Year 11 IB Subject Guide 2020

IB – PHILOSOPHY Subject Summary:

The emphasis of the course is on doing philosophy within an international context. The aim is to encourage students to develop the ability to reason and argue and to take a personal and independent position on philosophical issues.

Assessment Outline: External assessment: Three written papers are externally set and externally assessed. Paper 1– This paper contains two sections: SL students write two essays; HL write three essays. • Section A students answer one question based on the core theme. • Paper 2 – This paper consists of an essay question on the prescribed philosophical texts. Paper 3 HL only – Students are required to write a response to an unseen text, which is on the core theme. Internal assessment: Students are required to write a philosophical analysis of non–philosophical material. Section B students answer one question on an optional theme. (HL answer two questions from two optional themes.) • Reasoning and logic: This is an introductory study to develop reasoning skills and making links with the Theory of Knowledge from the perspective of analytical philosophy. The study will assist students in being “thinkers” – the pivotal trait of all philosophers. This topic will not be directly assessed externally, but it provides the critical thinking skills for studying the other themes. • Ethics: This theme deals with ethical questions from a variety of perspectives. It is concerned with practical decision–making and the way people think they ought to lead their lives. Ethics explores the possible grounds for making moral decisions and examines notions such as freedom, virtue and responsibility. Semester Two Topics: • Political philosophy: Political philosophy is the study of people in societies, focusing on the claims they have on each other in the form of rights and obligations, and their demands for justice, equality and liberty. Political philosophy is also concerned with the analysis of the state and its institutions. • Being human: The core theme offers students the opportunity to do this from a variety of perspectives. These perspectives ask quite different questions, for example: How can I be sure I really know the other? Is there such a thing as a self? Semester Three Topics: • Prescribed philosophical text: An in–depth study of a prescribed philosophical text, which in 2018 is Plato’s Republic . • Internal assessment : Students are required to write a philosophical analysis of non–philosophical material. The philosophical analysis should contain 1,600 to 2,000 words. Semester Four Topics: • Doing Philosophy: “Socrates did not teach philosophy, he taught to philosophise.” (Daniel & Auraic 2011: 416). The emphasis of this capstone unit is for students to philosophise on a range of contemporary issues. Students will develop their reasoning skills and, through application, enrich their knowledge of ethics, political philosophy and an understanding of the human condition. Subject Outline by Semester: Semester One Topics:

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