AQA Philosophy A2 June 2013

I'm scared of it too, I can't remember quotes to save my life D:


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to be fair, i feel like unit 4 is slightly more relaxing than unit 3, because it's all on the same philosopher and so you can practically logically guess what their opinion is on certain things, if you get stuck in the exam!

i'm doing the mill topic, and it really helped that i did political and moral philosophy for unit 3 because it links heavily to the liberal ideology and the liberty sections of political, and it helps that i know a fair bit about utilitarianism from moral, in order to criticise him!

I agree! You're entirely focusing on one philosopher so it's all good. My biggest worry is that I'm getting to complacent about this exam and because I do know everything about Plato, I feel like I'm missing something out. The good thing about doing Plato is he fits neatly into Metaphysics and Epistemology and Political Philosophy.



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mm i agree, that's my biggest worry! i don't have any more exams apart for unit 4, which is on thursday, and i feel like i don't actually need to do that much revision for it but at the same time, i feel bad if i'm not doing something in case i miss something really important!

Me too, i tell myself every morning that if I revise all day everyday until the exam I'll be fine then the next thing I know it's 10pm and I hate myself. Is this exam easy or am I just getting cocky though?




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Please somebody help me on the faculties argument and the argument from opposites really have a bad feeling we will have this as fifteen markers. This is plato btw thank you xx


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When talking about justice for Plato, would we have to go through the whole Socrates, Thrasymachus, Polemarchus, Cephalus discussion then onto the just individual and just state?

we don't need to quote do we? i know the quote of 'humans are not like sheep' (or something to that effect), which you can use to support his argument about free actions benefiting everybody, but then to criticise him when he speaks of following genius' and strong characters, but that's about it!

Me too, i tell myself every morning that if I revise all day everyday until the exam I'll be fine then the next thing I know it's 10pm and I hate myself. Is this exam easy or am I just getting cocky though?




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we don't need to quote do we? i know the quote of 'humans are not like sheep' (or something to that effect), which you can use to support his argument about free actions benefiting everybody, but then to criticise him when he speaks of following genius' and strong characters, but that's about it!

You don't have to quote but it can really show a good understanding of the text, and it's looked well upon by examiners in the examiners reports.

For anyone doing Mill, if you haven't seen this yet, it may come of use to you: http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/onliberty/

Also, this might seem like a bit of a silly question but have people actually read On Liberty? I personally have, but my teacher said it's surprising how many centres don't actually read the essay itself, simply provide resources on it, just wondering if he's right.

It doesn't seem completely ridiculous not to read the text. I mean, I read The Republic, but I have a friend doing Plato in the exam who hasn't, and he's been getting solid B grades all year, just from learning from Secondary resources such as SparkNotes and textbooks....I don't feel as if I've necessarily benefited, not been hindered in anyway by reading the text.

All you really need to know about the Faculties argument is that "faculties" are powers that we hold in order to apprehend "objects/fields" and are distinguished by their "effects".

Faculties are said to be the same if they deal with the same objects and have the same effects.
Faculties are said to be different if they deal with different objects and have different effects.

An example:
FACULTY: Sight
OBJECT/FIELD: Colours
EFFECT: The ability to see

FACULTY: Hearing
OBJECT/FIELD: Sounds
EFFECT: The ability to hear

As these two faculties deal with different objects and have different effects, they are said to be different.

Plato applies this line of reasoning to his distinction between knowledge and belief.

FACULTY: Knowledge (accessed through intellect and reason, a product of the mind)
OBJECT/FIELD: What is (Being, reality)
EFFECT: To know things infallibly

FACULTY: Belief (accessed through sense perceptions, a product of the sense)
OBJECT/FIELD: What is and What is Not (Darker than knowledge, but clearer than ignorance)
EFFECT: To know things fallibly (as opinion/belief is not the same as true justified knowledge)

Also, I do think you're right in suggesting that this may come up as a 15 marker, so thanks for suggesting it! It'd odd how there's quite a lot to the area of "Appearance and Reality", yet there's been no 15 markers on it. They won't ask "political rule" again, I don't think, nor "Knowledge and Virtue" since there's not a whole lot to ask, and they plunged in with Thrasymachus in 2010...

I hope this helped! If you're still unsure/want criticisms, ask me bro! x

Ah, I love Philosophy, but it's almost over guys, we're so close to liberation

That makes sense, I think I've benefited a fair bit from reading the text for context and examples not covered in secondary resources but I suppose it differs depending on what text you read, also how is The Republic? I plan on reading it for fun over summer, surprisingly I do quite enjoy philosophy, just less so when I know I'll be doing an exam on it.

Hey THANKYOUUU so much it actually made sense is the arguments from the opposite the same thing? For a 15 marker do you think criticisms are going to come up? I really hope we get a 50 marker on political rule but I find 'philosopher kings and their education pretty difficult' Xx


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