Thinking about different things or choosing between controversial options — these are one of the main parts of philosophy classes and papers in particular. Now, you have to write an essay or do your research on this subject, and you’re free to pick out the main theme. This fact gets you upset, as you can’t choose between multiple ideas.
So we’ve prepared you philosophy paper topics that will help you perform with this assignment successfully and surprise your readers. The main part of this article is aimed at telling you how to find ideas for your assignment. And in the second section of this material, we’ll tell you about the structure of the paper on this subject.
Topics for a Philosophy Paper
Choosing the right theme is half of the success of performing your assignment. Hence, take the time to think up a good idea for your piece of work.
There are a lot of ideas you can choose from. Some of them are interconnected with other niches, e. g. engineering. Let’s explore some of the topics and understand how you can come up with them.
Current Issues
The best way to stand your work out from others and demonstrate that you’re a well-educated person is to write about relevant issues. You can easily find them by:
- exploring philosophy blogs;
- reading philosophy magazines;
- visiting or watching online and offline philosophy conferences.
It’s good if you know multiple languages. For instance, you can read American and German magazines on philosophy to broaden your horizons and see how people with different mentalities reveal the same topics.
Let’s see what philosophy paper ideas we found by exploring the American Internet:
- Is Morality Gendered?
- What if Machines Obtain Feelings?
And what we found by searching the German Internet:
- Do We Perceive Objects as They Are?
- Can Animal Experiments Be Justified with the Help of Peter Singer’s Preference Utilitarianism?
- How Does Kant Justify the Transcendental Ideality of Space in the Critique of Pure Reason?
Also, some German sources gave us a few argumentative philosophy essay topics:
- Is It Folly to Determine Truth or Falsehood According to Our Ability to Know?
- Does It Make the Sight of Life Bearable by Laying the Pile of Impure Thought Over It?
As you see, language knowledge gives you additional sources where you can find themes.
If you can choose a topic where people have two polar opinions, make sure that professors allow such themes. This is because some of your readers can perceive your thoughts too emotionally; as a result, your paper can call only negative emotions instead of positive ones. So be careful when choosing your topic.
Issues Related to Modern Technologies
Technologies affected all spheres of life, and philosophy isn’t an exception. Therefore, it’s a good idea to connect your topic with tech. To get inspired, you can read Daniel Dannett’s thoughts, different futurists such as Alex Gordon, Alexa Clay, Brett King, Bruno Giussani, the list goes on.
Also, a great addition to sources where you can get inspired is The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb because this book is a treasury of interesting philosophy paper topics. For example:
- Is Serendipity Random?
- Should We Believe Statistics?
- How Can We Be Fooled by Chances?
- Should We Believe Forecasts?
- Are Regularities a Trap for the Human Brain?
Also, you can create mind maps. For example, write on the center a key phrase such as thinking abilities in machines. Then, brainstorm for half an hour or even more and write all ideas which you come up with. As a result, you’ll make a map of themes:
- Can We Delegate Our Thinking Abilities to Machines?
- What if Machines Start a War Against People?
- Can Neural Networks Replace Specialists?
- Can Humanity Refuse From High Tech?
- Can Genetic Humans Engineering Be Legal?
As you see, the last two ideas aren’t related to our key phrase. And it doesn’t matter because you’re brainstorming, and it’s okay when you come up with ideas that are ‘from another dimension.’
Eternal Issues
As an option, eternal issues can act as easy philosophy paper topics. For example:
- Are People Good or Evil by Nature?
- Is Science Compatible with Religion?
- Does Morality Exist?
- Do People Suffer by Choice?
- Is Peace in Society Possible?
- Is Love a Positive Word?
- Is Evil More Powerful Than Good?
Some issues seem to be simple themes to write about. But things go in another way when it comes to working on your assignment. Such questions are too abstract; hence, you can reveal your theme on multiple sides.
Likewise, you can summarize all philosophy knowledge of its history and write about it, choosing the theme Philosophy Use of Its History. Again, summarizing is the best way to find an idea for your assignment if you can’t spend your time brainstorming.
Philosophy Research Paper Topics
Any term paper requires your own study. Therefore, there are two ways you can go:
- Do your own term operating on other terms.
- Take other studies and analyze them.
As an option, it will be a good paper that explores somebody’s philosophy. For instance:
- Freudian Psychoanalysis: Reason, Imagination, and Method.
- Spinoza’s Imagined Freedom.
- Kant on Imagination and Intuition.
- Johann Gottlieb Fichte on Imagination, the Self and Reality.
Also, it’s possible to choose a topic of the essay and just base it on research. For example, let’s consider the theme Can We Delegate Our Thinking Abilities to Machines? This question was made by Daniel Dannett, one of the greatest philosophers of the 21st century. To do your research, it’s good to read his interviews and thoughts and rely on other philosophers’ thoughts.
Theories
A good option for you is exploring theories. For example, you can write about The Theory of Ethical Naturalism. Or you can pick out Nihilism or Confucianism. It’s an original idea to compare some theories.
How to Write a Philosophy Paper
Once you decide what topic to choose, and check for some philosophy essay examples, then you can proceed with writing. We’ll tell you about the structure of philosophy papers.
Title
Your task is to give a title that helps your readers understand what your work is about. It’s okay if you’re able to come up with something original, but be careful if it isn’t your strength.
For Terms: Abstract
An abstract is the summary of your work. In this part of your paper, you should briefly tell your readers about the purpose of your writing and the methods you used in your study. Don’t forget to mention the results of your work.
Introduction
The main purpose of an introduction is to bring professors up to date on what you write about in your paper.
The best way to find out how to start a philosophy essay is to outline the problem of your essay. For example, your work is about Are Serendipities Random? You can tell your readers what serendipity is and who introduced this term.
If you are writing a research paper, you can do the same things if you’re wondering how to start a philosophy paper. For instance, if your topic is How Social Media Impact Our Morality, it’s better to write in broad terms about Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and say that they beget new trends.
Thesis Statement
This part includes only one sentence in an essay and a paragraph in a study. In terms, it acts as a single section, while in essays, it is included in the first paragraph.
The goal of a thesis statement is to set the main problem and say what you think about it. Keep in mind that you shouldn’t give proofs for your readers, as this purpose has another section — the body.
Body
In this part of your paper assignment, give proofs of your thesis. For example, if you think that social media has a bad influence on people’s morality, give research that confirms that people are becoming more aggressive in so-called ‘highly social questions’ every year.
Conclusion
This section should tie up the main thoughts of your paper. So, avoid giving new information in this part of your assignment.
It’s a good idea to demonstrate a scenario when the problem of the paper is solved. Suggestions about how we can apply your thoughts on practice will surprise professors and show that you’re wondering how to write a philosophy research paper in such a way that people can put it into practice.
Tips on How to Write a Good Philosophy Paper
Here we’ll give you some secrets that will help you perform your assignment.
Find as Many Materials as Possible
Explore the Internet, sit in libraries, talk with professors and your buddies… Find ways where you can get information to pick out a topic for a philosophy paper. It’s good if you have tons of materials because your study or essay will be really deep. It’s possible that you’ll give your readers facts that shock them. Or some thoughts of famous philosophers push you to generate your own ideas.
Pick Out Serious Topics
Avoid choosing fun philosophy paper topics as it’s difficult to put them into practice. Of course, you and your readers spend time well exploring your piece of work, but any direction in science has unresolved issues that we should try to deal with.
Reread Your Work
Don’t skip this part of working, especially if you’re in a hurry. This is because you can miss some crucial mistakes in both grammar and logic. It’s better to wait half an hour or even more and then reread your work. But if your deadlines burn, don’t wait some time. Once you finish your paper, start to check it.