PHILOSOPHY A LEVEL

‘Philosophy, rightly defined, is the love of wisdom.’

Marcus Tullius Cicero

(Ancient Roman Lawyer, Writer, Scholar, Orator and Statesman 106 BC -43 BC)

Ashbourne’s Classics, Religious Studies and Philosophy Department

This department is headed by Michael Peat. Michael has an excellent track record of teaching and results as is often said by his students to be their favourite tutor at Ashbourne. High praise indeed. Michael holds a first degree in Theology as well as BSc Hons at Birmingham. He is also very versatile and is equally able to teach Mathematics as well as Philosophy. He is assisted in the department by George Chalzedos who teaches classics.

Examination Board:

Ashbourne Follows the AQA specification for Philosophy. This specification has been approved for first teaching from September 2008 by the QCA.

Course Content

Unit 1 PHIL1 An Introduction to Philosophy 1

1. Reason and experience

Mind as a tabula rasa

Innate knowledge

Conceptual schemes

2. Why should I be governed?

The state of nature

Political obligation and consent

Disobedience and dissent

3. Why should I be moral?

Morality as a social contract

Morality as constitutive of self-interest

Morality as overcoming self-interest

4. The idea of God

The divine attributes

The ontological argument

The origins of ‘God’

5. Persons

What are the characteristics of personhood?

What is a person?

What secures our personal identity through time?

Unit 2 PHIL2 An Introduction to Philosophy 2

1. Knowledge of the external world

Realism

Representative realism

Idealism

2. Tolerance

The tolerant society

The tolerant individual

Tolerance and religion

3. The value of art

We value art because it informs us

We value art because of its expressive quality

We value art because of its particular ‘artistic’ quality

4. God and the world

The argument from design

The problem of evil

The religious point of view

5. Free will and determinism

What is determinism?

What is free will?

The implications of determinism

Unit 3 PHIL3 Key Themes in Philosophy

1. Philosophy of mind

Substance dualism

Reductive accounts of the mind

Arguments for and against these positions.

Non-reductive materialism

2. Political philosophy

Human nature and political organisation

Liberty

Rights Justice

3. Epistemology and metaphysics

The refutation of scepticism

Knowledge, belief and justification

Universals and particulars

The strengths and weaknesses of different approaches.

Objective knowledge

4. Moral philosophy

Moral truth

The denial of moral truth

Moral decisions

5. Philosophy of religion

Arguments for the existence of God

Reason and faith

Miracles

Making sense of religion

Unit 4 PHIL4 Philosophical Problems

1. Text: Hume An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding Sections II to VIII and Section X Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-875248-2

Candidates should demonstrate an understanding of the following:

• the relation between impressions and ideas; what Hume means by these terms

• the principles of association and what they are intended to explain

• the distinction between relations of ideas and matters of fact (Hume’s ‘fork’) – the scope of each

• the nature of belief and imagination and the difference between them

• the analysis of causation in terms of constant conjunction – the role of custom and repetition

• Hume’s definitions of ‘cause’

• the idea of necessary connection and the search for its origin – Hume’s solution to the problem

• the attempt to reconcile free will and determinism; the diagnosis of the nature of the problem, Hume’s account of what is meant by ‘liberty’ and ‘necessity’

• past experience rationality and probability in relation to belief in miracles. Essay questions will focus on the following problem areas:

• empiricism

• cause and effect

• free will.

2. Plato

The Republic Book I 336b to 367e Book V, 474c to Book VII, 521b Penguin Classics ISBN 0-14-044914-0

Candidates should demonstrate an understanding of the following:

• the nature of morality (justice)

• knowledge is virtue

• the theory of forms, metaphysical, epistemological, ethical and political implications

• knowledge, belief and ignorance (divided line), reasons for making the distinctions

• the objects of knowledge and belief

• the philosopher ruler and his qualities; his suitability to rule

• democracy, the philosopher’s present status, similes of the ship and the beast

• the form of the good, its role and status, similes of the cave and the sun.

Essay questions will focus on the following problem areas:

• appearance and reality

• political rule

• knowledge and virtue.

3. Text Mill On Liberty Penguin Classics ISBN 0-14043.207-8

Candidates should demonstrate an understanding of the following:

• the kind of liberty with which Mill is concerned

• liberty and the state

• the power of the state

• development of democracy and inherent dangers

• the role of civil convention and the pressure of public opinion; tyranny of the majority

• the ‘harm principle’. What is ‘harm’? Harm and offence, negative freedom

• the arguments in support of freedom of thought and expression, and freedom of action

• exceptions and their justification

• the importance of truth, the importance of variety

• the development of the individual

• whether liberty is intrinsically or instrumentally valuable

• the applications of Mill’s principles. Essay questions will focus on the following problem areas:

• freedom of the individual

• individual development

• democracy.

4. Descartes Meditations Meditations I, II, III, V and VI Penguin Classics ISBN 0-14-044206-5

Candidates should demonstrate an understanding of the following:

• the method of doubt and its purpose

• total deception.

Absolute certainty of the cogito and its implications

• arguments for distinguishing mind and body:

knowledge argument, appeal to God’s omnipotence and indivisibility

• essential natures of mind and body; Descartes’ rationalism, the wax example and its purposes

• clear and distinct ideas. Intellect and imagination and their respective roles

• the ‘proof’ of material things.

The role of God and the ontological proof

• mind body independence and the intermingling thesis (pilot and ship).

Essay questions will focus on the following problem areas:

• certainty

• God

• mind and body.

5. Text Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil Sections I, II, III, V, VI (209-13), IX (257-70) Oxford World’s Classics ISBN 0-19-283263-8

Candidates should demonstrate an understanding of the following:

• critique of past philosophers; motivational analysis, eg philosophy as expression of self-interest or prejudice

• the bewitchment of language; truth and interpretation

• the ‘correct’ philosophical questions

• the new philosopher and his socio-intellectual status

• the notion of ‘superiority’

• the will to power

• the different morality.

Master slave morality.

The three stages of morality

• nietzsche’s account of religion; self-denial and sacrifice

• advantages and disadvantages of religion, the future use of religion

• nietzsche’s ‘history’ of morality – particularity of moral systems

• morality and human nature; herd morality • critique of ‘modern ideas’

• the sceptic and the critic

• nobility: description of value systems

• social implications of Nietzsche’s concept of noble values.

Essay questions will focus on the following problem areas:

• scope of philosophy

• nature of morality

• religious belief.

Possible University Degree Programmes Suited to A-level Philosophy

Philosophy has multiple applications across both Sciences and Humanities and as such is combined with numerous other courses at undergraduate level ranging from Management to Computer science. Philosophy is the most likely subject to be paired with any other when it comes to joint honours degrees.