A Five-Paragraph Philosophy Essay in Defense of Five-Paragraph Philosophy Essays
I don’t know about you, but I want my philosophical writings to be impactful. My philosophical writings ought to be enlightening, influential, rational, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Not only to academics behind the walled garden of the university but, maybe most importantly, to the public. This essay is about five-paragraph essays; we have all written one in grade school. The basic idea is that there is an introduction, three major points that get defended, and a conclusion paragraph. This essay is pretty meta — it defends the five-paragraph philosophical essay as a five-paragraph philosophical essay. It is a part of the branch of philosophy known as “metaphilosophy,” or the application of philosophical methodologies to philosophy itself. Questions like “What is philosophy?” or “Is philosophy good or of value?” lie in this subfield. This essay focuses on the philosophical question, “How does one write good philosophy?” When considering why the five-paragraph philosophical essay may be a great method for philosophical writing, we need to consider what makes a good philosophical essay in the standard academic sense, which I think the five-paragraph essay can fulfill. We also need to consider the different types of philosophical writings’ impact on the reader in terms of viability: the five-paragraph essay is more interesting than strictly analytic philosophical writing and is more rationally based than strictly continental writing. Though, perhaps most crucially for our day, the five-paragraph essay is relatively short, which I intend to argue is beneficial for philosophical pursuits now.
So what constitutes the “philosophical essay” anyway? The problem is that this is a vague term; there are many different philosophical methods. Though, according to Arizona State University’s class “Philosophical Argument and Exposition,” philosophical essays, in a broad sense, focus on one particular philosophical subject, arguing for a particular viewpoint. This generally includes a focus on deductive arguments and defending that particular argument. This could be seen as a hasty generalization; maybe philosophical essays are much broader than this due to their vagueness. However, it does seem that philosophical works themselves are pointed in the direction of defending a single assertion; all other assertions serve in defense of that main proposition, or claim. This is not all, though; a philosophical essay, at least according to the class, addresses rebuttals. Which we can see this essay just did. The accusation that this is a hasty generalization was squelched (hopefully). A five-paragraph essay can do all of this, and this writing should serve to defend that as much as possible.
While a philosophical essay intends to defend a particular claim, a good philosophical essay is not only this. A good philosophical essay will also be enjoyable to read, clear, and logically structured. Surely, it might be argued that a five-paragraph essay focuses on abductive reasoning; the points just tend to loosely imply the conclusion. That’s the thing, though: each premise of an abductive argument can serve as a modus ponens or modus tollens in defense of the main claim. All the while also serving as a straight abductive argument. There are multiple deductively based arguments going on in a five-paragraph essay while also having an overarching abductive argument. In this way, the five-paragraph essay is logically structured. Moreover, a five-paragraph essay is very readable. It is not (necessarily) covered in tons of jargon with technical writing in explication. Some would argue that the explication is important, and while this is true, the five-paragraph essay explicates its points just differently and far less dryly than that of a traditional analytic essay. At the same time, this logical structure is loose and allows for more flowery language that is inspiring and enlightening. For example, Friedrich Nietzsche, in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, argued that “God is dead.” Nietzsche was a continental philosopher, and elucidating the argument he was making is still controversial today. Was he lamenting about the death of God? Or was he referencing the idea of God as the basis for that which surrounds God, such as morality? Either way, most agree that Nietzsche had a means of overcoming the death of God by becoming the Ubermensch. The point is that pure continental philosophy can become unclear but enlightening. Pure analytic philosophy can become too dry and boring, but it can also be clear and logical. The five-paragraph essay bridges the gap and allows for something clear and logically structured while also retaining its enlightening and inspiring aspects.
So maybe you are coming around, but there’s something else that is incredibly important for a philosophical work to be successful today: brevity. This may sound ludacris — how can we form fully coherent and complete perspectives in a short time, and maybe more importantly, why should we? The problem comes down more to the public’s view of philosophy. Nobody, myself included, wants to spend a ton of time reading something from somebody they’ve never heard of at length, especially if it has a subject that only mildly interests them. Worst of all, if the argument does not only not inspire or enlighten but is actually disagreeable to the reader, they might consider it garbage and thus a waste of their time. The five-paragraph essay is as brief but as thorough as it gets. An aphorism does not make an argument, even if it is short. So the five-paragraph essay trumps the aphorism as well. Further, if the five-paragraph essay one writes gains traction, another five-paragraph essay can be written in defense of one of its premises, another for another, and a third for its last. One essay can quickly turn into four. This can build into longer cumulative work later on if it is successful. In other words, a five-paragraph essay can get the idea out there and be read while building it into something much larger.
In the end, it really does seem to me, at least currently, that the five-paragraph essay is of great value to any philosophy writer and should rise again to prominence, not just for grade school students. It not only covers all the bases of a traditional philosophical essay in that it focuses on a single philosophical argument, but it is also more readable yet remains rational for the audience. All of this while remaining as brief yet thorough as possible. Which is incredibly important in today’s fast-moving world. If we focus on these three points and generate five-paragraph essays, then we focus on what makes a philosophical essay successful: that it is rational and clear, interesting to read, and brief enough that its readers (hopefully) won’t lose interest too quickly.
David Klier is an American philosopher, having taken over 20 philosophy courses (at the time of writing) since 2017 from Arizona State University (as part of his BA), Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford, just to name a few. He also operates the social media platform Five Minute Philosophy, where he creates and shares memes and brief philosophical thoughts. He hopes to someday teach philosophy in a community college setting.
