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I'm editing the bio paragraph of a graphic designer's resume, where she has written a sentence beginning,

"I depart from the philosophy that..."

-- this leads into a quick one-sentence summary of her design philosophy.

It is meant to be synonymous with "I take the philosophy that ... as my point of departure" -- but it's clearly ambiguous as written, and could be read to mean the opposite. However, this latter formulation is far too verbose.

Is there a way to say "I believe that..." as succinctly as above, without simply saying "It is my philosophy that..." ? "believe" is a bit too religious for my taste, and I think the sentence should begin with "I" in order to sound more active.

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  • 'I disagree when X says ...' / ' I cannot agree with X when they say ...' / 'I do not subscribe to the theory that' (but what's wrong with 'I do not believe that ...'?) – Edwin Ashworth Dec 28 '15 at 23:11
  • A belief is not the same as a philosophical/aesthetic position. Note also that we're looking for a positive and not a negative declaration. – pgblu Dec 28 '15 at 23:13
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    Better talk to your graphic designer. "I depart from the philosophy" means that I part ways with it, i.e., I disagree with it. – deadrat Dec 28 '15 at 23:18
  • @deadrat - that was my point in the 2nd paragraph of the question. It's clear (to me) what she intends to say. – pgblu Dec 28 '15 at 23:30
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    I assume that it's clear to you because you know something I don't, namely the designer's philosophy. In that case "depart" is inapt, even if we suppose it means "I take as a point of departure." Which it doesn't. Perhaps "I am guided by", "I subscribe to", "my work is grounded in". – deadrat Dec 28 '15 at 23:40
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If in fact what the designer means is "I take [this philosophy] as the point of departure for [my work]", there's all sorts of ways of saying that fairly briefly:

{I start/My work starts} from the philosophy that ...
{My work is based/I base my work} on the philosophy that ...
{I build/My work builds} on the philosophy that ...
The foundation of my work is the philosophy that ...
It all starts with the philosophy that ...

And here's one I really hate—but it has a cheesily pompous contemporaneity she may find attractive:

Foundational to my work is the philosophy that ...

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I don't think "I believe that" sounds too religious at all. That would be my first choice. But if you want something different, you could try any of the following...

  1. It is my belief that . . .

  2. I think that . . .

  3. In my opinion, . . .

  4. It is my position that . . .

  5. I favor (another approach, or whatever).

  6. I prefer (whatever you prefer).

There are probably many other ways of saying something similar.

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Departing from some arcane philosophy doesn't necessarily make one smart or hip or well-studied. Resume readers have ultimate power, and they often use it to make the applicant uncomfortable in order to see how they do under pressure. Any mention of somebody else's work may invoke a discussion of that very modality. Thus, to bring it up, your applicant must need know all of its eccentricities--or simply not bring it up.

I would agree with the active voice:

My opinion is that ..._

I hold to the ..._

True to my work in X, I ...,

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  • The rest of the sentence communicates something very straightforward and concrete about her approach, it doesn't make her sound smart, let alone arcane, if that's what you mean to admonish. Thanks for your ideas. – pgblu Dec 28 '15 at 23:32
  • I was just being dramatic. You get my point ... – Stu W Dec 28 '15 at 23:35

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