A-Level Philosophy
SUBJECT LEADER
Mr S Harrow
EXAM BOARD
AQA
SPECIFICATION LINK
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Grade 5 GCSE RE
Why choose A-Level Philosophy?
Studying Philosophy is an excellent opportunity to think deeply whilst developing important transferrable skills. Choosing Philosophy as your subject will prepare you for the kind of careful thinking, critical analysis and persuasive writing that is critical in many different areas of work. A more important reason to study Philosophy is that you’ll love it. Philosophy poses some of the most challenging questions that have ever been asked, underlying many of the most important questions confronting us today.
What you will study in A-Level Philosophy?
The course is divided into 4 units studied across the 2 years:
1 Epistemology
What is knowledge? What distinguishes knowledge from mere opinion or belief?
2 Moral Philosophy
What is the nature of the good? How should we behave? Applying ethical theories to dilemmas including telling lies and simulated killing
3 Metaphysics of God
This unit examines the question, Does God exist?
4 Metaphysics of Mind
What do we mean by the mind? Does the ‘mind’ exist?
How you will be assessed in A-Level Philosophy?
2 x 3 hour written exams
Exam 1 – Epistemology and Moral Philosophy
Exam 2 – Metaphysics of God and Metaphysics of Mind
There will be 10 questions in each paper, ranging from 3 mark answers which test your knowledge of key words, to 25 marks essay style questions asking you to evaluate a range of the theories you have studied.
Additional Information
Useful sites to help you understand what you will study in Philosophy:
http://www.philosophyexperiments.com/
http://www.philosophers.co.uk/
http://www.mindspring.com/~mfpatton/sclinic.htm