Academic essays

The list of essays below is mostly tutorial work, but contains some other pieces too. Here, more than anywhere, the fact that I argue for a position does not entail that I hold it – though I try to flag in sidenotes where I was prioritising expediency over sincerity in an essay.

You can find my philosophy Finals revision materials here – including revision notes, essay plans, and practice essays – and a retrospective on how I revised here. I also have GitHub repos for the rest of my PPE notes and flashcards. If you’re studying PPE, you might also be interested in Finalcast, a site I built where you can explore data on the outcomes of different FHS options, and simulate how changing combinations might affect your classification.

Last, if you’re just interested in the highlights, you can read my synthesis of what I learned academically from studying PPE here.

• Is Aristotle’s account of friendship too egoistic? Would this be a problem for Aristotle?
• What is the best way to describe the failure that the akratic person has, and why?
• Write a critical commentary on Aristotle’s discussion of practical wisdom.
• In what sense is justice a mean for Aristotle?
• How satisfactory is Aristotle’s theory of responsibility in the context of an imperfect upbringing?
• Write a critical commentary on Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean.
• In Aristotle’s ethics, is being a good human being the same as being good at being human?
• Are moral facts in any sense reducible to natural facts?
• Is there an essential conflict between morality and self-interest?
• Can contractualism explain why we should save the greater number?
• Could I rationally will it to be a universal law that no one ever helps anyone else?
• ‘Consequentialism is impossibly demanding. So it cannot be correct.’ Discuss.
• Is caring about equality compatible with caring about people’s wellbeing?
• Are virtue ethicists right to make virtue fundamental in ethical theory?
• Is liberty, in Mill’s On Liberty, an end or a means to an end?
• Are Rousseau’s ‘general will’ and Marx’s ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ compatible with democracy?
• ‘Speech which spreads hate should never be tolerated.’ Discuss.
• What is ‘integrity’? Does utilitarianism threaten it? Is that a bad thing?
• What does Mill have to say about justice and instincts in his Utilitarianism?
• Does rule utilitarianism survive the ‘collapse objection’?
• Can a reliable clairvoyant have knowledge?
• What conditions must be met for person A in 1984 to be the same person as person B in 2000?
• Should the existence of extreme human suffering lead a religious believer to abandon their faith?
• Is non-determinism necessary for free will?
• Why do voters have stable attachments to political parties?
• What explains the success or failure of particular social movements?
• Does distinguishing amongst regimes based on whether they are presidential, semi-presidential or parliamentary tell us much about political outcomes?
• Are party systems more the result of social or institutional influences?
• What explains variations in state capacity?
• Can we draw a sharp distinction between regimes that are democratic and those that are not?
• Are consensus democracies “gentler” than majoritarian ones?
• Automatic Diplomatic
• The Ethics of Effectiveness: Three Crucial Philosophical Considerations