A level Philosophy Years 12 & 13
Specification
AQA - The specification and assessment structure can be found at the link: https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/philosophy/as-and-a-level/philosophy-7172
The philosophy specification asks these questions:
- What can we know?
- Can the existence of God be proved?
- How do we make moral decisions?
- Are my mind and body separate?
These questions are fundamental and the material covered in the specification not only provides students with a good understanding of how these debates have, so far, been framed, but also acts as a springboard for consideration and discussion of students’ own ideas.
The range of question types for the A Level ensures that students are assessed across a core of important philosophical skills. Short-tariff items assess the students’ accuracy and precision; longer-tariff items assess their ability to articulate a particular argument in a clear and concise way; and open-ended writing tasks assess their ability to construct and evaluate arguments. The course has been designed to enable students to gain a thorough grounding in key philosophical concepts, themes, texts and techniques. Students will develop a range of transferable skills which can be applied far beyond the study of Philosophy.
Prior Learning
Candidates for A Level Philosophy should have three Grade 7s at GCSE including English.
Year 12 Course Content:
- Epistemology
- Moral Philosophy
Year 13 Course Content:
- Metaphysics of God
- Metaphysics of Mind
Examinations
There will be two 3 hour examinations at the end of Year 13.
Paper 1: Epistemology and Moral Philosophy. There will be 5 questions on each topic.
Paper 2: Metaphysic of Mind. There will be 5 questions on each topic.
Year 12
Topic | Further details about the topic | Skills | |
---|---|---|---|
Autumn Term |
|||
1 |
Epistemology - What is knowledge? The distinction between acquaintance knowledge, ability knowledge and propositional knowledge. The nature of definition (including Linda Zagzebski) and how propositional knowledge may be analysed/defined. The tripartite view - Propositional knowledge is defined as justified true belief: S knows that p if and only if:
Issues with the tripartite view including:
Responses: alternative post-Gettier analyses/definitions of knowledge including:
Moral philosophy - Normative ethical theories Utilitarianism - The question of what is meant by 'utility' and 'maximising utility', including:
Issues including:
|
|
|
2 |
Epistemology - Perception as a source of knowledge Direct realism The immediate objects of perception are mind-independent objects and their properties. Issues including:
Indirect realism - The immediate objects of perception are mind-dependent objects (sense-data) that are caused by and represent mind-independent objects. John Locke's primary/secondary quality distinction. Issues including:
Responses including:
Berkeley's idealism -The immediate objects of perception (ie ordinary objects such as tables, chairs, etc) are mind-dependent objects. Arguments for idealism including Berkeley's attack on the primary/secondary quality distinction and his 'Master' argument. Issues including:
Moral philosophy - Kantian deontological ethics Immanuel Kant’s account of what is meant by a ‘good will’. The distinction between acting in accordance with duty and acting out of duty. The distinction between hypothetical imperatives and categorical imperatives. The first formulation of the categorical imperative (including the distinction between a contradiction in conception and a contradiction in will). The second formulation of the categorical imperative. Issues including:
|
As above | |
Spring Term |
|||
1 |
Epistemology - Reason as a source of knowledge. Innatism Arguments from Plato (ie the 'slave boy' argument) and Gottfried Leibniz (ie his argument based on necessary truths). Empiricist responses including:
Moral philosophy - Aristotelian virtue ethics ‘The good’ for human beings: the meaning of Eudaimonia as the ‘final end’ and the relationship between Eudaimonia and pleasure. The function argument and the relationship between virtues and function. Aristotle’s account of virtues and vices: virtues as character traits/dispositions; the role of education/habituation in the development of a moral character; the skill analogy; the importance of feelings; the doctrine of the mean and its application to particular virtues. Moral responsibility: voluntary, involuntary and non-voluntary actions. The relationship between virtues, actions and reasons and the role of practical reasoning/practical wisdom. Issues including:
|
as above |
|
2 |
Epistemology- The intuition and deduction Thesis The meaning of ‘intuition’ and ‘deduction’ and the distinction between them. René Descartes’ notion of ‘clear and distinct ideas’. His cogito as an example of a priori intuition. His arguments for the existence of God and his proof of the external world as examples of a priori deductions. Empiricist responses including:
Moral philosophy - Applied ethics Students must be able to apply the content of Normative ethical theories and Meta-ethics to the following issues:
Meta-ethics The origins of moral principles: reason, emotion/attitudes, or society. The distinction between cognitivism and non-cognitivism about ethical language |
As above |
|
Summer Term |
|||
1 |
Epistemology - The limits of knowledge Particular nature of philosophical scepticism and the distinction between philosophical scepticism and normal incredulity. The role/function of philosophical scepticism within epistemology. The distinction between local and global scepticism and the (possible) global application of philosophical scepticism. Descartes’ sceptical arguments (the three ‘waves of doubt’). Responses to scepticism: the application of the following as responses to the challenge of scepticism:
Moral philosophy - Moral anti-realism There are no mind-independent moral properties/facts.
Issues that may arise for the theories above, including:
|
As above |
|
2 |
Internal Exams: AS Philosophy.
|
Assessment objectives (AOs) are set by Ofqual and are the same across all AS Philosophy specifications and all exam boards. The exams will measure how students have achieved the following assessment objectives. AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the core concepts and methods of philosophy, including through the use of philosophical analysis. AO2: Analyse and evaluate philosophical arguments to form reasoned judgements |
Revision, review & exam technique and past papers. |
Year 13
Topic | Further details about the topic | Skills | |
---|---|---|---|
Autumn Term | |||
1 |
Section A: Ethics Section B: Philosophy of Mind |
Section A: Ethics. Ethical theories: How do we decide what it is morally right to do? Utilitarianism: the maximisation of utility, including:
Issues, including:
Section B: Philosophy of Mind. The mind–body problem: What is the relationship between the mental and the physical? Dualism: the mind is distinct from the physical. The indivisibility argument for substance dualism (Descartes). Issues, including:
The conceivability argument for substance dualism: the logical possibility of mental substance existing without the physical (Descartes). Issues, including:
|
Assessment Objectives: AO1 - Demonstrate understanding of the core concepts and methods of Philosophy. AO2- Analyse and evaluate philosophical argument to form reasoned judgements. |
2 |
Section A: Ethics Section B: Philosophy of Mind |
Section A: Ethics Kantian deontological ethics: what maxims can be universalised without contradiction, including:
Issues, including:
Section B: Philosophy of Mind The ‘philosophical zombies’ argument for property dualism: the logical possibility of a physical duplicate of this world but without consciousness/qualia (Chalmers). Issues, including:
The ‘knowledge’/Mary argument for property dualism based on qualia (Frank Jackson). Qualia as introspectively accessible subjective/phenomenal features of mental states (the properties of ‘what it is like’ to undergo the mental state in question) – for many qualia would be defined as the intrinsic/non-representational properties of mental states. Issues, including:
The issues of causal interaction for versions of dualism:
The problem of other minds for dualism:
Response: the argument from analogy eg Mill |
As above |
Spring Term | |||
1 |
Section A: Ethics Section B: Philosophy of Mind |
Section A: Ethics Aristotle’s virtue ethics: the development of a good character, including:
Issues, including:
Section B: Philosophy of Mind Materialism: the mind is not ontologically distinct from the physical. Logical/analytical behaviourism: all statements about mental states can be analytically reduced without loss of meaning to statements about behaviour (an ‘analytic’ reduction). Issues, including:
Mind–brain type identity theory:
Issues, including:
|
As above |
2 |
Section A: Ethics Section B: Philosophy of Mind |
Section A: Ethics Ethical language: What is the status of ethical language? Cognitivism: ethical language makes claims about reality which are true or false (fact-stating).
Non-cognitivism: ethical language does not make claims about reality which are true or false (fact-stating)
Section B: Philosophy of Mind Functionalism: all mental states can be reduced to functional roles which can be multiply realised. Issues, including:
Eliminative materialism: some or all mental states do not exist (folk-psychology is false or at least radically misleading). Issues, including:
|
As above |
Summer Term | |||
1 |
Section A: Ethics Section B: Philosophy of Mind |
Revision, Review, Exam prep, exam techniques. |
As above |
Assessments
Resources | Topic | Type of assessment |
---|---|---|
CAT 1 |
1. Epistemology |
Test essays – internal assessment, time limited essay in class |
CAT 2 |
1. Epistemology |
Test essays – internal assessment, time limited essay in class |
CAT 3 |
1. Epistemology |
End of Year Examination |
CAT 4 |
Section A: Ethics Section B: Philosophy of Mind |
Test essays – internal assessment, time limited essay in class |
CAT 5 |
Section A: Ethics Section B: Philosophy of Mind |
Test essays – internal assessment, time limited essay in class |
CAT 6 |
Section A: Ethics Section B: Philosophy of Mind |
End of Year Examination |
Main Resources
Resource | Details | Term |
---|---|---|
Text books |
Philosophy for A2, by Michael Lacewing. Publisher: Routledge. Epistemology Set texts
Moral Philosophy Set texts
Philosophy of Mind
Ethics
|
All |
Recommended Reading |
How to Write Ethics & Philosophy Essays by Peter Baron & Brian Poxon. The Problems of Philosophy. (Kindle Edition) by Bertrand Russell. Meditations on First Philosophy, by Rene Descartes. The Republic by Plato. Descartes: A Very Short Introduction, by Tom Sorrell. Hume: A Very Short Introduction by Alfred Ayer. Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Tanner. Language, Truth and Logic by A. J. Ayer Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus” by Ludwig Wittgenstein. |
All |
Recommended websites |
The Window: Philosophy on the Internet |
|
Equipment |
Course File Practical clothing |
All |