Resources
Philosophy for A2: New Syllabus
Unit 3
Philosophy of the Mind
Political Philosophy
Epistemology and Metaphysics
Moral Philosophy
- Moral knowledge, elitism, and weakness of will (RTF)
- Moral knowledge, elitism, and weakness of will (PDF)
- Moral truth as based on relational properties (RTF)
- Moral truth as based on relational properties (PDF)
Philosophy of Religion
- Background assumptions in Philosophy of Religion (RTF)
- Background assumptions in Philosophy of Religion (PDF)
- ‘Faith’ as a special kind of cognitive state (RTF)
- ‘Faith’ as a special kind of cognitive state (PDF)
Powerpoints
Philosophy of Mind
- Mental Causation
- Identity Theory
- Functionalism and the Mind-Body Problem
- Functionalism and Consciousness
- Dualism and the Mind-Body Identity Theory
- Substance and Property Dualism
- Descartes on the mind
- Consciousness
- Behaviourism
Political Philosophy
Epistemology and Metaphysics
Philosophy of Religion
- Faith without Reason?
- James and Freud on Religious Experience
- Knowing God through feeling
- Miracles
- Pascal's Wager
Moral Philosophy
- Abortion
- Is morality objective?
- Environmental Ethics
- Euthanasia and applying ethical theories
- Kant's Categorical Imperative
- Stem cell research
- The rise of the clones?
- Three theories of ethics
Unit 4
Hume's Enquiry
- Hume on the relation between impressions and ideas (RTF)
- Hume on the relation between impressions and ideas (PDF)
Plato's Republic
- Plato's similes of the Cave and the Divided Line (RTF)
- Plato's similes of the Cave and the Divided Line (PDF)
Mill's On Liberty
- Mill on the development of democracy and its inherent dangers (RTF)
- Mill on the development of democracy and its inherent dangers (PDF)
Descartes' Meditations
- Descartes, the cogito and clear and distinct ideas (RTF)
- Descartes, the cogito and clear and distinct ideas (PDF)
- Descartes' arguments for distinguishing mind and body (RTF)
- Descartes' arguments for distinguishing mind and body (PDF)
- Descartes on mind-body independence and the intermingling thesis (RTF)
- Descartes on mind-body independence and the intermingling thesis (PDF)
- Descartes on the essential natures of mind and body (RTF)
- Descartes on the essential natures of mind and body (PDF)
Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil
- Nietzsche on herd morality and the critique of ‘modern ideas’ (RTF)
- Nietzsche on herd morality and the critique of ‘modern ideas’ (PDF)
Powerpoints
Descartes
- Descartes on the Mind
- Descartes on doubt
- Descartes and Hume on Knowledge of the External World
- Descartes' Ontological Argument
- Descartes on Scepticism
Hume
- Descartes and Hume on Knowledge of the External World
- Hume on Causation
- Hume and Kant
- Hume's Scepticism
- Plato and Hume on Human Understanding