Epistemology

3 marks
What is a priori knowledge? (2015)
What is the tripartite view of propositional knowledge (2016)
What is solipsism? (2017)
What is an ‘analytic truth’? (2018 sample)
What is direct realism? (2018)
What is a necessary truth? (2018)
What is global scepticism? (2019)
Define (a) acquaintance knowledge, (b) ability knowledge, and (c) propositional knowledge. (2019)
What is a contingent truth? (2020)
What does Descartes mean by ‘clear and distinct ideas’? (2020)
What is the difference between a priori and a posteriori knowledge? (2021)

5 marks
Outline the ‘argument from illusion’ against direct realism (2015)
Explain the empiricist distinction between simple and complex concepts (2016)
Explain Russell’s claim that the existence of the external world is the ‘best hypothesis’ (2017)
Explain what Plato is trying to show about knowledge in his ‘slave boy’ argument. (2018 sample)
Explain the distinction between impressions and ideas (2018)
Explain what knowledge is, according to reliabilism (2018)
Explain Leibniz’s argument for innatism. (2019)
Explain Berkeley’s ‘Master’ argument (2019)
Explain Descartes’ cogito as an example of an a priori intuition. (2019)
Explain Locke’s primary/secondary quality distinction (2020)
Explain why there might be a problem with the role played by God in Berkeley’s idealism (2020)
Explain the view that belief is not a necessary condition for knowledge (2020)
Explain the view that the mind is ‘tabula rasa’ at birth (2021)
Explain Descartes’ third ‘wave of doubt’ (2021)

12 marks
Explain Berkeley’s attack on the primary/secondary property distinction (2015)
Explain Locke’s negative arguments against innatism (2015)
Outline Descartes’ ‘evil deceiver’ argument and explain what he then says about his knowledge of
his own existence (2016)
Outline Berkley’s idealism and explain how it could lead to solipsism (2016)
Briefly outline the tripartite view of knowledge and explain how a case of a lucky true belief (a
Gettier-style problem) can be used to argue against this (2017)
Briefly explain direct realism and explain how the ‘argument from hallucination’ can be used to
argue against this view (2017)
Explain how one of Gettier’s original counter examples attacks the tripartite view of knowledge
(2018 sample)
Explain Descartes’ third wave of doubt (the ‘evil demon’ argument) (2018 sample)
Explain how the addition of a ‘no false lemmas’ condition responds to Gettier-style problems. (2018)
Explain what ‘innate knowledge’ is and how Plato argues for it (2018)
Briefly explain innatism and explain one of Locke’s arguments against this view (2018)
Explain Descartes’ first and second waves of doubt (2018)
Outline direct realism and explain how the time-lag argument challenges this view. (2019)
Explain Descartes’ proof of the external world from the existence of God. (2019)
Outline how indirect realism leads to scepticism box about the existence of mind-independent
objects and explain Locke’s response based on the involuntary nature of our experience. (2019)
Outline direct realism and explain the issue of perceptual variation (2020)
Outline innatism and explain how Plato’s ‘slave boy’ argument supports it (2020)
Outline philosophical scepticism and explain how reliabilism responds to it. (2020)
Explain how an account of epistemic virtue can be used to show why Smith lacks box knowledge in
one of Gettier’s original counter-examples. (2021)

25 marks
Is knowledge justified true belief? (2015)
Are direct realists right to claim that the immediate objects of perception are mind-independent
(2016)
Are concept empiricists right to claim that all concepts derive from experience? (2017)
How convincing is Berkeley’s idealism? (2018)
How convincing is indirect realism? (2018)
Is knowledge justified true belief? (2019)
Do we have innate knowledge? (2019)
Is there a convincing response to philosophical scepticism? (2020)
How convincing is direct realism? (2020)
Is Berkeley’s idealist account of perception convincing? (2021)
 Ethics
3 marks
What is moral realism? (2016)
What is the difference between ethical naturalism and ethical non-naturalism? (2017)
According to Hare’s prescriptivism, what does ‘x is morally right’ mean? (2018 sample)
What is a hypothetical imperative? (2018)
What is moral anti-realism? (2018)
What does Aristotle mean by a ‘voluntary action’? (2019)
What is moral anti-realism? (2019)
What is preference utilitarianism? (2020)
Outline Ayer’s verification principle (2020)
What is the difference between cognitivism and non-cognitivism about ethical language? (2021)

5 marks
Explain how an act utilitarian would make a moral decision (2016)
Outline Aristotle’s function argument (2016)
Explain what error theory claims about the status of ethical language (2017)
Explain the issue of circularity involved in Aristotle’s definition of ‘virtuous acts’ (2017)
Explain the criticism that utilitarianism could lead to the ‘tyranny of the majority’ (2018 sample)
Explain how a rule utilitarian would make a moral decision. (2018)
Explain the issue of clashing/competing duties facing Kantian deontological ethics. (2018)
Explain Aristotle’s account of the role of education/habituation in the development of a moral
character. (2018)
Explain Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean. (2019)
Explain Kant’s distinction between acting in accordance with duty and acting out of duty. (2019)
Explain why Hume thinks that moral judgements are not beliefs (2019)
Outline Aristotle’s function argument (2020)
Explain Kant’s first formulation of the categorical imperative (2020)
Explain Moore’s ‘open question’ argument (2020)
Explain why utilitarianism has an issue with partiality. (2021)
Explain what Mackie’s error theory claims. (2021)

12 marks
Explain the similarities and differences between what emotivists and prescriptivists say about ethical
language (2016)
Explain Kant’s view on the telling of lies, using his first and second formulations of the categorical
imperative (2017)
Explain Moore’s open question argument (2018 sample)
Explain what Aristotle meant by an ‘involuntary action’ (2018 sample)
Outline moral realism and explain how Mackie’s argument from queerness opposes this view. (2018)
Explain how a utilitarian might approach the issue of eating animals. (2018)
Explain how Mackie’s argument from relativity challenges moral realism. (2018)
Outline Kant box ’s first formulation of the categorical imperative and explain the issue that not all
non-universalisable maxims are immoral. (2019)
Outline rule utilitarianism and explain how rule utilitarians might oppose the telling of lies. (2019)
Explain how Aristotelian virtue ethics might be applied to the issue of simulated killing. (2019)
Explain Bentham’s Utilitarianism and explain how it faces issues with calculation (2020)
Outline moral anti-realism and explain the issue that it cannot account for moral progress (2020)
Explain Bentham’s Utilitarianism and how Nozick’s experience machine challenges this view (2020)
Explain Aristotle’s view on how we develop moral character box and how this is challenged by the
issue of circularity in his definition of ‘virtuous acts’. (2021)

25 marks
Is Kant’s deontological approach to ethics correct? (2016)
Is Utilitarianism correct? (2017)
Is it wrong to steal? (2018 sample)
How convincing is Aristotelian virtue ethics? (2018)
Can Kantian deontological ethics be successfully defended against objections? (2018)
Is moral realism the right approach to metaethics? (2019)
Are utilitarians correct when they say that it is morally right to maximise utility? (2019)
How convincing is Kant’s view on telling lies? (2020)
How convincing is Aristotelian virtue ethics? (2020)
To what extent can Kantian deontological ethics be defended? (2021)
 Metaphysics of God
3 marks
What does it mean to claim that God is everlasting? (2015)
What does it mean to claim that God is eternal? (2016)
What does Hare mean by the term ‘blik’? (2017)
What does it mean to say that religious statements are ‘verifiable eschatologically’? (2018)
What is the difference between moral and natural evil? (2019)
What does Hick mean by ‘eschatological verification’? (2020)
What does it mean to say that a person’s religious claim is unfalsifiable? (2021)

5 marks
Outline the paradox of the stone (2015)
Outline Descartes’ version of the ontological argument (2016)
Outline the Kalam cosmological argument (2017)
Outline Aquinas’ Second Way (his causal argument). (2018)
Explain the difference between cognitivism and non-cognitivism about religious language. (2019)
Outline the paradox of the stone. (2019)
Outline Leibniz’s cosmological argument from the principle of sufficient reason (2020)
Explain how deductive and inductive arguments for the existence of God differ (2020)
Outline Aquinas’ 1st Way (the argument from motion) (2021)
Explain the argument that the existence of an omniscient God is incompatible with free human
beings. (2021)

12 marks
Explain how the free Will Defence responds to the problem of Evil (2015)
Outline the verification principle and explain Hick’s claim that religious statements are verifiable
eschatologically. (2015)
Explain Mitchell’s view of religious language and how he uses his ‘Partisan’ story to illustrate this
(2016)
Outline and explain Swinburne’s version of the argument from design (2016)
Outline the problem of evil and explain Hick’s soul-making response to it (2017)
Briefly define ‘omniscience’ and then explain the argument that human freedom is impossible if God
is omniscient (2017)
Outline and explain the Euthyphro dilemma. (2018)
Outline and explain Paley’s argument from design. (2018)
Outline Descartes’ ontological argument and explain Kant’s objection to it. (2019)
Outline St Anselm’s ontological argument and explain Gaunilo’s perfect island objection. (2020)
Outline the logical problem of evil box and explain the Free Will Defence. (2021)

25 marks
Does the cosmological argument prove that God exists? (2015)
Does the existence of evil mean that an omnipotent, omniscient and supremely good God does not
exist? (2016)
Does the ontological argument prove the existence of God? (2017)
Can the problem of evil be solved? (2018)
How successful is the design argument for the existence of God? (2019)
Is the concept of God ‘incoherent’? (2020)
Can God’s existence be proved using an ontological argument? (2021)
 Metaphysics of Mind
3 marks
What claim do logical/analytical behaviourists make regarding statements about mental states?
(2016)
What is a philosophical zombie? (2017)
What is epiphenomenalist dualism? (2018)
Define qualia. (2019)
What is ‘hard’ behaviourism? (2020)
What does functionalism claim about mental states? (2021)

5 marks
Explain the argument that it would self-refuting to articulate eliminative materialism as theory
Outline the ‘knowledge’/Mary argument (2016)
Explain how eliminative materialism differs from mind-brain type identity theory (2017)
Explain the issue of circularity that logical/analytical behaviourists face when defining mental states.
(2018)
Explain what is meant by ‘folk psychology’. (2018)
Outline how the ‘knowledge/Mary argument’ can be applied to functional facts. (2019)
Explain Ryle’s claim that substance dualism makes a ‘category mistake’. (2019)
Explain how claims made by eliminative materialism and mind-brain identity theory differ. (2020)
Outline Descartes’ indivisibility argument for substance dualism. (2020)
Explain the view that ‘hard’ behaviourists cannot satisfactorily define mental states due to the
multiple realisability of mental states in behaviour. (2021)
Explain how natural selection/evolution poses a challenge for epiphenomenalist dualism. (2021)

12 marks
Explain the similarities and differences between functionalism and mind-brain type identity theory.
(2016)
Explain how the asymmetry between self-knowledge and knowledge of other people’s mental states
might cause an issue for logical/analytic behaviourism. (2017)
Explain the problem of other minds facing dualism and how the argument from analogy responds to
this. (2018)
Explain the philosophical zombies argument and the response that what is conceivable may not be
metaphysically possible. (2019)
Outline epiphenomenalist dualism and explain the challenge posed by introspective self-knowledge.
(2020)
Outline eliminative materialism box and explain the issue that our certainty about the existence of
our mental states takes priority over other considerations. (2021)

25 marks
Are dualists right to say that minds and/or their properties are non-physical? (2016)
Is the functionalist theory of mental states correct? (2017)
Are mental states identical to brain states? (2018)
Is eliminative materialism convincing? (2019)
Does functionalism give a convincing account of mental states? (2020)
Can a dualist account of mental states be successfully defended? (2021)