I am currently writing a Term paper for my philosophy class and it is over Free Will vs. Determinism...There is a movie option, in which we can watch the movie that goes along with our topic...Our first 2ish pages will be about the philosophy of that movie. So, after we talk about the philosophy of the movie, how do you transition to actually defining the topic and discussing which you believe to be true?

Question

anonymous · Answer

@e.mccormick @confluxepic @sammixboo 

Do any of you know?

e.mccormick · Answer

Well, first off, so you understand the terms  Free Will and Determinism?

anonymous · Answer

Yes, I am just unsure of how one would transition from talking about the movie, to actually defining the terms and discussing the topic.

e.mccormick · Answer

How about some short examples?

If I take Free Will and Determinism as a lens to look at the Star Wars movies, I can talk about several things.  Remember, in those films there are predictions about both Anikan/Vader and Luke about how they will both destroy things and reunify them.

There are many films where there is a "chosen one" so Determinism.

Another example, the Harry Potter films, has a great bit on this near the end.  When Harry is learning why he is chosen it exposes a blend of Free Will.  See, he was NOT the Chosen One until Voldimort "chose" him.  Up tot hat point there were several potentials.  So what made Harry Chosen?  the Free Will of Voldemort...

You find a good film, rather than a series, and do that sort of evaluation.  Show how the principals were applied, and discuss why you agree or disagree with them in this context.

anonymous · Answer

The movie for my topic is 'Minority Report'

e.mccormick · Answer

OK.  So you need to look at the topics in there that seem to be predetermined and/or freely chosen and evaluate them based on the philosophical arguments for those ideas.

e.mccormick · Answer

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a good reference for this stuff: http://plato.stanford.edu/ They give good descriptions and discussions on philosophical topics. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/determinism-causal/ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freewill/ Then you can use these as a source of ideas for how to approach the question of what is free will or determinisim.

anonymous · Answer

I understand this...
The problem I am having is that after the 2ish pages of writing about the movie and it's philosophy, how do you transition to the rest of the paper which isn't about the movie...

e.mccormick · Answer

You need to prepare fot the transition or it is not a single paper, so you need to have some bits earlier on.  Then you can lead to the topic more easily.  Also, are you sure that is the format wanted for the paper?  If so, then you need some sort of thesis statment at the start that would be along the lines of, "An examination of the philosopical content of the film Minority Report in general, but with a focus on how this then applies to the question of free will vs. determinisim."

You do not have a paper without a thesis to support what is being done or gone over inside it.

anonymous · Answer

Good luck man! I feel that mccormick explained it perfectly

anonymous · Answer

Why don't you incoporate bits from the movie with the rest of the paper so it isn't a direct transition, just a change of thought process?

e.mccormick · Answer

Well, it has to be tied together as a term paper. Tip #3 on this page can help: http://www.college-scholarships.com/five_tips_for_writing_term_papers.htm The whole 5 paragraph paper thing of high school goes out the window in term papers. There are much longer bits of advice on writing good papers: http://www.collegeonline.org/library/online-assignments/termpaper-writing.html https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/01/ But those few tips should be a good starting point.

anonymous · Answer

what do you mean 5 paragraph paper thing of high school??? all the papers i've written in high school have had to like 3 or 5-7 pages....

e.mccormick · Answer

Well, then you are lucky enough to go to a good school that teaches you about real papers.  Many use a 5 paragraph format that is never seen again and is somehow supposed to prep you for papers of 5+ pages.