Philosophy for AS and A Level

Philosophy for AS and A Level and Philosophy for A Level are the Routledge textbooks for the new 2017 AQA AS and A Level Philosophy syllabus. Structured closely around the AQA specification these textbooks cover epistemology, moral philosophy, metaphysics of God and metaphysics of mind in an engaging and student-friendly way.

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***Philosophy for ASand A Level* is an accessible textbook for the new 2017 AQA Philosophy syllabus. Structured closely around the AQA specification this textbook covers the two units shared by the AS and A Level, Epistemology and Moral Philosophy, in an engaging and student-friendly way. With chapters on 'How to do philosophy', exam preparation providing students with the philosophical skills they need to succeed, and an extensive glossary to support understanding, this book is ideal for students studying philosophy.

Each chapter includes:

• argument maps that help to develop student's analytical and critical skills

• comprehension questions to test understanding

• discussion questions to generate evaluative argument

• explanation and commentary on the AQA set texts

• 'Thinking harder' sections

• cross-references to help students make connections

• bullet-point summaries of each topic. The companion website hosts a wealth of further resources, including PowerPoint slides, flashcards, further reading, weblinks and handouts, all structured to accompany the textbook. It can be found at www.routledge.com/cw/alevelphilosophy.

  'Michael Lacewing writes in an engaging way and really brings the A-Level philosophy syllabus to life; he focuses not only on the content but on the philosophical method itself. An essential read for any A-Level philosophy student'. Cressida Tweed, teacher of philosophy at Woodhouse College and Lead philosophy tutor at the National Extension college, UK.

  Autorentext

  Michael Lacewing is a teacher of philosophy and theology at Christ's Hospital school, and a former Reader in Philosophy and Vice-Principal Academic at Heythrop College, University of London. He is founder of the company A Level Philosophy (www.alevelphilosophy.co.uk), and advises the British Philosophical Association on matters related to philosophy in schools.

  Klappentext

  Philosophy for AS and A Level is an accessible textbook for the new 2017 AQA Philosophy syllabus. Structured closely around the AQA specification this textbook covers the two units shared by the AS and A Level, Epistemology and Moral Philosophy, in an engaging and student-friendly way. With chapters on 'How to do philosophy', exam preparation providing students with the philosophical skills they need to succeed, and an extensive glossary to support understanding, this book is ideal for students studying philosophy. Each chapter includes: argument maps that help to develop student's analytical and critical skills comprehension questions to test understanding discussion questions to generate evaluative argument explanation and commentary on the AQA set texts 'Thinking harder' sections cross-references to help students make connections bullet-point summaries of each topic. The companion website hosts a wealth of further resources, including PowerPoint slides, flashcards, further reading, weblinks and handouts, all structured to accompany the textbook. It can be found at www.routledge.com/cw/alevelphilosophy.

  Zusammenfassung
  Philosophy for AS and A Level and Philosophy for A Level are the Routledge textbooks for the new 2017 AQA AS and A Level Philosophy syllabus. Structured closely around the AQA specification these textbooks cover epistemology, moral philosophy, metaphysics of God and metaphysics of mind in an engaging and student-friendly way.

  Inhalt

  Contents

Permissions

Introduction

How to use this book

How to do philosophy

Following the syllabus

Additional features

Using the anthology

Glossary

Companion website and further resources

Acknowledgements

1 How to do philosophy

Philosophical argument

Deductive argument

Inductive argument

Hypothetical reasoning

Understanding arguments and argument maps

Evaluating arguments

Evaluating claims

An aside: why reason?

Fallacies

Reading philosophy

Approaching the text

Engaging with the text

Beyond the text

Writing philosophy

What you need to know

Planning an essay

Writing an essay

A standard essay structure

General advice

2 Epistemology

I. What is knowledge?

A. Knowledge and its definition

Types of knowledge

Propositional knowledge

The definition of knowledge

The purpose and nature of definition

Can propositional knowledge be defined?

Key points: knowledge and its definition

B. The tripartite view

The tripartite definition of knowledge

Why justified true belief?

Thinking harder: A note on certainty

Are the conditions individually necessary?

Justification is not a necessary condition of knowledge

Truth is not a necessary condition of knowledge

Belief is not a necessary condition of knowledge

Gettier's objection: are the conditions jointly sufficient?

Key points: the tripartite view

C. Responses

Add a 'no false lemmas' condition (J+T+B+N)

Infallibilism

Thinking harder: rejecting the argument for infallibilism

Reliabilism (R+T+B)

Truth and the third condition

Virtue epistemology (V+T+B)

Zagzebski's analysis of knowledge

Key points: Responses

Summary: What is knowledge?

II. Perception as a source of knowledge

A. Direct realism

The argument from perceptual variation

Responses

The argument from illusion

Thinking harder: the argument from hallucination

The disjunctive theory of perception

The time-lag argument

Thinking harder: direct realism and openness

Key points: direct realism

B. Indirect realism

What are sense-data?

Why indirect realism?

Locke's distinction between primary and secondary qualities

Scepticism about the existence of mind-independent objects

The existence of the external world is the best hypothesis

Two supporting arguments

Thinking harder: the existence of mind-independent objects is not a hypothesis

Representation, resemblance and the nature of physical objects

Berkeley's argument that mind-dependent ideas cannot be like mind-independent objects

Key points: indirect realism

C. Berkeley's idealism

Berkeley on primary and secondary qualities **

Berkeley on secondary qualities

Berkeley's attack on the primary/secondary quality distinction

The immediate objects of perception are mind-dependent objects

Three arguments against mind-independent objects

Berkeley's 'master' argument

Idealism and God

Thinking harder: idealism and the cause of our perceptions

Issues with Berkeley's idealism **

Problems with the role played by God in Berkeley's idealism

Arguments from illusion and hallucination

Idealism leads to solipsism

Key points: Berkeley's idealism

Summary: perception as a source of knowledge

III. Reason as a source of knowledge

Rationalism, empiricism and innatism

A priori/a posteriori knowledge

Analytic/synthetic propositions

Necessary/contingent truth

Defining rationalism, empiricism and innatism

Key points: rationalism, empiricism and innatism

A. Innatism

Two arguments for innate knowledge

Plato's slave boy argument

Leibniz on knowledge of necessary truths

Locke's arguments against innate knowledge

Leibniz's response to Locke

Thinking harder: experience triggers innate knowledge

Alternative empiricist accounts

Locke's argument against innate concepts

Rejecting Locke's definition of 'innate concept'

Leibniz's defence of innate concepts

The mind as a 'tabula rasa'

Locke's two sources of concepts

Hume on impressions and ideas

Simple and complex concepts

Issues with the empiricist theory of concepts

Thinking harder: challenging the copy princ…