What I think it comes down to is the examples that they use. Nietzsche tends to use literary or poetic examples and illustrations in his writing. Wittgenstein, on the other hand, uses down-to-earth real-life examples in his work. There is a big difference between talking about builders making a wall and a demon making you relive your life over and over. For me, the practical examples win me over; for others, it might be Nietzsche’s.
Whatever your preference, this story shows the importance of examples in philosophy. Philosophy has a reputation as being theoretical and abstract. But the best philosophers always provide examples to ground their work and connect them to ordinary life. In this article, I want to explore the two key roles that examples play in philosophical work and how we can use them to make our own arguments more persuasive.
Explaining: Making the Abstract Concrete
Philosophy is full of complex and confusing ideas, as its subject matter often requires unusual concepts to discuss. For example, the nature of language is a tricky subject to talk about because in order to talk about it, we have to use language. It’s like trying to explain boxing by boxing, it’s hard to get the nuances of the sport while getting punched in the face.
To overcome this difficulty, philosophers rely on real-world examples to help explain their points by giving us an easy way to connect to and understand their thoughts. Kant, a philosopher who is perhaps famous for being difficult to understand, is a good example.
In the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), Kant lists four kinds of duties: perfect duties toward ourselves, perfect duties toward others, imperfect duties toward ourselves and imperfect duties toward others. He then gives a real-life example of what each of the duties looks like.
- Perfect duty toward oneself (Example: Never commit suicide)
- Perfect duty toward others (Example: Only make promises you intend to keep)
- Imperfect duty toward oneself (Example: Developing your own talents)
- Imperfect duty toward others (Example: Contributing to the happiness of others)
The difference between a duty to ourselves and a duty to others is pretty straightforward. They are actions which we do for the sake of ourselves or for the sake of someone else. However, what is less clear is the difference between a ‘perfect’ and ‘imperfect’ duty. And this is where the examples shine.
The two perfect duties involve specific acts (i.e. committing suicide and making a promise) and are expressed through universal statements (i.e. never and only). This means that they are singular actions that apply to everyone at all times. The imperfect duty examples are more general and depend on the person(s) whom the act is for.
Developing my talents will look very different from developing your talents as we might have different abilities. Likewise, what contributes to my happiness might not contribute to your happiness. Because of this, no specific action can be required (as in perfect duties) and instead we are required to act toward a certain goal (e.g. happiness and personal development) with room to pursue that goal based on context.
Grounding: Making the Argument Matter
The second role that examples play in philosophy is to ground the argument in real-life. This is what makes the argument matter as it shows that the argument or concepts are not just good ideas but have a practical application and payoff.
Consider a sentence you’ve probably read a hundred times:
“Artificial intelligence will transform knowledge work.”
This is a strong claim and would have a huge impact on our lives if true. However, it is also very weak at the same time. The claim itself does not tell us what actual transformation will happen and what knowledge work might mean. It certainly sounds impressive but it might turn out that AI will simply be a more advanced version of spellchecker and that in itself doesn’t sound very transformative.
To show the importance of the claim and to make it meaningful, let’s add a concrete example of the kind of transformation we might see with AI. Part of my job includes translating documents from Japanese to English. I largely work freelance and charge my clients based on word count. If I incorporate AI into my workflow, I can greatly increase the amount of words per hour that I translate and thus increase my income significantly. It transforms my work from digging around in dictionaries to getting instant feedback from an AI assistant as I write.
The example of the impact of AI on my work thus turns an abstract belief into a practical stance that can be engaged with. We know exactly the kind of transformation that will take place (e.g. an increase in productivity and income). I care a lot about the impact of AI on my translation business, much more than the possible effects of AI on knowledge work.
This aspect of examples is so important in fact that popular-level writing such as news articles or op-ed pieces open with an example to help connect the reader to the story. Take public policy as an example. I recently read an article about the implications of America’s new tariffs for Japanese sake companies. The article opens with an interview with a representative from a sake company who regularly does business in the US including a quote about how his company is worried about price increases and the loss of customers.
Immediately, we can see that this discussion is not just about ideas or numbers on a page. The writer humanizes the story by using the names of real companies and people to drive home that the story is real and affecting real people. Good examples also force us to see what follows if we accept a claim. If we conclude that a new policy will cost small producers disproportionately, then we have to ask whether that outcome is acceptable, whether we’ll help those producers adjust, or whether the policy should be revised. Without the example, we might never notice the need to address such questions.
Giving Good Examples
Now that we have seen how examples can both explain and ground our arguments, the next question is: how do we actually give good examples? Not every example works well, and a poor one can weaken an argument instead of strengthening it. So here are two tips for making strong, effective examples, along with a few common pitfalls to avoid.
A great place to find good examples is your own life. Examples drawn from personal experience help the reader see that you are speaking from your own experience, not just repeating a secondhand story. They carry credibility because they are rooted in your perspective. Returning to the earlier discussion of AI, it’s one thing to say that AI will generally help translators. It’s an example, but one that lacks any real impact or connection. A stronger version is to show exactly how AI impacts my own translation work. Those small details give the reader something to picture and make the point more persuasive. The key here is to be honest. Even if your story is not perfect, it is yours, and that authenticity gives it power.
A second way to make your examples impactful is to meet your reader where they are. The best example for a philosophy seminar is not necessarily the best example for a general audience. If I am writing for academic readers, drawing on Kant or Plato makes sense, because my audience knows these works and can relate to them.
But if I am writing for a broad audience, I need to use something more accessible such as references from popular culture, a headline in the news, or a familiar experience like shopping or watching a movie. The point is not the subject matter itself but the connection it builds. Choosing examples your readers can easily recognize ensures that your argument has persuasive force.
That said, we also need to avoid certain things that make examples unhelpful. A common pitfall is going into too much detail. An example should make the point of the argument clear, not turn into a story that distracts from it. For instance, when talking about my use of AI to help with my job, I need to show only what matters for the point at hand. If I start explaining every step of the process, the example becomes a tutorial rather than evidence, and the reader loses track of the argument. In other words, too much detail drowns the point you wanted to highlight.
A second pitfall is relying on outlier cases. This is tempting because unusual examples can be dramatic and memorable, but they often mislead. In business writing, for instance, it is common to use companies like Google or Amazon to illustrate a principle. Yet these firms are not representative; they are outliers and are called “unicorns” for a reason. They are so unusual that trying to generalize from them often produces bad advice. If your audience all works at Google, perhaps it is fine, but if you are speaking to the wider tech industry, those examples fail to connect your point to the experience of most of your readers. In some cases they even weaken the argument by making it irrelevant.
Thus, good examples come from the ordinary and the relatable, not from excessive detail or spectacular exceptions. They should give just enough for the reader to see the point clearly and feel its weight in real-life.
Bringing Philosophy Back to Earth
Philosophy will always have an abstract side. While this is its strength, it makes it confusing and hard for most people to relate to. Even everyday arguments that lack examples are like the existence of alien life in a far-off universe — fascinating but irrelevant. Examples are, so to speak, our first contact. They bring claims from the realm of speculation into reality, where we can actually test them, argue about them, and see how they shape our lives.
Good examples do two things at once: they make difficult ideas concrete and they show why those ideas matter. Kant’s ethical duties are clearer when tied to promises and talents and the abstract claim that “AI will transform work” gains weight only when you see how it changes the habits of a single translator. Without examples, these ideas might as well be written in an alien language.
That is why the choice of example matters so much. When you need examples for your ideas, draw from your own life when you can and meet your readers where they are. Also make sure to avoid outliers that mislead or the details that bury the point. Remember, an example should strengthen your view and not distract from it.
In the end, the work of philosophy, and of writing more generally, is not to retreat from the world but to return to it with sharper tools. Examples are how we make that return. They are the moments of first contact where ideas meet life, reminding us that ideas are not just elegant possibilities, they are shaping our lives in more ways than we realize.
