AQA A-level Philosophy Paper 1 - 13th May 2025 [Exam Chat]

Hey guys! Saw that there's no philosophy predictions or support page for 2025, thought it would be good to make one now as the first exam is in roughly 3 weeks! What are your guys' predictions for paper 1 and 2? I believe for Paper 1 the 12 markers will be on Meta-ethics and Innatism, and the 2, 25 markers to be Applied Ethics and Indirect Realism, as for Paper 2... absolutely no clue.

Hey guys! Saw that there's no philosophy predictions or support page for 2025, thought it would be good to make one now as the first exam is in roughly 3 weeks! What are your guys' predictions for paper 1 and 2? I believe for Paper 1 the 12 markers will be on Meta-ethics and Innatism, and the 2, 25 markers to be Applied Ethics and Indirect Realism, as for Paper 2... absolutely no clue.

Could applied ethics actually come up as a 25 marker?

Hey
Personally I'd never thought about applied ethics being a 25-marker given that there is so much more content they could examine and applied ethics seems to have always been a 12-mark structure. Given that last year's paper also had an applied ethics 12-mark question on it, I would see it as unlikely but probably worth revising anyway just in case.
My teachers have predicted innatism or one of the theories of perception for epistemology - idealism didn't come up at all in last year's paper btw and was last a 25-marker in 2021 so could be that.
For moral philosophy, they were thinking either Kantian ethics or some form of meta-ethics - possibly moral anti-realism, moral realism or maybe a question worded like 'is ethical language meaningful?'
For metaphysics of God, it could be sooo many different questions: teleological most likely, as well as the concept of God, ontological or problem of evil.
Lastly for metaphysics of mind, my teachers were thinking functionalism or some variation of dualism - given that the last 3 years have focused on physicalist theories, I would say that dualism could be one of the most likely to come up.
Good luck with revising everyone ❤️ ❤️

Hey
Personally I'd never thought about applied ethics being a 25-marker given that there is so much more content they could examine and applied ethics seems to have always been a 12-mark structure. Given that last year's paper also had an applied ethics 12-mark question on it, I would see it as unlikely but probably worth revising anyway just in case.
My teachers have predicted innatism or one of the theories of perception for epistemology - idealism didn't come up at all in last year's paper btw and was last a 25-marker in 2021 so could be that.
For moral philosophy, they were thinking either Kantian ethics or some form of meta-ethics - possibly moral anti-realism, moral realism or maybe a question worded like 'is ethical language meaningful?'
For metaphysics of God, it could be sooo many different questions: teleological most likely, as well as the concept of God, ontological or problem of evil.
Lastly for metaphysics of mind, my teachers were thinking functionalism or some variation of dualism - given that the last 3 years have focused on physicalist theories, I would say that dualism could be one of the most likely to come up.
Good luck with revising everyone ❤️ ❤️

You can just evaluate it generally. If Kant fails for general reasons - then his claim about the ethics of stealing/animals/etc also fails. At least, there used to be a mark scheme on the AQA website for this kind of question which said that would be fine.
It's probably a good idea to link at least one issue more directly though. For Kant the consequences issue is probably the easiest to link. Though you could think of a clashing duties case for all 4 applied ethics issues.

With an applied ethics question like 'Is it morally wrong to eat animals?', how would you form a line of argument? For example would you be arguing for which theory gives the clearest answer/guidance to the question, or arguing for you own opinion e.g it is morally wrong, and supporting your idea with the failure/ success of a theory?

Hey guys! Saw that there's no philosophy predictions or support page for 2025, thought it would be good to make one now as the first exam is in roughly 3 weeks! What are your guys' predictions for paper 1 and 2? I believe for Paper 1 the 12 markers will be on Meta-ethics and Innatism, and the 2, 25 markers to be Applied Ethics and Indirect Realism, as for Paper 2... absolutely no clue.

The second option there will be better. After all, it doesn't matter how 'clear' Kant is (arguably he's the clearest) if his theory just fails for some reasons (clashing duties, ignoring consequences/emotion, universalizability incoherence or Foot's critique).

So for a 25 marker applied q could you outline how the 4 different ethical theories respond to the issue (like a 12 marker format for e.g Kant on eating animals) and just do 3 more of those 12 marker formats?

No, that would have no evaluation and would prob get around 7/25. You need to explain the application and then evaluate 1-2 ethical theories.
See my guide on how to do this here: https://alevelphilosophyandreligion.com/philosophy/moral-philosophy/notes-essay-applied-ethics/

The chief examiner has said they wouldn't ask a 25 mark question unless it covers multiple bullet points on the spec.
Here's my current best guess:
Epistemology
The tripartite theory of knowledge
Direct realism
Indirect realism
Idealism
Innatism
Intuition and deduction thesis
Scepticism
Moral philosophy
Utilitarianism essay plan
Kantian ethics
Aristotle’s virtue ethics
General applied ethics question
Specific applied ethics question
Meta-ethics
Metaphysics of God
The concept and nature of ‘God’
The Ontological argument
Teleological argument
Cosmological argument
The problem of evil
Religious language
Metaphysics of mind
Substance dualism
General property dualism essay plan
Chalmers’ ‘zombie’ argument
Frank Jackson’s knowledge/Mary argument essay plan
Issues facing dualism
Epiphenomenalism
Behaviourism
Mind-brain type identity theory
Eliminative materialism
Functionalism
General dualism essay plan
General physicalism plan

I'd also like to add that they don't tend to repeat essay questions from the last two years, so the following topics are unlikely to come up:
2024 epistemology: is there a successful way in which propositional knowledge can be defined (tripartite definition)
2023 epistemology: are the claims of philosophical scepticism true?
2024 moral philosophy: can utilitarianism be successfully defended?
2023 moral philosophy: to what extent can Aristotelian virtue ethics be defended?
2024 God: can we talk meaningfully about god?
2023 God: does the cosmological argument prove god exists?
2024 mind: does mind-brain type identity theory give the right account of mental states?
2023 mind: to what extent is eliminative materialism correct?

So for a 25 marker applied q could you outline how the 4 different ethical theories respond to the issue (like a 12 marker format for e.g Kant on eating animals) and just do 3 more of those 12 marker formats?

The way I've had recommended to me is to do the exposition for a theory e.g. Utilitarianism, then 1/2 criticisms explaining why we should not use it to provide us with moral guidance (if you are arguing against it). Personally I'd do Utilitarianism, Kant, Virtue ethics then opt for an Error theorist position as I feel it is the most clear overall - all moral propositions are cognitive but do not refer to any property in the real world and as such they are all false. Criticisms and responses are 20/25 marks so the majority of the essay must be based around why the main theories are good/bad.