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Course Description
This 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.
At AS level, the course concentrates on a number of key philosophical themes, intended to provide students with a broad introduction to Philosophy.
At A2, students will specialise further, selecting two themes to study in depth and focusing on philosophical problems through the study of a key text.
This course allows you to study at your own pace, and is suitable to be studied by all students irrespective of age, creed, religion or gender.
Read on to find out more about our A Level Philosophy distance learning course and how you can learn with our amazing materials and online support.
Course Content
An outline of what is offered in our A Level Philosophy course:
AS Level
PHIL1
Epistemology: Reason and Experience
Topics include:
- Mind as a tabula rasa
- The limits of a posteriori knowledge
- Ideas without experience
- The extent of a priori knowledge
- Conceptual schemes
In this unit you will learn…
The strengths and weaknesses of empiricism, the view that all our ideas derive from experience
How much knowledge about the world can be grounded in or justified through experience
The strengths and weaknesses of rationalism, the theory that all significant knowledge can be derived from reason alone.
The doctrine of innate ideas and its philosophical significance.
The view that experience is only intelligible as it is, because it presents sensation through a particular conceptual scheme or framework.
The difference between deductive and inductive arguments, necessary and contingent truths, and analytic and synthetic truths.
Mind and Metaphysics: Persons
Topics include:
- Persons introduced
- The concept “person”
- The limits of personhoo
- Personal identity
- Personal survival
In this unit you will learn…
The characteristics associated with personhood and the distinction between humans and persons
The nature of the concept “person” and degrees of personhood; potential persons, ex-persons and diminished persons
The limits of personhood; whether non human animals or complex machines possess any of the characteristics of persons, and to what extent
Whether physical or psychological continuity are necessary or sufficient conditions for personal identity through time
An alternative way of talking about a person’s existence through time; personal survival, and the strengths and weaknesses of this approach
Politics and Religion: why should I be governed?
Topics include:
- The state of nature
- From state of nature to governmental state
- Political obligation and consent
- Power, legitimacy and dissent
- Civil disobedience
In this unit you will learn…
Two different views on what mankind’s condition would be like in a ‘state of nature’, in the absence of a central government
Why it might be rational to submit to a central authority; the distinction between individual and collective rationality, and between positive and negative liberty
The view that political obligation comes from consent, and the concepts of hypothetical and tacit consent
The concepts of power, authority and legitimacy, and whether popular approval is a requirement for a legitimate state
Whether a guaranteed right to dissent is necessary for us to be politically obligated
The aims and requirements of civil disobedience and direct action, and under what circumstances they are justified
PHIL2
Epistemology: Knowledge of the External World
Topics include:
- Perception and the external world
- Representative realism
- Introducing idealism
- Should we be idealists?
- Realism revisited
In this unit you will learn…
The common sense view of how the world is experienced, and sceptical arguments against it
The distinction between primary and secondary qualities
The strengths and weaknesses of the secondary quality thesis and sense data theory
The strength and weaknesses of idealism, the theory that there is no world outside our perception of it
A philosophical reworking of the common sense view, and whether it can overcome the sceptic
Mind and Metaphysics: Free Will and Determinism
- Introducing determinism
- Humans and determinism
- What is free will?
- Could free will and determinism be compatible?
- Implications of determinism
In this unit you will learn…
Arguments in favour of the view that the world is determined by existing sets of conditions and the laws of nature.
How determinism fits with human action, the view that actions are pre-determined by environment and inheritance, and the view that free will is an illusion
The strengths and weaknesses of the view that free will requires indeterminism, and that human consciousness exists outside the natural causal chain
The strengths and weaknesses of the view that free will is compatible with determinism through causally determined voluntary actions
The moral implications of determinism, whether responsibility, praise and blame could make sense in a deterministic world, libertarian and compatibility responses
The difference between reasons and causes; action and bodily movement; actions and events
Politics and Religion: God and the World
Topics include:
- Arguments for design
- Arguments from design
- The problem of evil
- Responses to the problem
- The religious point of view
In this unit you will learn…
The view that the natural world shows evidence of intelligent design in its apparent order and purpose
Arguments in favour of the view that the apparent design of the natural world implies an omnipotent designer; arguments from analogy, probability, cause and effect, and inference to the best explanation
The problem of evil; the view that the presence of evil in the world is inconsistent with the idea of an all powerful, benevolent creator; the distinction between moral and natural evil
Several attempts to deal with the problem of evil, on the basis of; free will, the afterlife, the best of all possible worlds
The idea that the world can accommodate multiple different perspectives, and the religious point of view is just one of them
Whether the religious ‘hypothesis’ can be properly described as such; scientific belief distinguished from religious belief
PHIL 3
Key Themes in Philosophy: Political Philosophy
- Human nature
- Competing views of the state
- What is liberty?
- Why is liberty valuable?
- What are rights?
- Problems of rights
- What is justice?
- Justice and redistribution
- Nation states
In this unit you will learn…
What a number of different philosophers think about human nature, and the implications of these views on political philosophy
Several different accounts of what the state is for, and arguments for dissolution of the state as we know it
How freedom can be defined both positively and negatively, and how it can be interpreted by competing political ideologies
What makes freedom valuable, ways in which it might be promoted and defended, and the relationship between liberty and the law
How we can be said to have rights, the notions of natural and positive rights, and how human rights can be grounded
Problems with the extent and application of rights, ways in which conflicts between rights and social utility might be resolved, and the relationship between rights, liberty, morality and the law
What constitutes various types of justice, including social, economic and distributive justice
Different accounts of the just distribution of goods in a society, in terms of desert, need and equality, how redistribution might be justified, and the relationship between distributive justice, liberty and rights
How distribution concepts might be applied to nation states, and the relationships between states, and whether distributive justice applies on a global scale
How liberty relates to nationalism and national sentiment, and whether cross-border movement is just
Whether rights apply to groups and nations as a whole, for example, the right to self determination
Key Themes in Philosophy: Philosophy of Mind
- Introducing dualism
- Problems with dualism
- Dualist solutions, and further problems
- Reductive accounts of mind
- Identity theory
- Functionalism
- Can consciousness be eliminated
- Hard problems of consciousness
- Non-reductive materialism
- Dualism returns
In this unit you will learn…
Arguments for and against the Cartesian account of mind and body; substance dualism
The philosophical problems that this theory gives rise to; the problem of other minds and the problem of mind-body interaction
Proposed solutions to these problems, and Wittgenstein’s critique of the Cartesian approach
Four different attempts to reduce consciousness to the physical world; the view that mental statements can be reduced to statements about behaviour; the view that the mind can be ontologically reduced to physical states of the brain; attempts to account for the mind in terms of its functions; attempts to eliminate the mind and ‘folk psychology’ from the intellectual discourse
General arguments in favour of reductionism, including dissolution of the other minds and mind-body problems, and the non-mysteriousness of the mental
General arguments against reductionism, appealing to qualia and intentionality
The ‘hard problem of consciousness’, the possibility of philosophical zombie and the intelligence of artificial intelligence
Non-reductive forms of materialism and John Searle’s biological naturalism
The strengths and weaknesses of property dualism and the difficulty of accounting for psycho-physical causation
PHIL4
- Introducing the Meditations
- The method of doubt and its purpose
- Inducing doubt
- The Cogito
- Clear and distinct ideas
- The first proof of God
- The Cartesian circle
- Essential natures
- Removing scepticism
- Mind and body
- Dualistic problems
In this unit you will learn…
The best way to approach the Meditations, how to read it and its historical background
Several arguments to induce exaggerated doubt about one’s beliefs, and the purpose of the sceptical method
The outcome of the arguments from doubt; total deception and absolute certainty; the Cogito and the implications of this conclusion
The doctrine of clear and distinct ideas and their importance for the Cartesian project
Several proofs of God’s existence, and objections to these proofs; the ontological argument and the Cartesian circle
The doctrine of essential properties, and how it underpins the ontological argument and Cartesian dualism
Descartes’ distinction between intellect and imagination, the proof of material things and how scepticism is ultimately overcome
How Descartes argues for the view that mind and body are distinct substances and objections to these arguments
The question of mind-body interdependence and the ‘intermingling’ thesis
Summary of Assessments
Unit 1: PHIL1 – An Introduction to Philosophy 1
- 50% of AS Level
- 25% of A Level
- Written paper: 1 hour 30 minutes
- 90 marks
- Students must answer the compulsory question on reason and experience and one other question.
Unit 2:PHIL2 – An Introduction to Philosophy 2
- 50% of AS Level
- 25% of A Level
- Written paper: 1 hour 30 minutes
- 90 marks
- Students must answer two questions
Unit 3: PHIL3 – Key Themes in Philosophy
- 30% of A Level
- Written paper: 2 hours
- 100 marks
- Students must answer two questions from two different sections (i.e. on two themes).
Unit 4: PHIL4 – Philosophical Problems
- 20 % of A Level
- Written paper: 1 hour 30 minutes
- 60 marks
- Students must choose one section and answer the compulsory question and one essay question.
Previous Knowledge Required
It is not necessary to have any previous knowledge or qualifications in Philosophy. However, this subject will require you to work hard in order to grasp difficult concepts, pay close attention to detail and present and analyse complex arguments. It would suit those with an inquisitive or thoughtful nature, as well as anybody interested in strengthening their mental abilities and considering questions that have captivated mankind for centuries.
The course requires good essay writing skills, and a high level of reading comprehension.
Support
You will have access to tutor via email who will mark your work and guide you through the course to ensure you are ready for your examinations.
Assessment
Exam Format
A Level Philosophy consists of 4 units in total:
AS Level = 2 units
A2 Level = 2 units
AS Level
Unit 1: PHIL1 – An Introduction to Philosophy 1
Written paper: 1 hour 30 minutes
Unit 2:PHIL2 – An Introduction to Philosophy 2Written paper: 1 hour 30 minutes
A2 Level
Unit 3: PHIL3 – Key Themes in Philosophy
Written paper: 2 hours
Unit 4: PHIL4 – Philosophical Problems
Written paper: 1 hour 30 minutes
We will provide you with a list of examination centres but it is entirely your responsibility to find a centre which will accept you as an external candidate.
In some cases you should be prepared to travel to another town or city to take your exams.
The contract for sitting exams is between you and the centre and we will provide you with comprehensive instructions on when and how to deal with the examination centre.
Modules
- AS Level
- PHIL1
- Epistemology: Reason and Experience
- Mind and Metaphysics: Persons
- Politics and Religion: why should I be governed?
- PHIL2
- Epistemology: Knowledge of the External World
- Mind and Metaphysics: Free Will and Determinism
- Politics and Religion: God and the World
- PHIL 3
- Key Themes in Philosophy: Political Philosophy
- Key Themes in Philosophy: Philosophy of Mind
- PHIL4
Awarding Body
AQA (The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) has a leading reputation for promoting education for the public benefit and draws on long experience of setting and marking public exams such as GCSEs, A-levels and other qualifications. AQA is the largest of the three English exam boards, awarding 49% of full course GCSEs and 42% of A-levels nationally. In total, students take over 3.5 million exams with them each year.
