Philosophy

What levels are on offer?

You can take Philosophy at Higher Level or at Standard Level.

How do I decide which to choose
  • Higher Level Philosophy is aimed at students who really enjoy Philosophy, Law and Government and Politics and those who possibly want to study any of these subjects at University.
  • Standard level Philosophy is aimed at students who are interested in Philosophy and want to try it out.
What will I need?

For Philosophy you will need at least a B grade in History, English or RE GCSE as all these subjects are relevant to Philosophy.

You will also need a copy of the book 'Meditations' by Rene Descartes as this is the prescribed text that we will study.

What will I study?

The Standard level course will include:

  • What is a human being?
  • Theories and problems of Ethics - Principles for moral action - normative ethics, the nature of moral judgment - meta-ethics and Applied ethics
  • Philosophy of Religion
  • Meditations by Rene Descartes

The Higher level course will include:

  • What is a human being?
  • Theories and problems of Ethics - Principles for moral action - normative ethics, the nature of moral judgment - meta-ethics and Applied ethics
  • Philosophy of Religion
  • Political Philosophy - Civil society, the state and government, Liberty and Rights and Justice.
  • Meditations by Rene Descartes
  • Unseen text - exploring philosophical activity.
How will I be assessed?

In each case there are two aspects to the assessment.

  • For the Internal Assessment you will write a philosophical analysis of non-philosophical material. This should contain 1,600 - 2,000 words. This will be internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the IBO. The analysis is worth 20% of the total marks for HL and 30% of the total marks for SL.
  • There is an end of course exam taken in May of the second year.

SL Paper 1 lasts 1¾ hrs and is worth 40%. It consists of two compulsory sections. Section A contains two questions based on what is a human being. Students are required to answer one question. Section B contains two essay questions for each of the optional themes and students are required to answer one question.

SL Paper 2 lasts 1 hour and is worth 30%. It consists of two essay questions for each of the prescribed philosophical texts. Students are required to answer one question.

HL Paper 1 lasts 2½ hours and is worth 40%. It consists of two compulsory sections. Section A contains two questions based on what is a human being. Students are required to answer one question. Section B contains two essay questions for each of the optional themes and students are required to answer two questions, each from a different optional theme.

HL paper 2 lasts 1 hour and is worth 20%. It consists of two essay questions for each of the prescribed philosophical texts. Students are required to answer one question.

HL Paper 3 is a 1½ hour paper worth 20%. This paper consists of one unseen text. Students are required to write a response to this text.

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