Thinking and Writing about Philosophy

To The Instructor: Helping Your Students Improve Their Writing -- To The Students: Why Improving Your Writing Matters To You -- First You Write -- A Socratic Exercise -- Some Important Features Of Writing Philosophy -- Writing To Understand Reading -- Reading Versus Skimming -- Rewriting What You Have Read: Four Assignments -- Evaluating Argumentative Prose -- Argument Versus Disputation And Persuasion -- Argument In Detail -- Formulating And Evaluating A Definition -- Evaluating An Argument By Analogy -- Evaluating A Formal Argument -- Putting It All Together: The Philosophical Essay -- Getting Started -- The Eight-step Sequence -- Drafting And Revising The Philosophical Essay -- Drafting -- Revising --integrating Quotations And Citing Sources -- Integrating Quotations -- Avoiding Plagiarism -- Citing And Documenting Sources -- Using Library Resources -- Philosophical Dictionaries -- Encyclopedias, Book Series, And Specialized References -- Journals. Hugo Bedau. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This book explains how to effectively analyze and write about philosophical texts and arguments