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AQA Philosophy A2 (new spec) help!!

Hey guys, the philosophy exam is in 3 days and i feel like im not quite confident in how to answer a 25 marker.
Does anyone have guidance in how to answer it, preferably an A grade guidance.
Or does anyone have ane 25 mark essays that i can have? Thank you
Here's how I would answer one - we've been using the same structure for the entire year / did a similar one last year and I got an A, soooo (dunno how i managed that though tbh, dislike philosophy so much that i almost dropped it this year)....

Anywayz -
For example, 'Assess the view that the mind is purely physical (25)' - one my teacher made up for us.

Structure:

Introduction (outline things related to that question briefly, half a page or so will do):
- eg that the statement is a materialist/physicalist view, and the opposing would be a dualist view.. define the terms.
- line of argument!! very important here. agree/disagree with the statement, etc.

P1/Basic Paragraph structure:
Argument: Behaviourism
Counter/Challenge: Vague/Non-explanatory/False, etc.
Response (if you can, in this case would be from Behaviourism - I often have difficulty with this and I don't think its really essential, unless you specifically know a response Behaviourism would give to one of the issues.)
Evaluation: Is behaviourism weak or sufficient? Did their response prove OK/the challenge have little ability to critique? Usually base this around what your line of argument is. So if you were arguing against the statement here, you would say that Behaviourism is naff, essentially.

I basically did this for two other paragraphs, just with other theories. You kinda wanna be aiming for 3 of these lovely things. Each paragraph usually takes me to a page/page and a half.. (but I have relatively big handwriting, so..)

Then a conclusion. Wrapping it up, concluding your line of argument, whether it was proven by how rubbish/good certain arguments are.

Hope this helped!!
Hey, this is the only thread I've seen with people that took the PHLS2 exam last year, if anyone remembers what the 25 markers were I would be grateful. Thanks.
Reply 3
Original post by lecaitlind
Here's how I would answer one - we've been using the same structure for the entire year / did a similar one last year and I got an A, soooo (dunno how i managed that though tbh, dislike philosophy so much that i almost dropped it this year)....

Anywayz -
For example, 'Assess the view that the mind is purely physical (25)' - one my teacher made up for us.

Structure:

Introduction (outline things related to that question briefly, half a page or so will do):
- eg that the statement is a materialist/physicalist view, and the opposing would be a dualist view.. define the terms.
- line of argument!! very important here. agree/disagree with the statement, etc.

P1/Basic Paragraph structure:
Argument: Behaviourism
Counter/Challenge: Vague/Non-explanatory/False, etc.
Response (if you can, in this case would be from Behaviourism - I often have difficulty with this and I don't think its really essential, unless you specifically know a response Behaviourism would give to one of the issues.)
Evaluation: Is behaviourism weak or sufficient? Did their response prove OK/the challenge have little ability to critique? Usually base this around what your line of argument is. So if you were arguing against the statement here, you would say that Behaviourism is naff, essentially.

I basically did this for two other paragraphs, just with other theories. You kinda wanna be aiming for 3 of these lovely things. Each paragraph usually takes me to a page/page and a half.. (but I have relatively big handwriting, so..)

Then a conclusion. Wrapping it up, concluding your line of argument, whether it was proven by how rubbish/good certain arguments are.

Hope this helped!!


Hi there! Do you think you could post one or two answers marked by your teacher?

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