Ia Philosophical Analysis practice questions.

A candidate is choosing material for the internal assessment. Which choice satisfies the requirement that the stimulus be non-philosophical?

• A chapter from a textbook on theories of punishment
• A journal article on the ethics of autonomous weapons
• A short passage from Mill's On Liberty on free speech
• A television advertisement for a wearable health tracker

Answer: A television advertisement for a wearable health tracker

The task asks for philosophical work done by the candidate on material that is not itself philosophy. A stimulus that already contains the argument leaves nothing to develop and turns the response into a commentary on someone else's philosophy.

A candidate's chosen stimulus is a song whose speaker says she no longer recognises the person she was as a child. Which formulation of the issue can actually be carried through in 2 000 words?

• Whether psychological continuity is required for a person to persist
• What the self has been taken to be across the history of Western philosophy
• Whether the leading theories of personal identity each survive their objections
• What the writer of the song intended her listeners to take from the lyric

Answer: Whether psychological continuity is required for a person to persist

A workable issue is narrow enough for one line of argument and one serious objection to be developed at length, which is what the assessment rewards. A survey of the field cannot be developed within the word limit, and a question about the writer's intention is settled by evidence about her rather than by argument.

An internal assessment devotes most of its words to retelling the plot of the chosen film and adds a closing paragraph on free will. Which requirement does this most clearly fail?

• The philosophical issue must be developed, not just attached
• The stimulus must not itself be a philosophical text or argument
• The response must stay within the prescribed length in words
• The stimulus must be identified and described for the reader

Answer: The philosophical issue must be developed, not just attached

The stimulus is a starting point, not the subject: description earns nothing beyond what is needed to make the issue intelligible, and the development of the issue has to occupy the body of the work.

Which of the following would be disqualified as the stimulus for the internal assessment?

• A short passage from an introductory book on the philosophy of mind
• A photograph of a memorial with an inscription naming nobody
• A radio advertisement for a life insurance policy
• A scene from a television drama in which a character refuses treatment

Answer: A short passage from an introductory book on the philosophy of mind

The task requires a non-philosophical stimulus, because the work being assessed is the move from ordinary material to a philosophical issue. Where the stimulus already states the issue, that move has been made for the candidate and there is little left to show.

A candidate plans her internal assessment as follows: a quarter of the words describing the stimulus, half developing the philosophical issue, a quarter on an objection and the conclusion. The change most likely to improve it is to

• expand the description, so that a reader unfamiliar with the material can follow it fully
• cut the description sharply, since only the features the argument uses need be reported
• remove the objection, since a short piece cannot do justice to a counter-position
• divide the words equally between the four sections for balance

Answer: cut the description sharply, since only the features the argument uses need be reported

Description earns nothing beyond what the argument uses, and it is the section that expands without the candidate noticing. A few sentences establishing the features the analysis will rely on is normally enough, and the words released go to the analysis and the objection.

A candidate identifies four philosophical issues in her chosen stimulus and plans to treat each of them. Within the word limit, the better plan is to

• treat all four briefly, since identifying issues is what the task rewards in this task
• treat the first two and mention that the others exist in a footnote
• develop one issue properly, noting in a sentence that the material raises others
• choose a different stimulus that raises exactly one issue

Answer: develop one issue properly, noting in a sentence that the material raises others

Depth is what the criteria reward, and four issues at that length become four summaries. Noting the others in a sentence demonstrates the recognition without spending the words, and a rich stimulus is an advantage rather than a problem.