment and the Arts: A New Aesthetic for a New Time
• Deism and the Enlightenment: Rethinking the Divine
• The Legacy of the Enlightenment in Contemporary Education
• Enlightenment Philosophers on Human Rights and Equality
• Economic Thought in the Enlightenment: The Beginnings of Modern Economics
• The Enlightenment’s Influence on Modern Legal Systems
• Critiques of the Enlightenment: Romanticism and Counter-Enlightenment Thoughts
• The Spread of Enlightenment Ideas Through Europe and Beyond
• The Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Political Ideologies
• Philosophical Debates on Morality and Ethics During the Enlightenment

📜 Transcendentalism Essay Topics

In simple terms, Transcendentalism is a philosophy that came to be in the 19th century, aiming for self-sufficiency. The main belief states that people are originally good but are corrupted by society and the wrong teaching or negative examples. It is one of the most varied branches of philosophy as can be seen from the topics below:

• The Core Principles of Transcendentalism: An Introduction
• Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Philosophy of Self-Reliance
• Henry David Thoreau’s Walden: Living in Harmony with Nature
• Transcendentalism and Its Influence on American Literature
• Margaret Fuller: A Transcendentalist Feminist Perspective
• The Role of Nature in Transcendentalist Thought
• Transcendentalism and Its Critique of Materialism
• The Social and Political Activism of Transcendentalists
• Transcendentalism: A Predecessor to Environmental and Ecological Movements
• The Concept of Individualism in Transcendentalist Writings
• Transcendentalism and Education: The Legacy of Bronson Alcott
• The Influence of Eastern Philosophies on Transcendentalist Thought
• Transcendentalism in Contemporary Society: Relevance and Reflections
• The Relationship Between Transcendentalism and Romanticism
• Transcendentalist Views on Religion and Spirituality
• The Impact of Transcendentalism on Civil Disobedience and Social Change
• Transcendentalism and the Arts: Exploring Aesthetic Expressions
• Critiques of Transcendentalism: Limitations and Counterarguments
• The Legacy of Transcendentalism in Modern American Culture
• Exploring the Concept of the Over-Soul in Transcendentalist Literature

❓ Philosophy Essay Questions

When you choose a good Philosophy essay topic, always ask yourself a question. Take a look at how it has been done below:

• What is the nature of reality, and how can we truly know anything about it?
• Is free will an illusion, and are our choices predetermined by external factors?
• Can moral judgments be objective, or are they entirely subjective?
• What is the role of consciousness in defining personal identity?
• How do language and thought influence our perception of the world?
• Is it possible to achieve true happiness, and what would it entail?
• What is justice, and how can a society ensure its fair distribution?
• Can artificial intelligence ever attain consciousness or moral reasoning?
• What does it mean to live a good life, and how should individuals strive to achieve it?
• How should we balance individual freedom with social responsibility?
• Is there a universal standard for beauty, or is beauty entirely subjective?
• What is the significance of death in giving meaning to life?
• How do power dynamics shape ethical considerations and social structures?
• Can science and religion coexist, or are they fundamentally incompatible?
• What is the ethical responsibility of humans towards the environment and non-human life?
• How does the concept of the self evolve in the digital age?
• Is there an ethical obligation to pursue truth, even at the expense of personal happiness?
• What role does suffering play in personal growth and the development of character?
• How can societies best balance tradition and innovation in shaping the future?
• What are the ethical implications of genetic engineering and biotechnology on future generations?

What is a good topic for a philosophy paper?

One of the most popular topics in Philosophy today is whether people are born as good beings or we already come to this world with all the negative traits. While it is popular, you can narrow things down by focusing on criminals, youth gangs, or volunteers (as an example of the good ones).

How to Find Excellent Philosophy Essay Topics?

When you have a plethora of philosophy ideas, it is easy to get lost, which is why you should follow these simple Philosophy topic choice tips:

• Find something that truly inspires you. If your topic does not motivate you, it will always show.
• Choose a certain school of philosophy as your methodology.
• Read on various philosophers and examine their famous works.
• Narrow things down and change the wording.
• Research similar works on the topic.

When you have already chosen something, read it aloud and try to think about keywords by writing them down in a list. Once done, connect your essay topic with the thesis statement.

Was this helpful?

Thanks for your feedback.

Written by David Kidwell

David is one of those experienced content creators from the United Kingdom who has a high interest in social issues, culture, and entrepreneurship. He always says that reading, blogging, and staying aware of what happens in the world is what makes a person responsible. He likes to learn and share what he knows by making things inspiring and creative enough even for those students who dislike reading.

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100+ Philosophy Research Paper Topics

One of the most difficult tasks philosophy students faces each year is in having to come up with a philosophy topic to write a paper on. Students can get notifications of big projects months ahead of time and then spend weeks trying to figure out whether their philosophy essay topics are good enough to earn a good grade.

We get it. It’s hard to pull this task together with schedules and responsibilities. This is why we work to find philosophical topics that are current and relatable. We stick to important issues that are at the forefront of the discipline and bring them to you in one convenient philosophical topic for the essay list.

Finding the right philosophy topics can turn regular assignments into A+-winning assignments and we’ve done the work to help you and hundreds of other students get started with these philosophy paper topics. Here are our top 100 philosophy topics for the current school year:

Argumentative Philosophy Research Paper Topics

• Do people naturally have good and bad qualities?
• Do we need family support to find happiness?
• How humans can be happy without reproduction?
• What is the definitive explanation of happiness?
• Do most people feel they aren’t living their full lives?
• Would you marry for money if it meant you could never be happy?
• Would you like to live your life more than once?
• Would you rather work vocationalation job or a high-paying job?
• Are personalities unique or are they just template?
• Do you think that it is moral to follow all the rules?

Good Philosophy Paper Topics for All Levels

• Does one need to lead a moral life to achieve happiness?
• Why do people find life harder than expected?
• Which is the better teacher? Experience or learning?
• Do people always do what they want at that moment?
• Is truth universal or does it change because of perspective?
• Do animals have a better sense of morals than humans?
• Can people gain an education without proper schooling?
• Does one need to be literate to understand philosophy?
• Which ie preferable? Determinism or Free Will?
• Is capital punishment ethical in today’s world?

Controversial Topics in Philosophy

• How does society shape a person’s life and beliefs?
• Do you need a lot of money to live a rich life?
• Why are some people living without actually experiencing things?
• Is spiritual power more important than free will?
• Do genetics play a bigger role in the way people behave?
• What impact does the word “love” have on positivity?
• What is the real reason we live our lives?
• Is it possible to form a perfect world?
• Do religion and philosophy contradict one another?
• Can a world exist without laws or regulations?

Fun Philosophy Paper Topics for High School

• What would be your form ideal government?
• What are the different ways in which humans understand each other?
• How is the concept of happiness defined by different philosophers?
• Is existence simply a dream experienced by a larger being?
• If you can spend a week in any period, which would it be?
• Are we alone in our galaxy or are there other intelligent life forms?
• What does it mean to have free will versus determinism?
• If you can change one thing from your past, what would it be?
• Does religion limit our abilities to explore the meaning of life?
• What does it mean to be loved or to love others?

Topics for Philosophy Paper on the Classics

• What does it mean to understand our universe?
• Does happiness come from our actions toward others?
• Are our thoughts evidence that we exist?
• What is the definition of evil as it relates to the modern world?
• Could societies exist without laws and regulations?
• Are people born good or evil or are they raised to be one or the other?
• Is torture a justifiable form of punishment?
• How can past leaders influence today’s youth positively?
• Is beauty truly in the eye of the beholder?
• Can we refocus our minds to think more positively?

Easy Philosophy Paper Topics for High School

• What does it mean to be moral in today’s world?
• Can wars be justified if it supports the greater population?
• What does it mean to be a postmodern philosopher?
• What are today’s most important life values?
• What is the current perspective on the definition of loneliness?
• How does one prepare for life after death?
• Would you like to repeat your life with full knowledge of the prior?
• Does something better than nothing always lead to benefits?
• Do people choose to suffer or is it a feeling beyond our control?
• Should people have to right to die by suicide?

Philosophy Topics to Write About Quickly

• Do we exist in some form after death?
• Do supernatural entities exist in the world?
• Are video games negatively impacting people’s moral values?
• How does one boost his or her ability to be creative?
• Is it important to spend your entire life learning?
• What does it mean to be mentally conscious?
• What is the definition of loneliness and have you experienced it?
• What are the most important character traits for leaders to have?
• Does one need a lot of money to be considered rich?
• Are we alone in the universe or is there another life?

Philosophical Topics for Essays on Current Issues

• Are parents responsible for how their children behave?
• Are the U.S. and U.K. meritocratic societies?
• Has social media had an impact on people’s morals?
• Do you agree with the notion that love only exists for 3 years?
• Are humans more likely to cause trouble because of boredom?
• Is capital punishment morally justified in modern society?
• Do humans have the same ideas about what is right and what is wrong?
• How does death affect how humans view life?
• Is it complicated to live a life of happiness?
• Should teenagers be given the responsibility to make their own choices?

Philosophy Thesis Topics for a Big Project

• Do religion and the belief in God change a person’s behavior?
• Are Machiavellian ideals still relevant in today’s government?
• Is animal experimentation ever justified to protect humans?
• What are the pros and cons of a utilitarian society?
• What are the pros and cons of a communist government?
• Why are humans the only species to be violent?
• Is economic justice more important than legal justice?
• Should women have univerabortion rightstion?
• What impact did the 20th-century wave of philosophy have on the U.S.?
• How do you know that you are different from other people?

Philosophy Research Paper Topics

• What are the tendencies we see most in humans?
• Are our morals connected to or influenced by culture?
• Would you live your life a second time?
• Should religion have a voice in a nation’s government?
• What do you think makes for an ideal society?
• Are truths relative to specific situations or circumstances?
• What is the most important aspect to gain human knowledge?
• What is something that veritably upsets you?
• What is something in your life that you would like to change?
• What is the most effective way to increase one’s IQ?

Getting a good grade on a philosophy research paper requires you to consider several different options and narrow down those options to a topic you feel you can conduct complete philosophy research on. The topic should also be something that interests you and verges into new areas in the discipline and area of study. This can be a difficult task for many students, so we create custom philosophy research topics to suit every situation. If you can’t find a topic you like from this list, just give us a call, email us, or send us a message via chat. We can direct you to a qualified philosophy expert writer to create a custom list of philosophical ideas to fit your assignment needs.

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1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology

Philosophy, One Thousand Words at a Time

How to Write a Philosophical Essay

Authors: The Editors of 1000-Word Philosophy [1] Category: Student Resources Word Count: 998

If you want to convince someone of a philosophical thesis, such as that God exists , that abortion is morally acceptable , or that we have free will , you can write a philosophy essay. [2]

Philosophy essays are different from essays in many other fields, but with planning and practice, anyone can write a good one. This essay provides some basic instructions. [3]

1. Planning

Typically, your purpose in writing an essay will be to argue for a certain thesis, i.e., to support a conclusion about a philosophical claim, argument, or theory. [4] You may also be asked to carefully explain someone else’s essay or argument. [5]

To begin, select a topic. Most instructors will be happy to discuss your topic with you before you start writing. Sometimes instructors give specific prompts with topics to choose from.

It’s generally best to select a topic that you’re interested in; you’ll put more energy into writing it. Your topic will determine what kind of research or preparation you need to do before writing, although in undergraduate philosophy courses, you usually don’t need to do outside research. [6]

Essays that defend or attack entire theories tend to be longer, and are more difficult to write convincingly, than essays that defend or attack particular arguments or objections: narrower is usually better than broader.

After selecting a topic, complete these steps:

• Ensure that you understand the relevant issues and arguments. Usually, it’s enough to carefully read and take notes on the assigned readings on your essay’s topic.
• Choose an initial thesis. Generally, you should choose a thesis that’s interesting, but not extremely controversial. [7] You don’t have to choose a thesis that you agree with, but it can help. (As you plan and write, you may decide to revise your thesis. This may require revising the rest of your essay, but sometimes that’s necessary, if you realize you want to defend a different thesis than the one you initially chose.)
• Ensure that your thesis is a philosophical thesis. Natural-scientific or social-scientific claims, such as that global warming is occurring or that people like to hang out with their friends , are not philosophical theses. [8] Philosophical theses are typically defended using careful reasoning, and not primarily by citing scientific observations.

Instructors will usually not ask you to come up with some argument that no philosopher has discovered before. But if your essay ignores what the assigned readings say, that suggests that you haven’t learned from those readings.

2. Structure

Develop an outline, rather than immediately launching into writing the whole essay; this helps with organizing the sections of your essay.

Your structure will probably look something like the following, but follow your assignment’s directions carefully. [9]

2.1. Introduction and Thesis

Write a short introductory paragraph that includes your thesis statement (e.g., “I will argue that eating meat is morally wrong”). The thesis statement is not a preview nor a plan; it’s not “I will consider whether eating meat is morally wrong.”

If your thesis statement is difficult to condense into one sentence, then it’s likely that you’re trying to argue for more than one thesis. [10]

2.2. Arguments

Include at least one paragraph that presents and explains an argument. It should be totally clear what reasons or evidence you’re offering to support your thesis.

In most essays for philosophy courses, you only need one central argument for your thesis. It’s better to present one argument and defend it well than present many arguments in superficial and incomplete ways.

2.3. Objection

Unless the essay must be extremely short, raise an objection to your argument. [11] Be clear exactly which part of the other argument (a premise, or the form) is being questioned or denied and why. [12]

It’s usually best to choose either one of the most common or one of the best objections. Imagine what a smart person who disagreed with you would say in response to your arguments, and respond to them.

Offer your own reply to any objections you considered. If you don’t have a convincing reply to the objection, you might want to go back and change your thesis to something more defensible.

2.5. Additional Objections and Replies

If you have space, you might consider and respond to the second-best or second-most-common objection to your argument, and so on.

2.6. Conclusion

To conclude, offer a paragraph summarizing what you did. Don’t include any new or controversial claims here, and don’t claim that you did more than you actually accomplished. There should be no surprises at the end of a philosophy essay.

Make your writing extremely clear and straightforward. Use simple sentences and don’t worry if they seem boring: this improves readability. [13] Every sentence should contribute in an obvious way towards supporting your thesis. If a claim might be confusing, state it in more than one way and then choose the best version.

To check for readability, you might read the essay aloud to an audience. Don’t try to make your writing entertaining: in philosophy, clear arguments are fun in themselves.

Concerning objections, treat those who disagree with you charitably. Make it seem as if you think they’re smart, careful, and nice, which is why you are responding to them.

Your readers, if they’re typical philosophers, will be looking for any possible way to object to what you say. Try to make your arguments “airtight.”

4. Citations

If your instructor tells you to use a certain citation style, use it. No citation style is universally accepted in philosophy. [14]

You usually don’t need to directly quote anyone. [15] You can paraphrase other authors; where you do, cite them.

Don’t plagiarize . [16] Most institutions impose severe penalties for academic dishonesty.

5. Conclusion

A well-written philosophy essay can help people gain a new perspective on some important issue; it might even change their minds. [17] And engaging in the process of writing a philosophical essay is one of the best ways to develop, understand, test, and sometimes change, your own philosophical views. They are well worth the time and effort.

[1] Primary author: Thomas Metcalf. Contributing authors: Chelsea Haramia, Dan Lowe, Nathan Nobis, Kristin Seemuth Whaley.

[2] You can also do some kind of oral presentation, either “live” in person or recorded on video. An effective presentation, however, requires the type of planning and preparation that’s needed to develop an effective philosophy paper: indeed, you may have to first write a paper and then use it as something like a script for your presentation. Some parts of the paper, e.g., section headings, statements of arguments, key quotes, and so on, you may want to use as visual aids in your presentation to help your audience better follow along and understand.

[3] Many of these recommendations are, however, based on the material in Horban (1993), Huemer (n.d.), Pryor (n.d.), and Rippon (2008). There is very little published research to cite about the claims in this essay, because these claims are typically justified by instructors’ experience, not, say, controlled experiments on different approaches to teaching philosophical writing. Therefore, the guidance offered here has been vetted by many professional philosophers with a collective hundreds of hours of undergraduate teaching experience and further collective hundreds of hours of taking philosophy courses. The editors of 1000-Word Philosophy also collectively have thousands of hours of experience in writing philosophy essays.

[4] For more about the areas of philosophy, see What is Philosophy? by Thomas Metcalf.

[5] For an explanation of what is meant by an “argument” in philosophy, see Arguments: Why Do You Believe What You Believe? by Thomas Metcalf.

[6] Outside research is sometimes discouraged, and even prohibited, for philosophy papers in introductory courses because a common goal of a philosophy paper is not to report on a number of views on a philosophical issue—so philosophy papers usually are not “research reports”—but to rather engage a specific argument or claim or theory, in a more narrow and focused way, and show that you understand the issue and have engaged in critically. If a paper engages in too much reporting of outside research, that can get in the way of this critical evaluation task.

[7] There are two reasons to avoid extremely controversial theses. First, such theses are usually more difficult to defend adequately. Second, you might offend your instructor, who might (fairly or not) give you a worse grade. So, for example, you might argue that abortion is usually permissible, or usually wrong, but you probably shouldn’t argue that anyone who has ever said the word ‘abortion’ should be tortured to death, and you probably shouldn’t argue that anyone who’s ever pregnant should immediately be forced to abort the pregnancy, because both of these claims are extremely implausible and so it’s very unlikely that good arguments could be developed for them. But theses that are controversial without being implausible can be interesting for both you and the instructor, depending on how you develop and defend your argument or arguments for that thesis.

[8] Whether a thesis is philosophical mostly depends on whether it is a lot like theses that have been defended in important works of philosophy. That means it would be a thesis about metaphysics, epistemology, value theory, logic, history of philosophy, or something therein. For more information, see Philosophy and Its Contrast with Science and What is Philosophy? both by Thomas Metcalf.

[9] Also, read the grading rubric, if it’s available. If your course uses an online learning environment, such as Canvas, Moodle, or Schoology, then the rubric will often be visible as attached to the assignment itself. The rubric is a breakdown of the different requirements of the essay and how each is weighted and evaluated by the instructor. So, for example, if some requirement has a relatively high weight, you should put more effort into doing a good job. Similarly, some requirement might explicitly mention some step for the assignment that you need to complete in order to get full credit.

[10] In some academic fields, a “thesis” or “thesis statement” is considered both your conclusion and a statement of the basic support you will give for that conclusion. In philosophy, your thesis is usually just that conclusion: e..g, “Eating meat is wrong,” “God exists,” “Nobody has free will,” and so on: the support given for that conclusion is the support for your thesis.

[11] To be especially clear, this should be an objection to the argument given for your thesis or conclusion, not an objection to your thesis or conclusion itself. This is because you don’t want to give an argument and then have an objection that does not engage that argument, but instead engages something else, since that won’t help your reader or audience better understand and evaluate that argument.

[12] For more information about premises, forms, and objections, see Arguments: Why do You Believe What You Believe? by Thomas Metcalf.

[13] For a philosophical argument in favor of clear philosophical writing, and guidance on producing such writing, see Fischer and Nobis (2019).

[14] The most common styles in philosophy are APA (Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.a) and Chicago (Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.b.).

[15] You might choose to directly quote someone when it’s very important that the reader know that the quoted author actually said what you claim they said. For example, if you’re discussing some author who made some startling claim, you can directly quote them to show that they really said that. You might also directly quote someone when they presented some information or argument in a very concise, well-stated way, such that paraphrasing it would take up more space than simply quoting them would.

[16] Plagiarism, in general, occurs when someone submits written or spoken work that is largely copied, in style, substance, or both, from some other author’s work, and does not attribute it to that author. However, your institution or instructor may define “plagiarism” somewhat differently, so you should check with their definitions. When in doubt, check with your instructor first.

[17] These are instructions for relatively short, introductory-level philosophy essays. For more guidance, there are many useful philosophy-writing guides online to consult, e.g.: Horban (1993); Huemer (n.d.); Pryor (n.d.); Rippon (2008); Weinberg (2019).

Fischer, Bob and Nobis, Nathan. (2019, June 4). Why writing better will make you a better person. The Chronicle of Higher Education . 

Horban, Peter. (1993). Writing a philosophy paper. Simon Fraser University Department of Philosophy . 

Huemer, Michael. (N.d.). A guide to writing. Owl232.net .

Pryor, Jim. (N.d.). Guidelines on writing a philosophy paper. Jimpryor.net .

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (N.d.a.). General format. Purdue Online Writing Lab . 

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (N.d.b.). General format. Purdue Online Writing Lab .

Rippon, Simon. (2008). A brief guide to writing the philosophy paper. Harvard College Writing Center .

Weinberg, Justin. (2019, January 15). How to write a philosophy paper: Online guides. Daily Nous .

Related Essays

Arguments: Why do You Believe What You Believe? by Thomas Metcalf

Philosophy and its Contrast with Science by Thomas Metcalf

What is Philosophy? By Thomas Metcalf

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What this handout is about

This handout discusses common types of philosophy assignments and strategies and resources that will help you write your philosophy papers.

What is philosophy, and why do we study it?

Philosophy is the practice of making and assessing arguments. An argument is a set of statements (called premises) that work together to support another statement (the conclusion).

Making and assessing arguments can help us get closer to understanding the truth. At the very least, the process helps make us aware of our reasons for believing what we believe, and it enables us to use reason when we discuss our beliefs with other people. Your philosophy teacher wants to help you learn to make strong arguments and to assess the arguments other people make.

Elements of philosophy papers

A philosophy paper may require several kinds of tasks, including:

• Argument reconstruction

Objections and replies

Application.

• Original argument

Thought experiments

Let’s examine these elements one at a time.

Argument Reconstruction

To reconstruct an argument, you’ll need to present it in a way that someone unfamiliar with the material will understand. Often, this requires you to say a lot more than the philosopher whose work you are writing about did!

There are two main ways to reconstruct an argument: in regular prose or as a formal series of numbered steps. Unless your professor or TA has told you otherwise, you should probably use regular prose. In either case, keep these points in mind:

• Keep your ideas separate from the author’s. Your purpose is to make the author’s argument clear, not to tell what you think of it.
• Be charitable. Give the best version of the argument you can, even if you don’t agree with the conclusion.
• Define important terms.
• Organize your ideas so that the reader can proceed logically from premises to conclusion, step by step.
• Explain each premise.

Let’s walk through an argument reconstruction. Here is a passage by 18th-century British philosopher David Hume:

Take any action allowed to be vicious: Willful murder, for instance. Examine it in all lights, and see if you can find that matter of fact, or real existence, which you call vice. In whichever way you take it, you find only certain passions, motives, volitions and thoughts. There is no other matter of fact in the case. The vice entirely escapes you, as long as you consider the object. You never can find it, till you turn your reflection into your own breast, and find a sentiment of disapprobation, which arises in you, towards this action. Here is a matter of fact, but it is the object of feeling, not of reason. It lies in yourself, not in the object. So that when you pronounce any action or character to be vicious, you mean nothing, but that from the constitution of your nature you have a feeling or sentiment of blame from the contemplation of it. (David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature).

Step 1: Reread the passage a few times, stopping to look up any unfamiliar words—”disapprobation,” maybe. Be sure you understand the important terms, like “vicious.” (By “vicious,” Hume seems to mean “wicked, depraved, or immoral,” which probably isn’t the way you use the word in everyday speech.)

Step 2: Identify the conclusion. Sometimes your teacher will identify it for you, but even if they didn’t, you can find it. (Caution: It won’t always be the first or the last sentence in the passage; it may not even be explicitly stated.) In this case, Hume’s conclusion is something like this: The viciousness of an action is a feeling of disapprobation in the person who considers it, not a property of the action itself.

Step 3: Identify the premises. Consider the conclusion and ask yourself what the author needs to do to prove it. Hume’s conclusion here seems to have two parts: When we call an action vicious, we mean that our “nature” causes us to feel blame when we contemplate that action. There is nothing else that we could mean when we call an action “vicious.”

Step 4: Identify the evidence. Hume considers an example, murder, and points out that when we consider why we say that murder is vicious, two things happen:

• We realize that when we contemplate murder, we feel “a sentiment of disapprobation” in ourselves.
• No matter how hard we look, we don’t see any other “matter of fact” that could be called “vice”—all we see “in the object” (the murder) are “certain passions, motives, volitions, and thoughts.”

Step 5: Identify unspoken assumptions. Hume assumes that murder is a representative case of “viciousness.” He also assumes that if there were “viciousness” in the “object” (the murder), we would be able to “see” it—it isn’t somehow hidden from us. Depending on how important you think these assumptions are, you may want to make them explicit in your reconstruction.

Step 6: Sketch out a formal reconstruction of the argument as a series of steps.

• If we examine a vicious action like murder, we see passions, motives, volitions, and thoughts.
• We don’t see anything else.
• So we don’t see any property or “matter of fact” called “viciousness.”
• Assumption: What we don’t see is not there.
• When we examine our feelings about murder, we see a “sentiment of disapprobation.”
• Unstated premise: This feeling of disapprobation is the only thing all the acts we think are vicious have in common, and we feel it whenever we confront a vicious act—that is, all and only vicious acts produce the feeling of disapprobation.
• Conclusion: So the viciousness of a bad action is a feeling of disapprobation in the person who considers it, not a factual property of the action itself.

Step 7: Summarize the argument, explaining the premises and how they work together. Here’s how such a prose reconstruction might go: To understand what we mean when we call an action “vicious,” by which he means “wrong,” Hume examines the case of murder. He finds that whenever we consider a murder itself, all we see are the “passions, motives, volitions, and thoughts” of the people involved. For example, we might see that the murderer feels the passion of anger and is motivated by a desire to make his victim suffer, and that the victim feels the passion of fear and is thinking about how to escape. But no matter how hard we look, we don’t see “viciousness” or wrongness—we see an action taking place, and people with motives and feelings are involved in that action, but none of these things seem to be what we mean by “viciousness” or wrongness. Hume next turns his inquiry inward, and considers what is happening inside a person who calls a murder “vicious.” The person who thinks or says that murder is wrong always seems to be feeling a certain “sentiment of disapprobation.” That is, the person disapproves of the action and blames the murderer. When we say “murder is wrong,” we usually think that we are saying something about murder itself, that we are describing a property (wrongness) that the action of murder has. But Hume thinks what we are in fact describing is a feeling in us, not a property of murder—the “viciousness” of a vicious action is just an emotion in the person who is thinking about or observing that action, rather than a property of the action itself.

Often, after you reconstruct an argument, you’ll be asked to tell whether it is a good or a bad argument and whether you agree or disagree with it.

Thinking of objections and examining their consequences is a way that philosophers check to see if an argument is a good one. When you consider an objection, you test the argument to see if it can overcome the objection. To object to an argument, you must give reasons why it is flawed:

• The premises don’t support the conclusion.
• One or more of the premises is false.
• The argument articulates a principle that makes sense in this case but would have undesirable consequences in other cases.
• The argument slides from one meaning of a term to another.
• The argument makes a comparison that doesn’t really hold.

Here are some questions you can ask to make sure your objections are strong:

• Have I made clear what part of the argument I object to?
• Have I explained why I object to that part of the argument?
• Have I assessed the severity of my objection? (Do I simply point out where the philosopher needs to do more work, or is it something more devastating, something that the philosopher cannot answer?)
• Have I thought about and discussed how the philosopher might respond to my objection?
• Have I focused on the argument itself, rather than just talking about the general issues the conclusion raises?
• Have I discussed at least one objection thoroughly rather than many objections superficially?

Let’s look at our example again. What objections might you make to Hume’s argument about murder? Here are some possible arguments:

• You might object to premises 2 and 3, and argue that wrong actions do have a property that makes us call them wrong. For example, maybe we call actions wrong because of their motives—because the actions are motivated by cruelty, for example. So perhaps Hume is right that we don’t see a property called “viciousness,” but wrong that “viciousness” is thus only a feeling in us. Maybe the viciousness is one of the motives or passions.
• You might also object to premise 5, and say that we sometimes judge actions to be wrong even though we don’t feel any “sentiment” of disapproval for them. For example, if vigilantes killed a serial murderer, we might say that what they did was wrong, even if we shared their anger at the murderer and were pleased that they had killed them.

Often you’ll be asked to consider how a philosopher might reply to objections. After all, not every objection is a good objection; the author might be able to come up with a very convincing reply! Use what you know about the author’s general position to construct a reply that is consistent with other things the author has said, as well as with the author’s original argument.

So how might Hume, or someone defending Hume, reply to the objections above? Here are some possible objections:

• To the first, Hume might reply that there is no one motive that all “vicious” actions have in common. Are all wrong actions motivated by cruelty? No—theft, for example, might be motivated by hunger. So the only thing all “vicious” actions have in common is that we disapprove of them.
• To the second, Hume might reply that when we call the actions of vigilantes wrong, even though we are pleased by them, we must still be feeling at least some disapproval.

Sometimes you will be asked to summarize an author’s argument and apply that position to a new case. Considering how the author would think about a different case helps you understand the author’s reasoning and see how the argument is relevant. Imagine that your instructor has given you this prompt:

“Apply Hume’s views on the nature of vice to the following case: Mr. Smith has an advanced form of cancer. He asks Dr. Jones what she thinks his prognosis is. Dr. Jones is certain Mr. Smith will die within the month, but she tells him he may survive for a year or longer, that his cancer may not be fatal. Dr. Jones wants to give Mr. Smith hope and spare him the painful truth. How should we think about whether what Dr. Jones did is wrong?”

Consider what you know about Hume’s views. Hume has not given a list of actions that are right or wrong, nor has he said how we should judge whether an action is right or wrong. All he has told us is that if an action is wrong, the wrongness is a sentiment in the people considering the action rather than a property of the action itself. So Hume would probably say that what matters is how we feel about Dr. Jones’s action—do we feel disapproval? If we feel disapproval, then we are likely to call the action “wrong.”

This test case probably raises all kinds of questions for you about Hume’s views. You might be thinking, “Who cares whether we call the action wrong—I want to know whether it actually is wrong!” Or you might say to yourself, “Some people will feel disapproval of the doctor’s action, but others will approve, so how should we decide whether the action is wrong or not?” These are exactly the kinds of questions your instructor wants to get you thinking about.

When you go back to read and discuss Hume, you will begin to see how he might answer such questions, and you will have a deeper understanding of his position. In your paper, though, you should probably focus on one or two main points and reserve the rest of your speculation for your conclusion.

Original argument/taking a position

Sometimes an assignment will ask you to stake out a position (i.e., to take sides in a philosophical debate) or to make an original argument. These assignments are basically persuasive essays, a kind of writing you are probably familiar with. If you need help, see our handouts on argument and thesis statements, among others.

Remember: Think about your audience, and use arguments that are likely to convince people who aren’t like you. For example, you might think the death penalty is wrong because your parents taught you so. But other people have no special reason to care what your parents think. Try to give reasons that will be interesting and compelling to most people.

If scientists want to test a theory or principle, they design an experiment.

In philosophy, we often test our ideas by conducting thought experiments. We construct imaginary cases that allow us to focus on the issue or principle we are most interested in. Often the cases aren’t especially realistic, just as the conditions in a scientific laboratory are different from those in the outside world.

When you are asked to write about a thought experiment, don’t worry about whether it is something that is ever likely to happen; instead, focus on the principle being tested. Suppose that your bioethics teacher has given you this thought experiment to consider:

An elderly, unconscious patient needs a heart transplant. It is very unlikely that a donor heart will become available before the patient dies. The doctor’s other option is to try a new and risky procedure that involves transplanting the heart of a genetically engineered chimpanzee into the patient. This will require killing the chimp. What should the doctor recommend?

This scenario may be unrealistic, but your instructor has created it to get you to think about what considerations matter morally (not just medically) when making a life-or-death decision. Who should make such decisions—doctors, families, or patients? Is it acceptable to kill another intelligent primate in order to provide a heart for a human? Does it matter that the patient is elderly? Unconscious? So instead of focusing on whether or not the scenario is likely to happen, you should make an argument about these issues. Again, see our handouts on argument and thesis statements for help in crafting your position.

Other things to keep in mind

• Be consistent. For example, if I begin my paper by arguing that Marquis is right about abortion, I shouldn’t say later that Thomson’s argument (which contradicts Marquis’s) is also correct.
• Avoid overstatement. Watch out for words like “all,” “every,” “always,” “no,” “none,” and “never”; supporting a claim that uses these words could be difficult. For example, it would be much harder to prove that lying is always wrong than to prove that lying is usually or sometimes wrong.
• Avoid the pitfalls of “seeing both sides.” Suppose you think Kant’s argument is pretty strong, but you still disagree with his conclusion. You might be tempted to say “Kant’s argument is a good one. I disagree with it.” This appears contradictory. If an argument really is good and you can’t find any weaknesses in it, it seems rational to think that you should agree with the argument. If you disagree with it, there must be something wrong with it, and your job is to figure out what that is and point it out.
• Avoid personal attacks and excessive praise. Neither “Mill was obviously a bad person who didn’t care about morality at all” nor “Kant is the greatest philosopher of all time” adds to our understanding of Mill’s or Kant’s arguments.
• Avoid grandiose introductions and conclusions. Your instructor is not likely to appreciate introductions that start with sentences like “Since the dawn of time, human beings have wondered about morality.” Your introduction can place your issue in context, explain why it’s philosophically important, and perhaps preview the structure of your paper or argument. Ask your instructor for further guidance about introductions and conclusions.
• Stay focused. You may be asked to concentrate closely on a small piece of text or a very particular question; if so, stick to it, rather than writing a general report on a “topic.”
• Be careful about appealing to faith, authority, or tradition. While you may believe something because it is a part of your religion, because someone you trust told you about it, or because it is the way things have always been done, be careful about basing your arguments or objections on these sorts of foundations. Remember that your reader may not share your assumptions and beliefs, and try to construct your argument so that it will be persuasive even to someone who is quite different from you.
• Be careful about definitions. Rather than breaking out Webster’s Dictionary, concentrate on the definitions the philosophers you are reading have carefully constructed for the terms they are using. Defining terms is an important part of all philosophical work, and part of your job in writing a philosophy paper will often be thinking about how different people have defined a term.
• Consider reading the Writing Center’s handout on fallacies. Fallacies are common errors in arguments; knowing about them may help you critique philosophers’ arguments and make stronger arguments yourself.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Feinberg, Joel. 2008. Doing Philosophy: A Guide to the Writing of Philosophy Papers , 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.

Holowchak, Mark. 2011. Critical Reasoning and Philosophy: A Concise Guide to Reading, Evaluating, and Writing Philosophical Works , 2nd ed. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Introduction

Chapter outline.

For most college students, an Introduction to Philosophy course is their first encounter with the study of philosophy . Unlike most of your other courses, philosophy is not something usually covered in high school. Yet you are probably familiar with the term philosophy and may have some preconceived notion about what philosophy is and what philosophers do. Perhaps you have stayed up late at night talking with friends or family about topics like free will or the existence of God. Maybe you have a friend who always talks about big ideas or asks tough questions that sound like riddles. Perhaps you think of them as “philosophical”; you might be right.

In this chapter, we will provide a brief introduction to the field of philosophy as a historical and academic discipline. This first chapter should prepare you for your philosophy course and give you a better idea of what it means to be a philosopher. As with all introductions, this one is just a start. Your job is to explore more, think more, read more, and write more like a philosopher. Soon you may even find that you are doing philosophy.

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Writing a Philosophy Essay

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Is there a God? Are there objective, universal moral norms or rules? What is meant by ‘reality’? Do we have free will? In studying philosophy, students aim to do the following:

• understand such philosophical questions and the concepts, arguments, and theories that philosophers use to address them
• think critically about such arguments and theories
• develop their own answers to philosophical questions

Writing philosophy essays is a key part of studying philosophy. Make sure first to understand the assignment, looking out for the questions asked and paying attention to prompts such as “outline” or “evaluate” or “compare”. Most philosophy assignments will ask you to demonstrate your understanding of the subject through exposition of arguments and theories, and many will also test your ability to assess these arguments and theories by writing a critical evaluation of them. Write your paper so that the reader understands how your exposition and evaluation answer the questions and address all parts of the assignment.

Read the Texts Carefully, Asking Questions

Before you write a paper, though, you need to understand the course texts and recommended readings. Philosophical works need to be read slowly and with focused attention. As you read, ask yourself the following:

• What philosophical question(s) is the author addressing?
• What exactly is meant by key ideas or concepts in the text (e.g., Plato’s “Forms”, Aristotle’s “substance” and “accident”, Kant’s “categorical imperative,” Sartre’s “being-for-itself”)? Each discipline has its own technical language, which students must learn.
• What arguments does the author make (e.g., Aquinas’s five arguments for the existence of God)?
• What theories does the author propose (e.g., a dualist mind-body theory or—one of its competitors—a physicalist theory of mind)?

Organize Your Ideas into a Logical Structure

Take notes as you read. Then put your ideas for the essay into a logical order. Because philosophy papers proceed by logical argument, creating a point-form outline that captures the structure of your argument is generally a good strategy. An outline will allow you to spot problems in your argument more easily.

Augment Your Thesis with a Road Map that Reveals the Structure of Your Argument

Most assignments will require you to present a clear thesis statement that sums up the position for which you are arguing. In the introduction you should also provide a ‘road map’—a few sentences that announce in sequence what you intend to accomplish in each of the key stages of your paper. Road maps often rely on first person (“First, I will analyze . . . “), but if your professor prefers that you don’t use the first person, you can instead describe what your essay will accomplish (“First, the essay will analyze . . . “).

Show Your Understanding through Clear and Accurate Exposition

Try to make your expository writing as clear and accurate as possible, and try to show the logical connections between the different parts of a philosophical system. Avoid vague or overly brief exposition, serious omissions, or misunderstandings.

In some first year courses, an early assignment may ask you to write a short paper expounding but not evaluating a concept or theory. For example: “Explain what Plato means by Forms.” Subsequent assignments in the course usually involve evaluation as well as exposition (e.g., “Outline and evaluate Plato’s theory of Forms”). In some courses, assignments may call for detailed interpretation of a text rather than an assessment of it. “Was Hume an idealist?”, “Was Wittgenstein a behaviourist?” and “Was Marx a nihilist about morality?” are examples. Such questions are posed when there is disagreement among scholars about how to interpret a philosopher. In such essays, you will need to examine texts very closely, find passages which support a yes or no answer, choose where you stand in the debate, and defend your answer.

Critically Evaluate a Philosophical Theory

When studying a philosophical theory, you will need to think about both its strengths and weaknesses. For example, is a particular theory of art (such as the view that art is the expression of emotion) comprehensive: does it apply to all the arts and all types of art, or only to some? Is it logically consistent or does it contain contradictions? Are there counterexamples to it?

As you think about your topic, read the course materials, and take notes, you should work out and assemble the following:

• the strengths of a philosopher’s theory
• the arguments the philosopher gives in support of the theory and those the philosopher did not provide but which might still support it
• possible criticisms of those arguments
• how the philosopher has replied or could reply to these criticisms

Finally, ask yourself how you would evaluate those replies: do they work or not? Be selective, especially in a shorter paper. In a 1,000-word essay, for instance, discuss one or two arguments in favour and one or two against. In a 2,000- or 2,500-word paper, you can include more arguments and possible replies. Finally, plan carefully: leave enough space for your assessment.

A different type of critical evaluation assignment may ask for a comparative appraisal of two or more theories. For example, “Which account of human decision-making is stronger: X’s free will theory or Y’s determinist theory?” In such essays, your thesis could be that one account is better than the other or, perhaps, that neither account is clearly superior. You might argue that each has different strengths and weaknesses.

Develop Your Own Answers to Philosophical Questions

In the type of critical assessments above, you are already, to some extent, articulating your own philosophical positions. As you read texts in a course on, say, philosophy of mind or philosophy of art, you should be asking, based on what you have read so far, which theory is the best? Don’t be content to just understand theories and know their strengths and weaknesses. Push yourself to think out your own account of mind or art.

Some upper-year essay assignments may throw a fundamental philosophical question at you: “What is art?”, “Do we have free will?”, “What is morality?”, or “What is reality?”. Here, you will present your own answer, giving reasons, answering objections, and critically evaluating alternative approaches. Your answer/thesis might be an existing theory or a synthesis of two or more theories, or (more rarely) a completely new theory. Now you are not only expounding theories or critically evaluating them; you are also developing your own philosophy!

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Writing a Philosophy Essay

Is there a God? Are there objective, universal moral norms or rules? What is meant by reality? Do we have free will? In studying philosophy, students aim to do the following:

• Understand such philosophical questions and the concepts, arguments, and theories that philosophers use to address them;
• Think critically about such arguments and theories; and
• Develop their own answers to philosophical questions.

Writing philosophy essays is a key part of studying philosophy. Make sure first to understand the assignment, looking out for the questions asked and paying attention to prompts such as outline or evaluate or compare .

Most philosophy assignments will ask you to demonstrate your understanding of the subject through the exposition of arguments and theories, and many will also test your ability to assess these arguments and theories by writing a critical evaluation of them. Write your paper so that the reader understands how your exposition and evaluation answer the questions and address all parts of the assignment.

Read the texts carefully, asking questions

Before you write a paper, though, you need to understand the course texts and recommended readings. Philosophical works need to be read slowly and with focused attention. As you read, ask yourself the following:

• What philosophical question(s) is the author addressing?
• What exactly is meant by key ideas or concepts in the text (e.g., Plato’s Forms, Aristotle’s substance and accident, Kant’s categorical imperative, Sartre’s being-for-itself)? Each discipline has its own technical language that students must learn.
• What arguments does the author make (e.g., Aquinas’s five arguments for the existence of God)?
• What theories does the author propose (e.g., a dualist mind-body theory or -- one of its competitors -- a physicalist theory of mind)?

Organize your ideas into a logical structure

Take notes as you read. Then put your ideas for the essay into a logical order. Because philosophy papers proceed by logical argument, creating a point-form outline that captures the structure of your argument is generally a good strategy. An outline will allow you to spot problems in your argument more easily.

Augment your thesis with a road map that reveals the structure of your argument

Most assignments will require you to present a clear thesis statement that sums up the position for which you are arguing. In the introduction, you should also provide a road map -- a few sentences that announce in sequence what you intend to accomplish in each of the key stages of your paper.

Road maps often rely on first person ("First, I will analyze . . . "), but if your professor prefers that you don't use the first person, you can instead describe what your essay will accomplish ("First, the essay will analyze . . . ").

Show your understanding through clear and accurate exposition

Try to make your expository writing as clear and accurate as possible, and try to show the logical connections between the different parts of a philosophical system. Avoid vague or overly brief exposition, serious omissions or misunderstandings.

In some first-year courses, an early assignment may ask you to write a short paper expounding, but not evaluating, a concept or theory. For example: Explain what Plato means by Forms. Subsequent assignments in the course usually involve evaluation as well as exposition (e.g., Outline and evaluate Plato’s theory of Forms.).

In some courses, assignments may call for detailed interpretation of a text rather than an assessment of it. “Was Hume an idealist?", “Was Wittgenstein a behaviourist?” and “Was Marx a nihilist about morality?” are examples.

Such questions are posed when there is disagreement among scholars about how to interpret a philosopher. In such essays, you will need to examine texts very closely, find passages which support a yes or no answer, choose where you stand in the debate and defend your answer.

Critically evaluate a philosophical theory

When studying a philosophical theory, you will need to think about both its strengths and weaknesses. For example, is a particular theory of art -- such as the view that art is the expression of emotion -- comprehensive: does it apply to all the arts and all types of art, or only to some? Is it logically consistent or does it contain contradictions? Are there counterexamples to it?

As you think about your topic, read the course materials, and take notes, you should work out and assemble the following:

• The strengths of a philosopher’s theory;
• The arguments the philosopher gives in support of the theory and those the philosopher did not provide but which might still support it;
• Possible criticisms of those arguments; and.
• How the philosopher has replied or could reply to these criticisms.

Finally, ask yourself how you would evaluate those replies: do they work or not? Be selective, especially in a shorter paper. In a 1,000-word essay, for instance, discuss one or two arguments in favour and one or two against. In a 2,000- or 2,500-word paper, you can include more arguments and possible replies.

Finally, plan carefully: leave enough space for your assessment. A different type of critical evaluation assignment may ask for a comparative appraisal of two or more theories. For example, Which account of human decision-making is stronger: X’s free will theory or Y’s determinist theory? 

In such essays, your thesis could be that one account is better than the other or, perhaps, that neither account is clearly superior. You might argue that each has different strengths and weaknesses.

Develop your own answers to philosophical questions

In the type of critical assessments above, you are already, to some extent, articulating your own philosophical positions. As you read texts in a course on, say, philosophy of mind or philosophy of art, you should be asking, based on what you have read so far, which theory is the best? Don’t be content to just understand theories and know their strengths and weaknesses. Push yourself to think out your own account of mind or art.

Some upper-year essay assignments may throw a fundamental philosophical question at you: What is art?, Do we have free will?, What is morality? or What is reality?. Here, you will present your own answer, giving reasons, answering objections and critically evaluating alternative approaches.

Your answer/thesis might be an existing theory or a synthesis of two or more theories or (more rarely) a completely new theory. Now you are not only expounding theories or critically evaluating them; you are also developing your own philosophy.

Written by Michael O'Connor, University College Writing Centre

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283 Philosophical Questions to Spark Deep Critical Thinking

Philosophy has implications for daily life. Pick a handful of these 255 questions as a starting point for thinking critically.

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It can be easy to get so caught up in daily life that we forget to stop and think about our world. Thinking about philosophical questions can help you think critically.

Building a practice of thinking critically of the world will empower you to make decisions that you feel confident in—whether it’s how you vote, spend your time, or use your resources. 

If you’re looking for where to start, check out this list of philosophical questions! 

What is a Philosophical Question?

A philosophical question often doesn’t have a clear, straightforward answer. They are questions that usually require deep thought and sometimes don’t have answers.

Philosophical questions typically involve human nature, the origins of the universe, morality, ethics, and the afterlife. 

Philosophical Questions About Behavior

Humans are complex beings, and our world is also complicated. This can make it hard to parse the good from the bad and right from wrong. Take a moment to consider some of these philosophical questions about behavior and human nature. 

• What is the difference between good and bad people? 
• Is it essential to be a “good person”? 
• What makes people feel more attached to some people than others? 
• Is tribalism, or looking out for others like you, innately good, bad, or neutral? 
• If one existed apart from other humans, would they still value goodness? 
• Are there moral commonalities amongst diverse people groups and cultures? 
• Are individuals important, and if so, in what ways? 
• Are humans more important than other animals? Why or why not? 
• Are some people more important than others? 
• Is the death penalty right or wrong? 
• What should be the repercussions for wronging someone else?  
• What is wisdom? 
• Is wisdom a helpful tool? 
• Why is wisdom often associated with age? 
• If a person has an accident and is no longer able to contribute to society, has their value as a person decreased, increased, or stayed the same? 
• Can people change? 
• How does one become a “good person”? 
• If someone’s personality changes, does that mean they have also changed?
• Can you ever honestly know another person? 
• If someone’s intentions were good but the outcome of an action is terrible, at that moment, is the person good or bad? 
• If someone does a kind deed but has a selfish motive, does that impact the goodness of the deed? 
• When babies are born, are they good? 
• If identical twins grew up never knowing each other, how similar and different would they be? 
• Is there ever a justifiable reason to kill someone? 
• Are people born with a specific personality, or is the character the result of their circumstances? 
• Is lying ever a good thing? 
• If you steal money but use it to save someone’s life, does that justify the theft? 
• Should someone being ignorant be a valid excuse for their rudeness? 
• Can we choose our emotions, or do they happen to us? 

Watch our video below to learn how to start a conversation with anyone using these killer conversation starters:

Philosophy Questions About Love

“Love is a biological necessity. We cannot live without it” —Stephanie Cacioppo, neuroscientist specializing in love and loneliness 

As people, we need to love and be loved. You can express love in many different ways. Use these questions to spark some critical thought on the topic of love, or check out these truth or dare questions while you’re at it.

• What is love? 
• How do you know you are loved? 
• How do you know that you love someone? 
• Is the desire to be loved an innate human desire? 
• Why do people desire love? 
• Does love necessitate action, or can it exist simply as a feeling? 
• In what ways are love, lust, and sexual desire different from one another? 
• Is an understanding of pain necessary to appreciate love? 
• Does the loss of love change one’s outlook on life?
• Can one show love without first being loved? Is love an intrinsic aspect of human nature or a reciprocated act? 
• Are there different forms of love such as parental, friendship, or romantic? Or are they all diverse expressions of the same substance? 
• Can romantic love for one person last forever? 
• Can love ever be a bad thing? 
• How does unreciprocated love affect people? 
• What does falling in love mean? 
• What causes someone to fall in love?  
• Does love feel different to different people? 
• Is love, health, or money more important? 
• Can you choose to feel love for someone? 
• Does being loved by more people correlate to a person’s value?
• Is there a difference in depth of love versus quantity of love? 
• To love someone well, do you need to show their love how they want to be loved, or can you love them the way you naturally show love? 

Pro Tip: If you’re interested in learning more about different ways to show love, read up on the five love languages . 

• Is there “The one?”
• What does it mean to love yourself? 
• Do you need to love yourself before you can love others? 
• Is loving yourself selfish? 
• Is it essential to have a friendship with your partner? 
• If your partner grew up in an abusive household, are you more understanding of unhealthy behavior? 
• Would you rather be respected or loved? 

Fun Philosophical Questions

Philosophy can be fun! If you think philosophy is all heavily intellectual, overwhelming, abstract, or existential-crisis-inducing, take a moment to ponder if a hot dog is a taco. 

• Are you currently dreaming, and how do you know? 
• Do memories exist even if you forget them? 
• Does grass feel pain when you step on it? 
• Can trees feel pain? 
• Does 1+1 always equal 2? 
• Would it be ethical, unethical, or neutral if time travel were possible? 
• If time travel were possible, would it be wrong to change history? 
• What is the purpose of humor? 
• Why are jokes funny? 
• If one person doesn’t find a joke funny, does it mean they have a lousy sense of humor, or is the joke flawed? 
• Are humans responsible in any way for caring for wild animals? 
• Can inanimate objects be either bad or good? 
• Does morality bind animals? 
• Is water wet? 
• Are hot dogs tacos? 
• Is it wrong to visit a zoo, thereby financially supporting an establishment that isn’t ideal for the animals? 
• Is it wrong to purchase fast fashion , rapidly produced clothing that uses manufacturing methods that negatively impact the environment and exploit workers? 
• In a fictional world, could you have a five-sided square? 
• How do we know what words mean? 
• Why do some people feel scared while watching a horror movie even though they know it is not real? 
• What would you say if you had five minutes to defend the human race in front of a group of aliens who were going to obliterate humanity? 
• Are there any physiological changes you would make humans make us a better species? 
• Should the legal age for alcohol consumption be different than it is? 
• If your life expectancy suddenly increased to 500 years, would you live differently than you currently are? What about if your life expectancy decreased and you only had five more years to live? 
• If immortality were possible, would you want to be immortal? 

Questions from Philosophy About Human Rights

What are human rights? Whose job is it to ensure that all humans have rights? These types of questions can be multifaceted and hard. It can be easy to avoid them or think they’re someone else’s job. 

However, your daily choices can have a ripple effect on other people’s lives. Whether with who you vote for or how you spend your money, how you live impacts others. 

Take some time to consider what you believe human rights are if everyone is entitled to them, and whose job it is to ensure everyone has rights. 

• What are human rights? 
• Is autonomy a human right? 
• Is liberty a human right? 
• Is free speech a human right?
• What is the difference between a human right and a privilege? 
• Is it the responsibility of privileged individuals or the government to bridge gaps between privileged and disadvantaged people? 
• If people are spreading misinformation, should they still be allowed to continue? 
• Should abortion be legal? 
• At what point in human development, from a fetus to a baby, does one become a person and gain rights? 
• Is war ever necessary or even reasonable? 
• How can societies work to dismantle systemic racism, ableism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination? 
• If two people’s opinions differ, how should they resolve their differences? 
• Has technology made it easier or harder to advance human rights? 
• Is it the responsibility of wealthy countries to support impoverished countries? 
• Should women’s rights be a priority to men? Why or why not? 
• What makes a person a person? 
• If a person has lost consciousness and doctors know they will not regain it, but their organs are still functioning, are they still a person? 
• Is the internet good, bad, or neutral? 
• Is being able to financially support a family a human right, or is having a large family a privilege? 
• Do more humans have fundamental rights in the modern world, or have we lost human rights as time has progressed? 
• If you could ensure every person on the planet would have access to a single human right, which one would you choose? Would there be any repercussions? 
• What rights should prisoners of war have? 
• Do you think those serial killers have an equal value to other people, or do their actions impact their value? 
• Is privacy a human right? 
• Is technological advancement minimizing our privacy? 

Philosophical Questions About Society and Government 

When we look at the societies we live in, they often have good and bad elements. These questions can help you think critically about the structures in place in your country. 

• Are there any innately evil governmental structures? 
• What would a perfect society look like? 
• How involved should governments be in caring for the individuals in their country? 
• If you could create your society, what would look different from the one where you live now? 
• What role should the government have in the lives of individuals? 
• What makes a good leader? 
• Can someone do a bad thing and still be a good person? 
• Is prison the best way to protect society and correct individuals? 
• Does the legal system function fairly? 
• Is technology good? 
• Can technology advance society in a way that is beneficial? 
• Are taxes morally right? 
• Should it be lawful for citizens to hold protests? What if a handful of the protestors make it violent? 
• What makes people work together despite differences? 
• Does societal advancement only happen with collaboration? 
• In what ways can disagreements advance society? 
• What makes a crime a crime? 
• How should citizens who believe the laws in their country be unjust behave? Is it okay for them to ignore those laws and are still bound to do what the law asks of them? 
• Is it morally wrong to abstain from voting? 
• Is it wrong for governments not to have healthcare available to all citizens? 
• Should things that are bad for people be banned by the government, or is it the individual’s responsibility to avoid harmful substances? 
• Is there an age at which people should be answerable for their actions? 
• Is it discriminatory not to allow certain people to run for government office?
• Is it okay to limit immigration if a country is worried it will lose its culture? 
• Should the government regulate what food manufacturers can and can’t put in their food? 
• Is the government responsible for ensuring people receive a livable wage? 
• Should those who live an unhealthy lifestyle have decreased access to healthcare? 
• What would the ideal government look like? 

Philosophical Questions Related to Culture

Culture can be a complicated issue to wrap your head around. When you travel or talk to someone from a different background, you may immediately notice surface-layer cultural differences such as what food people eat and what type of clothing they wear. 

However, as you get to know a culture better, you may realize there are deep-seated differences, perspectives, and traditions. 

These questions will help you think about the differences between cultures and if there are any aspects of culture that are innately good or bad. 

• What is culture? 
• How does culture form? 
• Is it important to be mindful of other cultures, and if so, why? 
• Are some cultures better than others? 
• Is morality developed within a culture, or is it intrinsic? 
• Is there a wrong way to discipline children? 
• In what way is a family-oriented culture better or worse than an individualistic culture? 
• Are individualistic cultures intrinsically selfish? 
• What is success? 
• Does income play a part in how you define success? 
• Does the culture you were raised in impact your outlook on life? 
• If someone has recently relocated to a new country, should there be leniency for breaking minor laws they did not know about, or should they be prosecuted the same as their counterpart raised in that culture? 
• If a group practices human sacrifice as part of their culture, does that make it okay? Would you be wrong to try to save the person they would sacrifice?  
• Is attractiveness a cultural construct? 

Philosophical Questions About Space and the Universe

Humans have long been in awe of space. Our recorded fascination with space reaches back to ancient philosophers. 

“Astronomy compels the soul to look upward and leads us from this world to another.” —Plato

However, it has only been in the past 75 years that humanity has started studying space up-close—and there’s still so much we don’t know about the universe we live in. These questions can help you find new ways to think about the world around you and how that informs your day-to-day life.  

• Where does the Earth come from? 
• Did a deity or event start the universe? 
• Does the universe’s origin affect how one lives, and if so, how? 
• Does the vastness of space impact the way you perceive yourself? 
• Do things about the universe imply it exists due to chance or design? 
• Is it the duty of those currently alive to be ecologically responsible? 
• Is the Earth the only planet inhabited by living beings? 
• Is anything in the world eternal? 
• Is time eternal? 
• Did time, as we now perceive it starts at a specific moment? 
• Will time continue to run after the human species no longer exists? 
• If we find another inhabitable planet, would there be any moral implications if humans left the earth and moved there? 
• Should space travel be accessible to all people? 
• Is it good, bad, or neutral that humans have invested so many resources into space exploration? 
• Is there a difference between faith and superstition? 
• If a deity exists, would it exist within our understanding of morality? 

Philosophical Questions to Ask Kids

Philosophical questions can be challenging for children. Philosophy is often large and abstract. Because they’ve been alive for less time, children typically have fewer life experiences than adults to draw on when answering philosophical questions. 

However, some of these questions are ones that small children are already wondering about. You may have heard them ask what happened to their goldfish after it died or struggle with differentiating emotions like happiness and sadness. 

Introducing a few of these conversations may help the children in your life realize these are conversations you are ready and willing to have any time they have questions. 

• What does it mean to feel happy? 
• Why are some things right and some things wrong? 
• Is it necessary to be nice to people, and why? 
• What is kindness? 
• Is being kind and being nice the same thing? 
• What is the difference between good and evil? 
• What happens to pets when they die? 
• What are things that you know to be certain? 
• What is something that you believe and why? 
• If superheroes were real, would they be more responsible for protecting people than you are or equally accountable? 
• Does helping people make you feel good? Why or why not? 
• What is the difference between adults and children? 
• What, if anything, makes a person different from an animal? 
• Is social media good, bad, or neutral? 
• How do you know that you belong? 

Challenging Ethical Questions to Consider

The philosophical subtopic of ethics involves weighing between challenging scenarios and deciding which option is morally right. The challenges raised within ethics can often be incredibly challenging to sort out, and they are ones you may run into in life. 

Remember, even if someone sees a topic differently than you do, it’s essential to be respectful and have conversations without getting vertigo from the “dizzying heights of your moral ground.” 

• Is it wrong to kill one person if it might save the lives of hundreds of others? 
• Is using euthanasia to intentionally end a life to prevent further pain and suffering immoral? 
• Should people be allowed to commit medically induced suicide? 
• Was former President Harry Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bombs unethical? Some argue that it saved many lives by ending the war quicker. Does that change the ethics of killing civilians during a time of war? 
• Is bribery ever acceptable or ethical? 
• If your friend’s significant other drinks too much alcohol and flirts with you, should you tell your friend about it and probably hurt them with the knowledge, or wait and see if it was a one-time thing that won’t ever happen again?
• Is eating animals unethical or not? 
• Is it ethical to test products on animals? 
• If someone passed away in a car accident and their lungs could save someone’s life who would otherwise die before another donor became available, would it be wrong to use the lungs as a transplant if the person who passed was not a registered organ donor? 
• Is it okay to harm one person if it means protecting others? 
• Is being a billionaire in a world where people are starving unethical or do you feel that it is alright if they worked hard and earned their wealth? 
• Is war ever ethical? 

Questions About Religion and Morality

These are profound questions that have to do with one’s worldview. Many of these topics, such as life after death, cannot know with certainty, but they are worth thinking about anyway. 

• Is it possible to not believe anything, or does everyone have beliefs? 
• What happens after death? 
• Is there a god? 
• Is there an afterlife? 
• Do people have free will? 
• Is your soul reborn after you die? 
• Does your worldview impact the way you make day-to-day decisions? 
• Where do people come from? 
• Is there an age at which people are morally responsible for their decisions? 
• Is there such a thing as fate? 
• Is luck a real thing? 
• Does chance exist? 
• Does life have meaning? If so, what is the meaning of life? 
• Does having a religious experience prove the existence of a god? 
• Is there absolute truth? 
• Who determines right from wrong? 
• Is the world progressively becoming worse? 
• Why does evil exist? 

Abstract Philosophical Questions

Topics like pain, suffering, beauty, and joy are a part of daily life, but how often do you stop to think about them? 

Use these questions to help you do just that! 

• What is beauty? 
• Are pain and beauty interconnected? 
• Is it a shared element between a beautiful person, experience, or memory? 
• Why do people value happiness, beauty, or joy? 
• If your life were to end tomorrow, would you be happy with how you had spent your time? 
• What would you want it to say if someone were to write a book about you? 
• What gives your life meaning and purpose? 
• Can pain be a good thing? 
• Does learning a valuable lesson through suffering make it worth it? 
• Is it essential to care for yourself, or is it more important to care for others? 
• What is “failure?” 
• Does failing at something mean you’re bad at it? 
• Would getting rid of negative traits like aggression in all humans have any negative consequences? 
• Would removing loss, sorrow, and pain impact one’s ability to enjoy life and love? 
• What is the difference between happiness and joy?
• What makes you happy? 
• Can you choose to feel joy? 
• What is friendship? 
• Why do friendships sometimes end? 

Philosophical Questions About Art, Music, and Literature 

Art, music, and literature are essential ways that people express themselves and preserve culture. 

“Art is the window to man’s soul. Without it, he would never be able to see beyond his immediate world; nor could the world see the man within.” —Lady Bird Johnson

Here are some questions to help you think critically about what art is and how it impacts you. 

• What makes something “art?”
• Is some art better than other art? 
• Does art need to make a statement or have a deeper meaning? 
• Is music art? 
• Should artists be held responsible for the message of their art? 
• Are artists morally obligated to give trigger warnings if their art could mentally or physically negatively impact someone? 
• Should there be age restrictions on specific pieces of art? 
• Should public nudity be acceptable when being presented as performance art? 
• Should everyone be able to interpret a piece of art as they see it, or is there a “correct” interpretation of an art piece? 
• Is it morally wrong for museums to display art that depicts slavery? Why or why not?
• Should art taken as spoils of war be returned to the country it originated in? 
• Is it wrong for educators to assign reading that demonstrates racism? 
• Is it necessary to preserve history? 
• Is it morally acceptable to enjoy art made by someone who did horrible things? 
• Why do people enjoy looking at art? 
• Why does music connect people? 
• Should music be beautiful?
• Is it essential for art to “make a statement?”
• Would it be music if you and your friends were to hit pots and pans randomly? 
• If it comes together when you’re hitting pots and pans and sounds nice, would it be music? 
• If there is a room full of people talking, could that be categorized as music? 
• What is the difference between “good” taste in art or music and “bad” taste? 
• Can cooking be a form of art? 
• What is the critical difference between a functional and artistically designed room? 
• Is it possible that what one person sees as “yellow” is what someone else sees as “green,” but they’ve both learned to call it “yellow,” so they will never know? 

Society, Government, and Philosophical Dilemmas

• Are there any innately evil governmental structures?
• What would a perfect society look like?
• How involved should governments be in caring for the individuals in their country?
• If you could create your society, what would look different from the one where you live now?
• What role should the government have in the lives of individuals?
• What makes a good leader?
• Can someone do a bad thing and still be a good person?
• Is prison the best way to protect society and correct individuals?
• Does the legal system function fairly?
• Is technology good?
• Can technology advance society in a way that is beneficial?
• Are taxes morally right?
• Should it be lawful for citizens to hold protests? What if a handful of the protestors make it violent?
• What makes people work together despite differences?
• Does societal advancement only happen with collaboration?
• In what ways can disagreements advance society?
• What makes a crime a crime?
• How should citizens who believe the laws in their country be unjust behave? Is it okay for them to ignore those laws and are still bound to do what the law asks of them?
• Is it morally wrong to abstain from voting?
• Is it wrong for governments not to have healthcare available to all citizens?
• Should things that are bad for people be banned by the government, or is it the individual’s responsibility to avoid harmful substances?
• Is there an age at which people should be answerable for their actions?
• Is it okay to limit immigration if a country is worried it will lose its culture?
• Should the government regulate what food manufacturers can and can’t put in their food?
• Is the government responsible for ensuring people receive a livable wage?
• Should those who live an unhealthy lifestyle have decreased access to healthcare?
• What would the ideal government look like?

Final Thoughts: Talk Philosophy with Other People 

When it comes to challenging topics like those raised by philosophy, it can be helpful to talk through them with others. Others can help raise perspectives that you may not have considered yourself. 

Philosophical questions can also make for interesting conversations with people you already know relatively well. Just remember to be respectful of people who have different viewpoints! 

Here are some ways you can use these questions: 

• Over dinner with a few friends . How would your friends react if you asked about beauty’s nature or the purpose of life? It might be unexpected, but give it a try the next time you see them! Philosophy might not be the best topic if you’re with a big crowd of friends, but it can make for an exciting conversation with a group of four or five. 
• With your significant other . How you perceive the world informs how you spend your money, what you believe about raising a family, and how you use your free time. It can be stressful, but deal-breaker conversations are essential if you want a relationship to become serious. 
• With a son, daughter, niece, nephew, or another child in your life . Children have big questions about the world but may not know how to find the words for those questions. Try asking the children in your life an occasional philosophical question to help them begin to strengthen their critical thinking muscles. 

If you’re hosting a dinner party and want to talk about something a little less serious, consider using one of these 257 questions .

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Philosophy-Inspired Writing Prompts

by Melissa Donovan | Jun 22, 2021 | Writing Prompts | 9 comments

Writing prompts for deep thinkers.

Writing provides a way to express one’s thoughts, feelings, or ideas. It’s a communication tool.

But writing can also be a tool for self-discovery and critical thinking.

Many authors have stated that they write stories so they can find out what happens to the characters they’ve created. Essayists explain that writing helps them organize their thoughts and ideas, and as a result they gain understanding of themselves and the world around them.

Today’s writing prompts encourage you to dig deeper into yourself and discover what you think about the big, unanswered questions. Even if you’ve already contemplated questions like these, writing out your answers may help you uncover ideas and beliefs you never knew you had.

What is Philosophy?

There are three branches of philosophy: natural, moral, and metaphysical. The term philosophy can refer to the study, analysis, and exploration of any of these branches.

Philosophy largely involves asking questions to which there are no known, absolute answers. Investigating these questions rationally helps us develop principles of existence, knowledge, and ethics or acceptable behavior. Belief systems, including spiritual paths, political systems, and religious organizations, are built on philosophical ideas and conclusions.

These philosophy-inspired writing prompts are designed to promote the exploration of philosophical questions from a personal perspective.

Philosophical Writing Prompts

You can use these writing prompts in any number of ways. You can simply write your answers to these questions in essay format, which is the best way to truly explore your thoughts. If you write fiction, then try answering these questions from the perspectives of your characters. This will help you better understand your characters’ motivations. You can also use these writing prompts to inspire a poem, story, or free-writing session.

• Humankind has been searching for the meaning of life for millennia. Is there any meaning or purpose to life? Why are we here?
• They say two things are certain: death and taxes. I disagree. Plenty of people live and die without ever paying taxes (for a number of different reasons). But everybody dies. Why? Is eternal life possible? Is there life after death?
• Have you ever had déjà vu , the strange sense that you’ve experienced something before? Have you ever felt like you were meant for something, that some event or moment in your life was destined? Do you think there is always a choice? In other words: do you believe in fate or free will?
• Do you believe in a higher power or deity? Can the existence of a higher power ever be proven or disproved?
• Where does it all come from — the earth, the stars, the universe, us?
• Do good and evil truly exist? What determines an action or person as good or evil? Who gets to decide who or what is good or evil?

Did you find these writing prompts interesting? Which did you choose? Did you learn anything from your writing session? Leave a comment, and keep writing!

Thanks for these prompts! I have a essay due in my Philosophy class about a issue in philosophy that we’ve been struggling with, and your last prompt on Morality helped me cinch my decision 🙂

Awesome! I love that kind of serendipity.

Hey, I just felt like writing, and I like the one about dejavu. My mornings before class are always spent in these deep discussions that I have with my friends. I love it. 🙂 Thanks again.

Thanks, Victoria! Deja vu is a fascinating phenomenon, isn’t it?

I chose the Deja Vu and Life’s Purpose promts for poetry pieces and had alot of fun completing them

That’s awesome, Mercedes. I’m glad you enjoyed these prompts.

These writing prompts are great!

Thanks, Paige. I’m glad you like them!

Absolute love these questions but i want to share the answer that i had on two particular questions and give some feedback. i would truly appreciate it.

*1 Humankind has been searching for the meaning of life for millennia. Is there any meaning or purpose to life? Why are we here?

` There isn’t any meaning in life if you go searching for it because you’ll miss it. life is happening as we are breathing, to know the true meaning about life and human existence, we have to first ask ourselves what are we doing now that is gonna change the next few years of our life? And that there is the answer, there’s no definite answer because all we know is we are here and only here. so live the life you want. we all have the power to direct the world we live in. however honestly the purpose for life is to find out who we truly are and that will always remain a mystery.

*2 Do good and evil truly exist? What determines an action or person as good or evil? Who gets to decide who or what is good or evil?

` Good and evil are labels just as nice, mean , smart and pretty these labels were made up. or in other words used to descried something based on the momentary feeling or the action of someone or something. To call someone evil it’s like saying cows aren’t suppose to produce milk , that’s what they do, just like us we all are evil in some way but we have the inevitable choice to choose whether or not we produce it. And no one in this world can judge whether or not something/someone is good or evil PERIOD.

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Philosophy Toolkit

Welcome to the philosophy toolkit, a searchable index of philosophical lesson plans.

Our Links page  also offers links to other sites with high quality lesson plans and other resources for philosophy with young people.

We welcome lesson plan submissions for the PLATO Philosophy Toolkit. Submissions should include: grade level, time necessary for the lesson, area, and topics (see other Toolkit lesson plans).  Submissions are accepted for review year round. Please s ubmit lesson plans to Education Director Karen Emmerman at  [email protected] . 

Looking for resources on philosophy and children’s literature? 

The Philosophy Toolkit includes over 100 lesson plans for children’s books!

Click here to browse Philosophy and Children’s Literature →

We have also developed prompts for reflecting about difficult issues , such as anxiety, death, loneliness and boredom. Click here to browse those .

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• metaphysics (18)
• reasoning (15)
• Fairness (15)
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Getting started:.

Getting Started The Philosophy Toolkit contains a variety of different lesson plans for leading philosophical discussions with young people. Each lesson plan indicates the grade level for which it is appropriate as well as an estimate of the time necessary to complete the lesson. Please explore the Toolkit and contact us with any suggestions, questions, or feedback.

Search by Areas and Grade Levels: The Toolkit is organized by Area and Grade Levels. In the navigation on the left, you can click “Areas” to get a drop-down menu of academic topics (e.g., History and Social Studies, Science, and Music).

If you would like to search by the age range of the students you work with, click on “Grade Levels” to open a menu listing grades from preschool through high school and beyond.

Search by Philosophical and Other Topics: If you are looking for lesson plans focused on a particular philosophical area (e.g., ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, and aesthetics), simply enter that term into the search bar to receive a list of lesson plans with that philosophical focus.

If you prefer to search for a more general topic (e.g., friendship), enter any search term you like and receive a list of lesson plans related to that topic.

Popular Topics Looking for inspiration? Take a look at some popular lesson plans from recent user searches by clicking the “Popular Topics” tab in the navigation bar on the left.

It’s important that the teacher/facilitator always keeps in mind that the whole point of doing philosophy with young people is to help the students develop their own thinking!  The role of the teacher/facilitator is guide the discussion without attempting to control its content. In other words, do not plan to dictate the substance of the discussion, but rather provide the tools and structure for the discussion to take place among the participants/students.

Remember it’s a balancing act between helping students achieve philosophical clarity and depth and refraining from imposing on the conversation your own preferences for subject matter. This requires sensitivity, skill and practice; push too hard and you’ll monopolize the conversation, but if you do not provide enough structure the students can end up following tangents at length or simply engaging in an opinion-sharing exercise, and making no progress!

To assist you in getting started, we have compiled a list of things to do and not to do that we have found helpful for new and experienced philosophy educators alike.

Things To Do

Hint: Let the discussion flow from the students’ questions and ideas. After reading a story or doing an activity, ask, “What questions did this make you think of?”

• Encourage the students to build on each other’s ideas.
• Show the students that what they say makes you think.
• Encourage the students to speak to one another.

Things Not To Do

• Tell the students their answers are right or wrong.
• Plan to teach the students some philosophical argument or point.
• Insist on your own views.
• Be uncomfortable with or try to fill-in intervals of silence.
• Give a definitive answer to a philosophical question.
• Permit lengthy discussions of relatively unimportant issues.
• Monopolize the discussion.
• Resolve issues for them.
• Try to show the students how philosophically sophisticated you are.

The Difference between Philosophical & Non-Philosophical Questions:

Ten Examples of Philosophical Questions 

• Are numbers real?
• Do animals think?
• What is a thought?
• Why I am alive?
• What makes someone a good friend?
• How do we know anything? 
• What makes a life a good life? 
• How should human beings treat the environment?
• What does it mean to be brave?
• What is time?

Ten Examples of Non-Philosophical Questions

• What is 10 x 10?
• How many bats are there in the state of Pennsylvania? 
• How do computers work?
• How does the brain work?
• Do sea cucumbers have brains?
• What is the capital of Bulgaria? 
• How much pollution do humans contribute to the Earth?
• Is the death penalty legal in Sweden?
• How many people live in Nigeria?
• When was the Declaration of Independence signed?  

Good Leading Questions to Ask in a Philosophy Session:

• “What did you mean when you said . . .?”
• “That’s an interesting idea. Can you explain what you were thinking when you said that?”
• “When you said . . . , did you mean . . . ?”
• “How does what you just said relate to what ____ said a moment ago?”
• “So if what you just said is true, is ____ also true?”
• “When you said ____, were you assuming ____?”

For more thoughts on how to facilitate philosophy sessions with young people, read this article on “The Cultivation of Philosophical Sensitivity”

Most classroom philosophy sessions are arenas for discussions about the ideas and questions of philosophy, as opposed to being primarily focused on what historical and contemporary philosophers have to say about these ideas and questions. That is, we engage young people in the practice of philosophy. A powerful model for this educational approach is the community of philosophical inquiry.

Lipman and the Community of Inquiry

Matthew Lipman’s detailed conception of the community of inquiry—in which students and teacher(s) learn from one another— was among his most significant contributions to the field.

The community of inquiry, as Lipman conceived it, includes the following characteristics:

• The enterprise is based on mutual respect;
• The students build on one another’s ideas and follow the argument where it leads;
• Students challenge each other to supply reasons for their opinions;
• Students assist one another in drawing out inferences from what has been said; and
• Students endeavor to identify one another’s assumptions.

The members of the community of inquiry come together in a spirit of intellectual freedom to explore the more problematic and puzzling aspects of situations and curriculum concepts, rather than emphasizing the “facts.”

The Community of Philosophical Inquiry

The community of inquiry model can be used to explore any subject matter in the classroom. The special features of a community of philosophical inquiry (CPI) involve the content (i.e., philosophical topics). Philosophical topics examine meanings, attempt to clarify concepts, and generally engage abstract questions whose answers are contestable, rather than final or settled.

In a CPI, the students’ philosophical questions shape the scope of the inquiry. Teachers guide the students in inquiry, but do not control the content of the discussion and often don’t know ahead of time what the topic or topics under consideration will be.

The teacher’s role here is robust, but subtle. Teachers pay close attention to the initiation and progress of the dialogue, look for connections among what students say, ask for clarification and reasons, and are attuned to the philosophical content of questions and ideas that might otherwise be lost. This entails a delicate balance between supporting students’ attainment of philosophical clarity and depth and refraining from imposing the teacher’s own preferences for subject matter and the direction of the discussion.

Central features of a Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI)

• The content is philosophical: Members of a CPI are engaged in a structured, collaborative inquiry aimed at building meaning and acquiring understanding through the examination of philosophical questions or concepts of interest to the participants.
• Epistemic Modesty: A CPI entails a consensus of ‘epistemological modesty’—an acknowledgement that all members of the group, including the facilitator, are fallible, and therefore hold views that could end up being mistaken. Teachers in a CPI facilitate students’ ability to think for themselves about the fundamental aspects of human existence. We demonstrate a reticence about advocating for our own philosophical views and model a comfort with uncertainty and with the fact that we don’t have final settled answers philosophical questions.
• Avoiding the use of jargon: Participants in a CPI generally refrain from using much technical philosophical language or referring often to the work of professional philosophers. This helps to ensure that the group focuses on exploring the questions themselves and not the past or current history of the subject among professional philosophers.
• Intellectual Safety : The CPI is an environment of intellectual safety, one in which any question or comment is acceptable, so long as it does not belittle or devalue others in the group, and which allows trust and a corresponding willingness to present one’s thoughts to participants. The teacher models openness and respect for others’ ideas and constructs a structured space that invites the students to engage thoughtfully and with an appreciation for multiple perspectives

While an intellectually safe learning community involves trust, respect, and an atmosphere conducive to taking intellectual risks, it does not promise comfort. Communities of inquiry are dedicated to the open and rigorous exploration of difficult and contestable issues and the intellectual growth that results, the process of which can often provoke feelings of perplexity and uncertainty. This can be an uncomfortable experience. Feeling intellectually safe, therefore, is not to feel complacent or unchallenged—it is to feel supported in one’s struggles to make sense of the world for ourselves.

One practical tool to begin to fashion an intellectually safe atmosphere is to help the students set the rules for the community of inquiry at the beginning of the year. The rules can be posted so that they are always visible during philosophy sessions, and you can remind the students of them from time to time.

Warm-up #1: Think of someone you know who you think is a really good person. What makes that person a good person?

Warm-up #2: • Think of something that’s pretty good. • Now think of something that’s better than pretty good, that’s good. • Now think of something that’s better than that, that’s really good. • Think of something that’s pretty bad. • Now think of something that’s worse than pretty bad, that’s bad. • Now think of something that’s worse than that, that’s really bad. • Now think of something that’s both good and bad. • Now think of something that’s neither good nor bad.

Warm-up #3: • Do you have memories that make you feel a certain way? • Can you have a memory that makes you happy? • What is happiness? • Can you be happy but feel sad? • Can you feel sad but be happy? • Can you be happy and sad at the same time? • What makes you happy?

Warm-up #4: Think of something: • You’re glad has happened • You wish had happened • You wish hadn’t happened • You’re glad didn’t happen

Epistemology

Warm-up #1: • Think a big thought (about something small) • Think a small thought (about something big) • Think a really hard thought (about something soft) • Think softly. Can you? • Think a funny thought • Think a serious thought • Think of a part of your body: think of your foot • Think of your hand • Think of your head • Think of your mind: What is your mind? • Think of something that’s true: What is true? • Think of something that’s false: what is false? • How do you know the difference between true and false?

Warm-up #2 • Think the biggest thought you can. • Think the tiniest thought you can. • Think the oldest thought you can. • Think the newest thought you can. Can you think of an even newer one? • Think of something really good. • Think of something really bad. • What makes something good or bad?

Warm-up #3: Let’s start by all thinking together. What’s a thought we can share? • Can we all think about the same thing? • Let’s all think about the sky. Are we all thinking the same thing? • Let’s all think about a dog. Are we all thinking the same thing? • Can we all have different thoughts? Is it possible that every one could think of something different? • What are you thinking about right now? What about now? • How long is now?

Warm-up #4: • Let’s all think really really hard…about something really soft. • Let’s all have really big thoughts…about something small. • Let’s all think of the same thing • Let’s all think of something different • What’s your favorite thought? • What’s your least favorite thought? • Let’s all think about something we know. • What is something we wonder about? • Do you ever wonder what it means to be a friend? • What can you be friends with?

Warm-up #5: • Think of something in the past • Think of something in the future • Think to yourself • Think to someone else • Think something you know • Think something you don’t know • What makes something what it is? • What makes a duck a duck? • What makes a chair a chair? • What makes your teacher your teacher?

Warm-up #6: • Think the biggest thought you can. • Think the tiniest thought you can. • Think the oldest thought you can. • Think the newest thought you can. Can you think of an even newer one? • Think of something about yourself. • Think of something about someone else. • What’s the difference between you and someone else? • What makes you you?

Warm-up #7: Let’s start by wondering. What are you wondering about? • Can you wonder about what you’re wondering about? • What are you thinking about? Can you think about what you’re thinking about? • How many of you are thinking about tomorrow? What’s it like to think a thought about the future? • Can you think a thought about the past? • What are thoughts like? What are they made of? Can you build thoughts? • Think of an elephant. Now put a hat on it. Now, on top of the hat, put a bird. Now change the color of it. • What color are thoughts? Can you think a green thought? A red thought? What about a super-bright thought? • Can thoughts make you feel things? Can a thought make you happy? Can it make you laugh? What about scared? Can a thought make you scared? • Here’s a story… • When it’s dark out, I….

Warm-up #8: • Let’s all think. What are you thinking about? • Can you think about what you’re thinking about? • Let’s try wondering. What are you wondering about? • Can you wonder about what you’re wondering about? • Do you ever wonder about what is real? • What’s something that’s real? • What’s something that isn’t real? • Can you think of something that isn’t real, but seems real? • Can you think of something that is real but doesn’t seem real? • How can you tell if something is real? • Are dreams real? • Are thoughts real? • Are you real? • Something I wish that was real is…

Warm-up #9: • Is anyone NOT thinking? • What are you NOT thinking about? • Do you ever think about yourself? • When you think about yourself, what do you think about? • Can you think about your foot? Your hand? Your head? • Can you think about your mind? • When you think about your mind, what is doing the thinking? • Can you imagine you were something else? What? • Can you imagine your were nothing? If you were nothing, what would you be? • Do you ever wonder who you are? • How do you know who you are? • Could someone convince you that you weren’t you? How? • When I think of myself, I know…

Warm-up #10: Write down something you believe and something you know. How do you know the difference?

Warm-up #11: • Write down something you know about yourself. • Write down something you don’t know about yourself. • Write down something pretty much everyone who knows you knows about you. • Write down something hardly anyone who knows you knows about you.

Warm-up #12: Think of someone you think of as a really good friend. What makes this person a good friend?

Warm-up #1: Write down something that you think is beautiful and two reasons why you think it’s beautiful, and write down something that you think is ugly and two reasons why you think it’s ugly.

Warm-up #2: What is your favorite art form (music, literature, visual arts, dance, poetry, film, theater, etc.)? What about it do you like most?

Warm-up #3: Think of something (and write down if appropriate): • Visually beautiful • Visually ugly • Tastes delicious • Tastes disgusting • Smells fragrant • Smells stinky • Feels really good • Feels really awful • Sounds great • Sounds terrible

Warm-up #4: • Think a red thought • Think a blue thought • Think a green thought • Think a yellow thought • Think a purple thought • Think an orange thought • Think a clear transparent thought

Metaphysics

Warm-up #1: If you had to describe yourself using only 5 words, what would they be? Write them down.

Warm-up #2: • Think of something that’s real. • Is there a way it might not be real? • Think of something that’s not real. • Is there a way it could be real?

Warm-up #3: Think of (and write down) something that happened (or is happening) • In the present • 1 minute ago • 1 hour ago • 1 day ago • 1 year ago • 5 years ago • 10 years ago • Your earliest memory • Now, return to the present and think of something: • 1 minute from now • 1 hour from now • 1 day from now • 1 year from now • 5 years from now • 10 years from now • As far in the future as you can imagine

Warm-up #4: Think of: • Something that is • Something that was • Something that will be • Something that won’t be • Something that could be • Something that can’t be • Something that should be • Something that shouldn’t be • Something you wish was

Warm-up #5: Think of: • Something that exists • Something that doesn’t exist • Something that might exist • Something that might not exist • Something that could exist be doesn’t • Something that doesn’t exist but could • Something that used to exist • Something the will exist • Something you wish existed

Social and Political Philosophy

Warm-up #1: • Think of something that’s fair. • Think of something that’s unfair. • Think of something that’s both fair and unfair. • Think of something that’s neither fair nor unfair.

Warm-up #2: If you had the power to decide on one rule that should govern society, what would it be?

Critical Thinking

Warm-up #1: • Think about something • Remember something • Wonder about something • Think about thinking • Remember about remembering • Wonder about wondering • Think about remembering • Remember about wondering • Wonder about thinking • Think about remembering about wondering • Remember about wondering about thinking • Wonder about thinking about remembering

Warm-up #2: • Wonder why • Wonder how • Wonder what • Wonder when • Wonder who • Wonder if

Philosophy can be a powerful way for groups to think about issues related to historical and contemporary injustice, exclusion, oppression, and domination. The community of philosophical inquiry can be a helpful format for considering these kinds of complex issues, particularly in the wake of local and national events that warrant reflection and discussion. There are numerous materials practitioners can use to prompt conversations about social justice topics. Before doing so, it is important for facilitators to ask themselves several questions.

Who decides to have this conversation?

The direction of the discussion is determined by the students and not the facilitator. Facilitators can choose a prompt that might stimulate discussion of social justice topics but should not impose their desire to address those topics or their own views of the topics. Students may raise questions unrelated to questions of social justice and wish to discuss those. They have authority over what conversation to have.

Who needs to have this conversation?

We often think about philosophical discussions about social justice issues as “important,” but we must ask ourselves: important for whom? Think carefully about who actually needs to have the conversation you are planning to facilitate. Is it the students from marginalized groups in the room? The students from privileged groups? For example, facilitators often think it is important to discuss race. That is correct as far as it goes, but it is critical to ask oneself who needs to talk and think about race, and with whom. This relates to the third question facilitators should ask themselves.

Who is in the room?

Rather than thinking “this is an important topic to think about with students!” ask yourself “is this an important/valuable/appropriate topic to discuss with these students?”. For example, leading a discussion about race in the United States in a classroom where most students are white and only a few are Black or Brown can be problematic for several reasons. First, students of color already must think about race as they navigate the world day to day. Thinking about race is not novel for them and they may in fact prefer philosophy to be an escape from those burdens. Second, in a classroom that is majority white, Black and Brown students can often be problematically tasked with speaking for the perspectives of marginalized groups. It is not their job to do so, nor should philosophical discussions put them in that position. Finally, it is problematic to subject students from marginalized communities to privileged students’ learning process regarding the injustice in question. For students living with a disability, for example, it is not a learning or growth opportunity to hear other students work through the realization that people with disabilities live rich and varied lives. Facilitators should think about who needs to have the conversation they propose having and how those in the room who may be impacted negatively by such conversations.

How are you, the facilitator, situated relative to the students in the room?

It is critical that facilitators consider their own positionality when planning to discuss topics about social justice issues. Are you a member of the community most impacted by the injustice to be discussed? If not, are you a member of a community that has some responsibility (past or present) for the injustice you would like to discuss? What are the social, racial, religious, and cultural ways in which you are different from your students that are relevant to how they will experience the discussion? For example, for a non-Jewish person, discussing a recent synagogue shooting is very different than it is for Jewish students who may feel fearful for their and their loved ones’ safety when they go to synagogue.

You may need to think about whether you are the best or even an appropriate person to facilitate the discussion. If you are not the classroom teacher, it can be helpful to check in with them to find out if the topic is already under discussion, how it is going, and how the students are doing. It can help to overtly raise the issue of your own positionality and express your understanding that you do not experience the topic to be discussed in the same way as your students. Always be ready to pivot to a different stimulus or topic if students are showing signs of problematic discomfort (some discomfort is normal for philosophy). Commit to listening, taking ownership and apologizing when you are wrong, and saying that you are willing to learn. Finally, engaging in pedagogy research that discusses teacher positionality and how that can impact students’ experiences is a helpful way to gain information and insight into how best to handle these discussions.

What is the power dynamic between you and your students?

By virtue of being adults and being in a facilitation role, P4C facilitators are already in a position of power relative to the students. This is true even when we work assiduously to decentralize the classroom. There may also be other relationships of power in the room, depending on what privileges the facilitator has that the students do not (e.g., race, class, gender, etc.). Differences in power can influence whether and how students share their thinking. Responding to age/power differences is often also mediated by culture. This is all important to consider before embarking on a discussion related to social justice.

How can you help the students end the session feeling healthy and safe?

Should you decide to proceed with the discussion, it is important to make a plan that leaves time for self-care practices at the end. Pick an activity that encourages movement, mindfulness, journaling, energy building, or connection to help students close out the session in a healthy way.

Philosophy has always been preoccupied with good thinking, with logic being one of its oldest branches. While formal logic is beyond the skill of most young children, they are very capable of the informal logical operations that constitute basic reasoning, including:

• Giving reasons
• Considering evidence
• Agreeing and disagreeing
• Giving examples and counter-examples
• Making comparisons and distinctions

Additionally, young people who participate in disciplined philosophical dialogue can learn to overcome shyness, aggression and attention-grabbing behaviors for the sake of cooperating in a kind of group work they find meaningful.

When engaging in a philosophical discussion, students practice such skills as:

For more about the importance of philosophy for young people, see the page “Why Philosophy?”

• Children’s literature
• Activities and games
• Stories the children bring to the classroom
• Current events
• Personal experiences

The following are some helpful resources for deepening your philosophical awareness.

For more resources on doing philosophy with young people, check out our Media and Reference Library !  

The Problems of Philosophy

by Bertrand Russell This slim, classic volume offers an overview of philosophical issues including the nature of reality and the value of philosophy. It does not touch on ethics or social or political philosophy. This work is best for adult readers.   Buy Now »

What Does It All Mean? A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy

by Thomas Nagel Even slimmer than Russell’s classic, this modern overview of philosophical issues is an easy read for most adults and high school students, and probably by many upper-level middle school students. As the author puts it, “This book is a brief introduction to philosophy for people who don’t know the first thing about the subject.” Nagel’s chapters consider nine problems of philosophy, in a very engaging style.   Buy Now »

Socrates Café

by Christopher Phillips Phillips began the Socrates Café movement, which sets up adult philosophy discussion groups at bookstores and other free-access public venues. Phillips’ book is based on the idea that philosophy is something you do –through debate and discussion – rather than simply study, a very appropriate approach for young people. Questions spotlighted in this book include: “What is insanity?” “How do you know when you know yourself?” “What is a world?” “Does anyone have the right to be ignorant?” and “Why question?” Because the tone is colloquial rather than scholarly, it helps those without a philosophy background grasp the nature of philosophical discussion.   Buy Now »

The following activities and thought experiments can be used to facilitate philosophical discussions during advisory periods. They are designed to get students thinking about a range of philosophical questions and most can be completed in one advisory period. Lessons that are longer or with multiple parts can be spread over several sessions. For ease of planning, several lessons have been split into multiple sessions to accommodate the shorter advisory periods.

Objective: To engage students.

Descriptions: 

Think of something that’s pretty good. Now think of something that’s better than pretty good, that’s good. Now think of something that’s better than that, that’s really good. Think of something that’s pretty bad. Now think of something that’s worse than pretty bad, that’s bad. Now think of something that’s worse than that, that’s really bad. Now think of something that’s both good and bad. Now think of something that’s neither good nor bad.

Think a big thought (about something small) Think a small thought (about something big) Think a really hard thought (about something soft) Think softly. Can you? Think a funny thought Think a serious thought What is a thought?

Write down something that you think is beautiful and two reasons why you think it’s beautiful and write down something that you think is ugly and two reasons why you think it’s ugly. Can something that’s beautiful also be ugly? Something that’s ugly also be beautiful?

If you had to describe yourself using only 5 words, what would they be? Write them down. Have class share them.

Objective: To think about the right rules or norms to guide classroom discussions. This exercise attempts to give students the opportunity to formulate rules that they themselves would choose to be governed by.

Description: 

Begin by talking about rules and what their purpose is. One way tol motivate the discussion is by reading Chapter 12 (“The Schoolroom”) from E.B. White’s classic, Stuart Little . In this selection, Stuart, who, in spite of being the son of human parents, looks exactly like (and is the same size as) a field mouse, has taken a one-day job as a substitute teacher. He proposes to his class that he would like to be Chairman of the World and asks them what rules they think ought to be instituted. Stuart’s students suggest rules like “No stealing,” “No being mean,” and “Don’t kill anything except rats.”

In the classroom, discuss the pros and cons of such rules, much as Stuart does in his class.

Pass out index cards to the students and ask them to envision a classroom in which they were bound by only one rule. What rule would that be? Students should then write down their one rule on the notecard they’ve been given.

Session 3: Once students have formulated their rules, collect the notecards and then, after mixing them up, pass them back. Each student should now have a rule that he or she didn’t write. In groups of two, students then work to come to an agreement about which of their two rules they would choose to be bound by.

Before the advisory period, write on the board the rules decided on by the groups of two in the last session.The class then has to pick five rules that they will choose to be bound by for the remainder of the class. (Let them know, though, that they will always have the option of reconsidering the rules they choose; if good reasons can be given for changing them and the class can agree that changes are warranted, rules can be changed.)

Ultimately, students end up voting for the five rules they prefer; often there is some overlap among the five. For instance, “Respect others” and “Respect others’ ideas” can lead to a discussion about whether there’s a difference between respecting a person and respecting a person’s ideas; some students might think that it amounts to the same thing. Still, they may want to keep both rules.

Objective: To look at the world in ways we usually don’t. You can use it as a way to illustrate to students the way in which philosophy encourages us to examine the world from a variety of perspectives.

Description:

Break the class up into groups of three or four. At each group, one student is designated to write down the answer that the group as a whole comes up with.Then hold up some common everyday household item. (A favorite item to use is a rotary cheese grater, but you can also use things like an eyeglasses case, a blackboard eraser, a pencil sharpener, and even a shoe.)

The groups are then given 3 minutes to think up and write down everything they can imagine using the item for—besides its originally intended function. Encourage them to imagine themselves in different settings: for instance, what could they use the item for if they were out in the wood? If they were 3 feet tall? If they were an ant? If they lived in prehistoric times? If they were with their siblings?

Go around the room and have the students discuss a selection of their favorite answers. If appropriate, ask them to demonstrate how they would use the item in the way they have indicated. 

What is the object? Is it still a cheese grater (or whatever the object was)? What makes it so?

Objective: To think about the nature of reality and what we mean when we say something is “real.”

Session 1: 

Break the students up into groups of three. Put the following list on the board and ask each group to come up with at least one thing that fits in each category. Make sure groups don’t discuss or share their answers as they will use these responses in a game in the next session.

• Something that isn’t real but seems to be real
• Something that is real but seems not to be real
• Something you can’t tell if it’s real or not
• Something that has to be real
• Something that is both real and not real
• Something that it doesn’t matter if it’s real or not real

Session 2: 

On day 2, make sure students are in the same groups. Each group takes turns reading aloud one of their items, with the students in the other groups having to guess in which category the item belongs. Points are given for the correct guesses, and the group with the most points at the end wins the game. If a group guesses wrong and wants to challenge the other group’s category choice, they can explain why they think the item should be in another category and see if they can convince the group they are right. If they successfully do so, they are given the point.

Objective: To think about the differences between what it means to “know” something and what it means to “believe” it.

Ask the students to write down three things they know and three things they believe. Once everyone has their statements, have them talk in pairs about their claims and why they put them in the category they did. This should get them started on the difference between knowledge and belief. Then have the whole group come together and have the pairs offer examples of what they agreed were beliefs and what they agreed counted as knowledge. List them on the board under Knowledge and Belief.

Ask the group:

• Do they agree with all the statements as listed? Why or why not?
• What does it take for something we believe to count as knowledge?
• Can we know something we don’t believe? Why would we say we don’t believe it?
• Can we ever know things? Can we be wrong about the things we thought we knew?

Objective: Thinking about and practicing careful communication.

Materials : A blackboard or whiteboard to draw on, blank pieces of paper for students to draw on, crayons or colored pencils if possible.

Description : 

Pair students up, and then have them arrange their chairs back-to-back so that one of the members of the pair faces the board and the other faces away. The student who faces away from the board needs to have a surface to draw on (usually a notebook), a blank piece of paper, and something to draw with. A crayon or marker is ideal since students will eventually display what they draw to their classmates, so something bright and easy to see from across a classroom works best.

The explanation of the exercise goes something like this: “The way this exercise works is that the person facing away from the board is a painter, but you cannot see anything except what you are painting. The good news is you have a set of eyes to help you, the person who is facing the board. I am going to draw a picture on the board and you, the painter, will try to recreate it. However, you can’t look at what I’m drawing; only your “eyes” can do that. Your “eyes” will have to describe to you what I’m drawing. You need to keep in mind two rules: first, the “eyes” cannot look at your paper, and second, the painter cannot look at what I am drawing. Students should feel comfortable engaging in a discussion with each other, but do so in a kind of “stage whisper” since, with many students talking simultaneously, the room can get loud.”

Commence drawing a picture on the board. Do so slowly, one or two lines at a time, so that the pairs of students can keep up. Any picture is fine, but something simple works best, for example, a simple little scene with a house and a mountain and a tree — the sort of drawing a small child would make.

When the drawing is completed, make a box around the whole picture to indicate that it’s finished. Invite the painters to look at what has been drawn and to see how close their drawing is to the original. Ask all the painters to come to the front of the room and display their drawings. Then facilitate a question-and-answer session about what worked and what didn’t and how, perhaps, painters and “eyes” could do a better job of communicating and listening.

Typically, painters commend their “eyes” for giving precise instructions, especially for describing what to draw in terms of recognizable shapes, like triangles, squares, and easily identifiable objects like clouds and letters. The most common complaint is that their “eyes” gave confusing information about the placement — right, left, up, or down — of items in the drawing. Brainstorm together about how to build upon what worked and improve upon what didn’t for the next go-round.

Students get back into their pairs, with the former “eyes” now playing the role of painter and vice-versa. This time around, it’s interesting to draw a much less easy-to-follow drawing. (Usually, we draw a cartoon head. Unlike the first drawing, this one doesn’t have easily identifiable objects like trees and houses. Typically, therefore, students have a far more difficult time recreating the drawing.)

At the conclusion of this drawing, again invite the painters to compare their works to the one on the board. Ask them to come to the front of the room and again display what they’ve done. (Without fail, the drawings are more interesting this time around, even though they tend not to look very much like what was drawn on the board.)

At this point, lead a discussion about why this time around was so much trickier and what could have been done to make it easier for the painters to match the drawing on the board. (Sometimes, a discussion about the nature of art emerges here. Students often want to talk about whether the pieces in the second round — which admittedly look little like what was drawn on the board — aren’t, in fact, more interesting works of art than those in the first round.) Often students want to talk about whether a painter has “failed” if his or her artwork doesn’t match the original picture. Occasionally, some students get very exercised about their drawing (or their partner’s) not looking like what the teacher has drawn. From time to time, this can lead to a rich discussion of whether it was fair that the second time was so much harder. A teacher might put this up for grabs as a topic to inquire about: is it fair that some people face harder challenges than others? If so, why? If not, why not? What if facing those challenges leads to superior outcomes (like more artistic drawings?) Would you rather be an expert at something simple or a novice at something complex?

Objective: Learn to support claims with reasons.

Hand out two or three index cards to each student. Then ask them to write their names on each of the cards and then to write on each card one claim they believe in. Ask that at least one of these claims be a normative claim. Talk with the students beforehand about what normative claims are; the idea is to write down something they believe people ought or ought not to do, or something that is right or wrong. Once they’ve written down the claims, ask them to write down, on the other side of the paper, three reasons they have for believing the claims to be true.They have about 10 minutes to do this and can appeal to whatever outside sources of information they want during this time. Tell them to make sure they give three different reasons for their belief. Encourage students to not share their claims or reasons with others as they will be used to play a game in the next session. Collect the cards.

Before class, divide the cards in half and then divide students into two teams based on the two piles of cards. You keep the cards, making sure to keep the cards from the two teams separate from each other. Then tell them the rules of the rest of the game. The goal is for students to be able to guess what the claim is from the reason(s) cited for believing it.

Starting with Team One, read the team one of the three reasons from the one of the cards from Team Two. They have a minute or two to decide together on a guess for what the claim might be. If the students can guess the claim from the first reason, Team One gets 3 points. If they guess it after hearing the second reason, they earn 2 points, and if they need all three reasons to guess the claim, they earn 1 point. If the students can’t guess correctly, the team earns no points. If the guess is close but not exactly right, sometimes they can earn a half point.

The game is fun and lively. Students enjoy trying to guess claims from the reasons offered for them. And they generally do a pretty good job of it. Sometimes disagreements arise about whether a reason offered for a claim is a good one. This is great — encourage discussion about it.

Objective: To think about the relationship between appearance and reality, and the value of authenticity.

Description:  In his book Anarchy, State and Utopia , American philosopher Robert Nozick developed the thought experiment, The Experience Machine : Suppose there was an experience machine that could give you any experience you desired. Your brain would be stimulated when hooked up to the machine so that you would think and feel that you were doing anything you wanted to do: playing on a major league sports team, being a famous actress, skiing on a fabulous mountain, being the lead in a famous rock band, writing a great novel, etc. When you’re hooked up to the machine, you won’t know you are – you’ll think that it’s all actually happening. Your experience will feel just as real and vivid as your experiences feel to you now. 

Would you map out how you would like your life to go and then hook up to the machine for the rest of your life?

Objective: To think about the ethics of taking something that doesn’t belong to you. 

Description: This is a thought experiment from The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten (2005, p.40) by Julian Baggini.

When Richard went to the ATM, he got a very pleasant surprise. He requested $100 with a receipt. What he got was $10,000 with a receipt – for $100.

When he got home, he checked his account online and found that, sure enough, his account had been debited by only $100. He put the money in a safe place, fully expecting the bank swiftly to spot the mistake and ask for it back. But the weeks passed and nobody called.

After two months, Richard concluded that no one was going to ask for the money. So he headed off to the BMW dealership with the hefty down-payment in his pocket.

On the way, however, he did feel a twinge of guilt. Wasn’t this stealing? He quickly managed to convince himself it was no such thing. He had not deliberately taken the money, it had just been given to him. And he hadn’t taken it from anyone else, so no one had been robbed. As for the bank, this was a drop in the ocean for them, and anyway, they would be insured against such eventualities. And it was their fault they had lost the money – they should have had safer systems. No, this wasn’t theft. It was just the biggest stroke of luck he had ever had.

• What should Robert do? Return the money or buy a new car?
• If Robert keeps the money, does it matter how he spends it?
• Is Robert stealing? What does it mean to steal?
• Does it matter that the money is from a bank? What if it was from an individual?

Objective: To think about the differences between what we need and what we want.

Session 1: Describing Wants and Needs  

Give the students a worksheet with the following questions:

• What are some things you want?
• What are some things you need?
• What is the difference between what you want and what you need?
• Do all people have the same wants?
• Do all people have the same needs?
• What should we do if what one person wants conflicts with what another person needs?

Give the students sufficient time to think about their responses and write them on their worksheets.

Session 2: Distinguishing Wants and Needs 

Make two lists on the board: wants and needs. Ask the students to suggest items for these categories from their worksheets. This generally spurs a discussion about the difference between wants and needs and whether something that is a want for one person could count as a need for another. What is the difference between wanting something and needing something?

Objective: To think about what makes music beautiful or not

Ask students each to choose one or two songs they think are beautiful, and one or two songs they think are ugly, and to think about why. Then ask them to share their songs and their reasons for choosing them in small groups of 4. Invite students to ask thoughtful questions to other group members about their song choices.

Facilitate a large group song share. Invite student volunteers to first say a little about one of their songs and why they think it’s beautiful or ugly, and then play a minute or so of it, and perhaps sometimes the entire song. 

This leads to a discussion of what makes something beautiful and/or ugly, what it means for something to be beautiful or ugly, why music is so meaningful to us, and other issues of aesthetics, but it also allows students to see one another in new ways and to share something of themselves that often ends up being very personal.

Objective: To think about what makes someone a good person.

Think of someone you know who you think of as a good person. What makes this person a good person? List at least three qualities of the person. In small groups, share your lists and generate a list of 3 qualities that the group more or less agrees upon. They don’t have to reach consensus as there will be an opportunity to discuss with the full class.

In a large group share, list each group’s qualities on the board and facilitate a discussion on whether any, some, or all of these qualities make someone a good person. Check with the class if they can think of any qualities that are missing from the list and why they might be important. This can lead to a rich discussion on what it even means to be a good person.

Objective: To think about hopes and dreams.

What is your hope? Show this short video and ask students to answer the prompt, “What is your hope?”

Objective: To think about personal identity.

• Write down something you know about yourself.
• Write down something you don’t know about yourself.
• Write down something pretty much everyone who knows you knows about you.
• Write down something hardly anyone who knows you knows about you.
• Write down something that you think is important that people know about you.

Encourage students to share their answers (to the extent they are comfortable) in small groups asking them to notice any patterns in people’s responses.

Facilitate a whole group discussion about the questions discussed in small groups in the previous session.

Objective: To reflect on gratitude and what it means to be grateful.

This is an exercise that works well in the weeks just before the winter holiday break.

You’re given a sweater for your birthday that you don’t like. 

• Should you be grateful?
• Do you always have to be grateful for a gift even if you don’t like it?
• Are there limits to gratitude?
• Does  it count as being grateful to express gratitude you don’t genuinely feel?

Objective: To reflect on aspects are salient to your personal identity

Go through the thought experiment Staying Alive with your students. At each stage, ask them what choice they would make to stay alive, which is the aim of the game. After students share their choices (a quick poll can be helpful here), ask them their reasons. Each round of the thought experiment can be done in one session, making this a three-session lesson.

Objective: To encourage students to consider what makes something art, and to examine the issue of intentionality in art.

Have each student draw two pictures. One drawing must be a drawing they would call art, and the other one they would not call art.

Once the students have finished drawing, ask them to share their pieces and explain what makes one art and the other not. Ask the students listening to the sharing student: Do you think this (intended not to be art) piece could be art? Why or why not?

Step One:  Choose a prompt that will be read aloud to the group. Write several questions related to the prompt on the board before breaking the group up into small groups of three. Give each group a poster board and each participant a marker or pen (different colored markers is ideal). 

Start by explaining that this is a silent discussion and there will be time to speak in both the small groups and the large group later. Let the participants know that once you have finished reading the prompt, the rest of the activity will take place in silence, with each participant using a pen to communicate their thoughts and ideas to one another on the poster board. The questions on the board are starting prompts, and they should feel free to respond to some or all of these and/or to add their own questions. 

After the prompt is read aloud, the group responds to the questions and/or comes up with new questions, using the poster boards. The silent, written conversation can stray to wherever the participants take it. If someone in the group writes a question, another member of the group can address the question by writing on the poster board. Participants can draw lines connecting a comment to a particular question. More than one person can write on the poster board at the same time. Participants can write words or draw pictures, if drawing is an easier way to express a particular thought. This part of the activity takes about 15-20 minutes.

Step Two:  Still working in silence, participants leave their groups and walk around reading the other poster boards. They can write comments or further questions on other poster boards. This part of the activity takes about 10 minutes.

Step Three:  Silence is broken. The groups rejoin at their own poster boards. For about 10 minutes, each group has a verbal conversation about the comments written by others on their board, their own comments, what they read on other poster boards, and the activity itself. 

Step Four: Debrief with the large group and discuss some of the philosophical issues raised. 

• What did you think of this activity?
• How comfortable were you staying silent?
• Did silence add to or detract from having a rich exchange?
• What philosophical questions that arose seem particularly interesting? 

Created by Emma Macdonald-Scott with contributions from Jana Mohr Lone

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Deep Philosophy Assignment Topics to Write About

Table of Contents

Why does philosophy necessary for learning?

Who is studying philosophy, philosophy debate topics, philosophy discussion topics, philosophy argumentative essay topics, controversial philosophy topics, political philosophy topics, philosophy of science, philosophy ethics topics, personal philosophy topics, philosophy of religion, need assistance.

Philosophy is a broad subject and can be approached from different perspectives. It is one of the oldest subjects, dating back to ancient Greece and China. Philosophy is not just about questions but answers too. It deals with the most fundamental questions relating to human existence, and tries to provide answers through rational argumentation.

Philosophy is a field of study that attempts to answer questions about the nature and origins of the world, and about the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and values.

Philosophy is essential for your life in many ways. First of all, it helps you understand yourself better. It helps to clarify your thoughts, feelings, and motivations. Moreover, it teaches you how to answer questions like “ Who am I? ” or “What is good?” or “What is my goal in life?”

Another important thing is that philosophy helps you to see the world from new perspectives. It allows you to look at things from different angles and analyze them thoroughly. That way, it can help you find answers to different questions in life like “How should I behave?” or “What should I do right now?”.

Philosophy is necessary for learning because it teaches us how to think about things in a rational way, which is essential when dealing with complex issues like politics or economics. It also gives us the tools we need to understand our own behavior and motivations, which is useful in everyday life.

When people think of philosophy, they often think of Socrates and Plato. But philosophers have been around for thousands of years, and there are many different kinds of philosophers.

Philosophy is a subject that people may have studied in school, but it’s also a subject that can be studied throughout your life. Some people choose to enter the field of philosophy by earning a degree in the subject while others simply take an interest in it and pursue it on their own. There are also those who only study philosophy for personal enjoyment or as a hobby.

• Is The Problem Of Evil Evidence Against The Existence Of God?
• Which Emotions Are Moral And Which Aren’t?
• The Existence Of God
• Free Will Vs Determinism
• nature vs nurture
• Doing good vs avoiding harm
• Life as a soul vs Life as a living body
• Which is more important, mind or body?
• Are humans by nature good or evil?
• Whether or not aliens exist
• Whether or not God exists
• Whether or not the soul exists
• Animal rights vs Human rights
• Is morality relative or objective?
• Is it better to be good or bad?
• Realism vs anti-realism
• Life and death
• Good and evil
• Love and hate
• Beauty and ugliness
• The unknown and the known
• Freedom and determinism
• Optimism and pessimism
• Free will and determinism
• Privacy and society
• Dreams and reality
• Do we live in a fair world?
• Is reality purely objective or subjective?
• Are we alone in this universe?
• Does gender really matter?
• If there were no shadows would there be movement?
• Can people be too happy?
• Is metaphysics useless?
• Can the soul exist apart from the body (dualism)?
• Is it fair that some people are poor and others rich?
• What are rights and how are they given?
• What is human?
• Can art be moral, or amoral?
• Does freedom of speech includes hate speech?
• What is Nothing?
• Are we really alone in the universe?
• Is there life after death?
• Liberty and freedom
• Does everything happen for a reason?
• Do you believe that anything can exist without a reason?
• Is there a God?
• Is time real?
• Can Evolution possibly be true?
• Who is the greatest Philosopher?
• Is there an absolute good and evil?
• Is human life sacred?
• What is time?
• Must you always tell the truth?
• What happens when you die?
• Can we ever truly know another person?
• Free will & Responsibility
• Life’s origins and death’s finality
• Do Animals have rights?
• Who is right, creationists or evolutionists?
• What is altruism?
• Can you prove that all things are equal?

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• How to tell if a politician is trustworthy?
• What is war good for?
• Is government necessary?
• Right and wrong in politics, does it even matter?
• What is Politics?
• Marxism and Democracy Thesis Defense
• The Philosophy of Hume
• The Philosophy of Nietzsche
• The Philosophy of Marx
• The Philosophy of Hegel
• The Philosophy of Aristotle
• Common Political Ideologies
• The Different Types of Governments
• Politics and Corruption of Power
• Can government be limited while still protecting individual rights?
• How does one know what is right and wrong?
• The rights of children in society
• Gender Issues in Politics
• Global Warming and Environmental Politics
• Freedom of speech is an essential aspect of political philosophy
• Cosmology and astronomy
• The Importance of Science
• How Powerful is science?
• Scientific and mystical ways of knowing
• Relative frequencies vs absolute numbers
• Logic vs. Empiricism
• Are there any limits to science?
• Ethics of science
• Scientific wisdom and wonder
• Are there limits to scientific knowledge?
• Is the world made of elementary particles?
• Where and when did the universe begin?
• Defining Boundaries of Science
• Are there alternate universes?
• Why are we here on earth?
• What is the soul and where do they exist during sleep?
• Does human thought control reality?
• What is morality?
• Is abortion ethical or unethical?
• Is human cloning ethical or unethical?
• Is morality relative?
• Should humans follow the herd?
• Are morals objective or subjective?
• Pragmatism’s conception of truth
• Moral Relativism
• Where do our morals come from?
• Do humans really have freewill to be moral agents?
• Truth, belief and doubt
• Having, Doing, Experiencing: How to Value Things?
• What is Special about Human Life?
• Can you judge others by their actions?
• What if we all want the same thing?
• How should I treat other people who are different than me?
• Is it ever the right thing to lie?
• How to achieve goals through personal development?
• What is the soul?
• Where do souls go when people die?
• Life after death
• What is faith?
• What is the meaning of life?
• Is suffering necessary?
• How can humans know right from wrong?
• Do we have free will?
• Are some religions better than others?
• How does a person gain self-knowledge?
• What is valuable in life?
• How should one live their life wisely?
• What is happiness, and how can one attain it?
• Is Wealth Bad?
• Are you an Egoist?
• How can you achieve happiness?
• Respect people for who they are
• Evils in the World
• Arguments for the Existence of God
• Creation of Religions/Beliefs
• Religion as the origin of morality
• Religion as a cultural activity
• The Evolutionary Principles of Religious Belief
• Resurrection of Jesus Christ
• Ontological Argument for God’s existence
• Cosmological Argument for God’s existence
• Could The Story of Adam and Eve Really Have Happened?
• What it means to be an atheist?
• Is there one true religion?
• Can Human Beings Understand God?
• Can Religion Be Proven Or Disproved?
• How important is Jesus’ death on the cross?
• What is heaven like?
• Atheism, Agnosticism and the Meaning of Life
• Time, Ourselves, and God
• Why are there so many religions?
• Can spiritual experiences justify religious belief apart from other arguments?
• Does God control everything or just some things?
• Consensus decision making in religious matters
• Can we believe in god but not religion?
• Is there anything beyond humans in the universe?
• If I pray, will my god answer?

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Library Subject Guides

Philosophy: assignment research.

• Books and ebooks
• Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
• Journal Articles
• Assignment Research
• Stages in the Research Process
• Citation Styles
•     EndNote Guide
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• PHIL 139 – Sources and Referencing
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Introduction

This guide to basic assignment research outlines a simple but effective approach to finding information for your assignment. It is based on the resources described elsewhere in this subject guide and on the UC Library web site. Depending on your topic and your level of study, you may need to rearrange or review these steps where necessary

Check the rest of this subject guide carefully for additional subject resources and, where available, appropriate topic guides

• Keenious An artificial intelligence tool that searches for literature by analysing your writing. Add-ons for Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
• Learn to use the library Workshops and online tutorials from the UC Library.

1. Define your topic

It might seem obvious, but the first step is to make sure you understand the topic.

1) Identify the main concepts or keywords in your question to help you develop a search strategy.

2) Work out why the topic is being been offered. Is it:

controversial ? complicated? what makes the topic interesting?

2. Gather background information

Use dictionaries and encyclopaedias to find definitions and background information. Articles from specialized subject encyclopedias are authoritative and often substantial

• Dictionaries and encyclopedias for Philosophy

3. Think about what information you need

• How much information do you need? Lecturers often give guidelines on the number of sources you should use.
• Do you need current information or is older material relevant? Sometimes you might need both, as you might have to give both the historic background and the current thinking on a topic.
• Do you need primary sources that give an original accounts from the time and place, or secondary sources which are interpretations of someone else’s work?

If you do not understand what you have to do for an assignment, ask your lecturer, your tutor or someone at the Pokapū Pūkenga Ako | Academic Skills Centre .

4. Find books

The Library Catalogue lists books held in the Library's collection. Hints for searching the library catalogue:

• Check for books by course code (about High Demand )
• Use Title , Subject and Keyword searches to find additional material.
• When you find a useful title, click on its subject headings to find books on similar subjects.

• Browse the catalogue Call Number (LC) index, for example  BJ 1012 (general works on ethics).
• NB. Since 2024 the library catalogue only includes books and ebooks purchased by UC Library. It omits hundreds of thousands of ebook titles ‘leased’ through library subscriptions, which are listed on MultiSearch. The library catalogue has more functional search and sorting capabilities than MultiSearch, all the same.

5. Find journal articles

6. Find information on the Internet

• a government department
• an academic or university department
• a research institute

Use the Advanced Search features of Google to restrict your search to results from more reputable sources.

Some sites for Philosophy can be found here .

Do not use articles directly from Wikipedia, although you can use its content (e.g. keywords or phrases) to search for other sources.

Use Google Scholar to find academically reliable journal articles. Adjust the Scholar Preference to recognise the University of Canterbury, and you will get full text whenever it is available through our library subscriptions.

For information on evaluating websites, see

• Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools (Cornell University)
• How to spot fake news (IFLA)

7. Analyse your sources

Learning how to determine the relevance and authority of a given resource for your research is one of the core skills of the research process.

For information on analysing sources, see

• Critically Analyzing Information Sources (Cornell University)

8. Cite your sources

9. write your assignment.

The Library has some useful writing guides for this subject area.

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Argument Analysis Activity for Philosophy Students

In this exercise, students are asked to give a careful logical analysis of a philosophical argument. This involves breaking the argument down into premises, sub-conclusions, and a main conclusion, mapping the inferential connections between the foregoing in a numbered argument, and then evaluating the resulting argument for deductive validity and soundness. The exercise is designed to help students refine their ability to discern the logical structure of an argument written in regular prose and practice evaluating such an argument for deductive validity and soundness. This skill will be crucial later in the course when they are asked to write term papers.

Learning Goals

Context for use, description and teaching materials, teaching notes and tips, references and resources.

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PHILOSOPHY HELP

Revision help with SQA Philosophy courses.

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This website is designed to help you do as well as possible in your SQA Philosophy journey. We're just getting started but, for now, you'll find everything you need for National 5 Philosophy revision help. 

Use the navigation panel on the right to find clear explanations of everything you need to know, concise knowledge organisers, and tips on how to revise the way that works. One of the best ways to make your studies to go well is to start retrieval practice now (see the button above!).

Assignments

Programming is a skill best learned by doing, and the programming assignments in CS106B form the central skill development part of your experience in the course. We have a great set of assignments planned that we hope you will find fun, challenging, illuminating, and rewarding!

Common questions about assignments

What is the development environment for the assignments.

In CS106B, we write programs in the C++ language and use the Qt Creator IDE for editing, compiling, and debugging. Visit the Qt Installation Guide for instructions on installing these tools on your computer.

What is the expected assignment workload?

There are 7 assignments, you typically will have one week to work on each. Students self-report spending between 10 and 20 hours on each assignment. If you find yourself consistently beyond the upper end of the range, please reach out to us. Our workload is challenging because we want to foster the most growth possible for you in our 8 weeks together, but we do want the total hours to stay within reason for a 5-unit course and can help find a strategy that works for you.

What is the policy on late assignments?

• Everyone has four late days to use on programming assignments at their discretion.
• An assignment that is 4.5 hours late uses one full late day.
• An assignment that is 27 hours late uses two full late days.
• No individual assignment may be submitted more than 48 hours late.
• If you run out of late days, we will accept one additional assignment late, as long as it is submitted within 48 hours of the original deadline, but the grade for that assignment will be capped at ✓–.
• Late days are self-granted extensions and should be reserved for situations in which you would normally reach out to an instructor to ask for an extension on an assignment (e.g., illness).

We strongly encourage you to start all assignments as soon as they're posted (even if that means just glancing through the write-up to see what the assignment is all about) and to reserve your late days for situations in which you would normally reach out to an instructor to ask for an extension on an assignment (e.g., illness). Late submissions put extra pressure on your section leader to return feedback to you in a timely manner. We ask that you use them only when your situation requires it.

We do not anticipate granting further extensions on top of this late submission policy except in extreme circumstances. Only your instructor and Head TA can grant such extensions. Please reach out to us if you need to discuss, and please refrain from asking your section leader for an extension, as they do not have the authority to grant one.

What is the assignment collaboration policy?

Since this is essentially a beginning writing course, but writing code instead of essays, our policy is that assignments are written individually (no partners/groups). Later CS courses may incorporate team-based projects, and we strongly believe in the value of that—but after programmers have developed their individual skills in the fundamentals. Please review the CS106B Honor Code policy for guidelines specific to this course (i.e., do not assume that what is ok in other classes is necessarily ok in this one).

How can we get help on our assignments?

Ask on our online discussion forum , bring questions to "Lair" helper hours, and/or attend office hours. Lair helper hours run 7-11pm Monday through Thurday. The forum is open 24/7 for discussion with your peers, and quick (though not 24/7, we do sleep!) answers from course staff. The instructor and Head TA are available to answer questions after lecture and in weekly office hours.

How are assignments evaluated?

Programs will be evaluated on "functionality" (is the program's behavior correct?) and "style" (is the code well written and elegant?). We apply a bucket grading scale for a wholistic qualitative evaluation rather than fixate on individual points. To learn from the grading feedback, focus your attention on the qualitative comments and the discussion with your SL in IGs.

From past experience, we expect most grades to be ✓+ and ✓.

How do we receive feedback from our grader?

You can view your submission on Paperless with comments and annotations from your grader along with the bucket scores for functionality and style. For some assignments, you will also meet with your section leader to discuss the grading feedback in a short IG ("interactive grading") conference.

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