Common Student Mistakes in Writing
Vocabulary
Ideology: This isn’t the same as “ideas.” You probably mean “ideas” and should likely use it. “Ideology” is more formal; it usually refers to a set of ideas in a system, maybe as part of an economic or political system. Unless you’re writing a social or political paper, you probably don’t mean to use “ideology.”
Subjective: This means that something relies on a single person, usually ourselves, as the source or authority. If you’re saying something like, “It’s all subjective” or “It’s ultimately subjective,” you’re probably being dismissive in a way that isn’t adding to the conversation. Consider why you want to say this. Unless you’re writing a paper in metaethics or something similar, you want to be careful with this term.
Semantics: “It’s all semantics” is usually said in frustration, often in response to arguing of the meaning of a word. But that’s often what philosophers do, dissect meanings and invent new ones. “Semantic” specifically refers to how we’re assigning meaning to a term. But you probably shouldn’t be using it if you’re trying to dismiss a debate as unimportant. Some philosophers distinguish between “semantic” disagreements (disputes in mere terms) vs “deep” disagreements (disputes on deep concepts or values for a debate). Just be careful using this word.