Learning Goals @ Philosophy
Kinds of accomplishments and skills assessed in every philosophy paper, presentation, oral discussion
- To guide your thoughts about writing papers in philosophy classes at NU, here are the main features that all philosophy teachers at NU look for when evaluating writing in philosophy. By paying attention to all of them in planning, writing, reviewing and revising your paper before handing it in you will lay the ground for producing a piece of good philosophical written prose.
- The same values count in favor of good philosophical work in the non-written equivalents (just substitute “of the paper” below by “of the contribution”).
- articulation of thesis
- reasons given for own position
- objections anticipated
- citation and nuanced interpretation of text
- grasp and presentation of (others’ or) philosophers’ systematic thought
- argumentative structure of the paper (including paragraph order, transitions, etc.)
- clarity of exposition/well written
- originality/imaginativeness, open-mindedness, engagement;
- employment of knowledge gained from required courses for the major, whether of logical form or basic knowledge of positions, texts, thinkers, questions from the history of philosophy and moral and political philosophy (PHIL 150, PHIL 260/1, PHIL 210-1, PHIL 210-3)
- Other peculiar strengths of the individual contribution (powerful expressiveness, compelling examples, etc).