How to Write for the Apeiron Blog
By: Jon Hawkins
Tags: Blog, Philosophy, Education, Psychology, Work

2. Submissions Guidelines

The Apeiron Blog began because we recognized the value that Philosophy carries, but noticed most academic Philosophy is inaccessible to the everyday reader.

Because of that, all the articles we publish should have one main focus — to teach the value of Philosophy in a way the general public can understand.

Most people have an attention span shorter than that of a goldfish (according to Microsoft Canada, anyway). So we are looking for articles that are short, to the point and insightful— without watering anything down, or losing the value of your Philosophical message.

You should remain conversational, yet remain authoritative, trustworthy, and avoid being overly chatty. Stay focused and, so as to not confuse readers, avoid unnecessary tangents that don’t relate to the point at hand. Instead, tie everything back, and make it clear why you’re saying what you are.

Whether you’re writing about your favorite Philosopher, its value, or how to use the subject to improve your day to day life — the point of your article should be clear, and the underlying message should be easy to understand.

Avoid waffle, be economical with your wording, and stick to a style that everyone can understand.

To keep things accessible, we exclusively publish articles with a reading time of 10 minutes or less. For tips and tricks, and to identify common mistakes when submitting to us, check out this article by our editor.

a) Topics We Accept

Philosophy is an incredibly broad topic. But it’s predicated on one thing — pursuing wisdom and getting us to think. Be that about morality, our lives, space and time, politics, or something else.

Consequently, we choose not to limit the topics we accept. All we ask is that articles sent for review contain critical thought, deep analysis (such as logically assessing arguments), or offer insightful viewpoints.

Your work should get the reader thinking and questioning what they know.

To name a few of the topics we accept, we publish articles on:

Philosophy.

Politics.

Psychology.

The Natural Sciences.

Life Lessons.

Self — Improvement.

b) Keeping Your Writing Accessible

Academic Philosophy is incredibly alienating and scares away most people. It terrified me, to begin with, but it was by starting with the basics that I came to love the subject.

As our target audience is those who are new to Philosophy, it’s really important that your writing style is right on the money. Otherwise, you risk scaring aware readers for good. Here are some tips:

Avoid unnecessary jargon, or words that the average reader wouldn’t understand. They don’t make you sound clever, but they do confuse us all. If you can’t avoid using jargon, define it in its first instance.

Avoid big blocks of text. These have a home in academic texts, but not for people who are new to Philosophy who are starting out. Keep paragraphs to around 2–4 lines.

Portray your message as simply as possible. Philosophers (stereotypically) complicate things for the sake of it. Here, we want to keep things as simple as possible. If you can communicate the same message in a clearer, shorter, or simpler way — then do so.

In doing so, you are allowing those with a fascination for Philosophy to explore that in a stimulating and informative, yet accessible environment.

c) Evidence & Research

Philosophy has a bad reputation for being all about “opinions.” That’s a myth that needs debunking because, in reality, its deeply rooted in Logic, Science, and Empirical Research.

The Apeiron Blog is a space for credible, factual and reliable information that readers can trust. Because of that, all articles must contain research and evidence to back up and support their points.

Without it, your articles will slip into empty and meaningless speculation — and that rarely holds up to scrutiny.

The Apeiron is a factual and informative publication, rather than a place for empty speculation without theory to back it up.

Research and evidence can come in many different forms:

From scholars, Philosophers, key thinkers.

From your own rationality/reasoning (grounded in propositional or modal logic).

From your own personal experiences.

All articles must have references from reliable sources. To keep things simple, we ask that this evidence is linked and embedded into relevant sections of the text, rather than referencing it like academic work.

Please note that we don’t accept articles that:

Are arrogant in tone.

Are written with an agenda or aim to promote something.

Where you have “invented” a new philosophy, without the evidence or theories to back it up.

d) Formatting

Philosophers are smart, but from experience, some of them can be lazy when it comes to formalities. Unfortunately, formatting your article is an important step in making your article attractive to the everyday reader.

If your article isn’t well formatted, we might reject it or send it back to you. We expect every piece to: