QCE Philosophy & Reason Units 3&4 Notes

These are the 20 revision notes inside the QCE Philosophy & Reason Mastery Pack. Open any note to see what it covers before you buy.

1. Anatomy of an argument: premises, conclusions and standard formReasoning · Unit 1 Topic 1 — Fundamentals of reason (argument skills assumed in every unit)

   Argument composition, hidden premises and standard form

2. Deduction, induction and the criteria for judging argumentsReasoning · Unit 1 Topic 1 — Fundamentals of reason (argument skills assumed in every unit)

   Deduction, induction, validity, soundness, strength, plausibility, credibility; Hume's problem of induction

3. Symbolic logic: operators, valid forms and formal fallaciesReasoning · Unit 1 Topic 1 — Fundamentals of reason (argument skills assumed in every unit)

   Logical operators, the five valid forms, affirming the consequent, denying the antecedent, necessary and sufficient conditions

4. Informal fallacies and cognitive biasReasoning · Unit 1 Topic 1 — Fundamentals of reason (argument skills assumed in every unit)

   The syllabus list of informal fallacies and cognitive bias

5. UtilitarianismUnit 3 · Unit 3 Topic 1 — Moral philosophy (internal assessment IA1)

   Bentham and Mill; act and rule utilitarianism; objections

6. Kantian ethics and virtue ethicsUnit 3 · Unit 3 Topic 1 — Moral philosophy (internal assessment IA1)

   Kant's categorical imperative; Aristotelian virtue ethics; comparing the three theories

7. Philosophical schools of thoughtUnit 3 · Unit 3 Topic 2 — Philosophical schools of thought (internal assessment IA2)

   Selecting, explaining and evaluating a school of thought (e.g. existentialism, stoicism, empiricism)

8. Natural rights and social contract theoryUnit 4 Rights · Unit 4 Topic 1 — Rights (internal assessment IA3)

   Natural and human rights; Hobbes and Locke on the social contract; positive/negative and moral/legal rights

9. Property, harm and the veil of ignoranceUnit 4 Rights · Unit 4 Topic 1 — Rights (internal assessment IA3)

   Locke's labour theory of property, Mill's harm principle and Rawls's veil of ignorance

10. Contemporary rights questionsUnit 4 Rights · Unit 4 Topic 1 — Rights (internal assessment IA3)

    Civil disobedience, emerging and non-human rights claims, competing rights, the UDHR

11. The vocabulary of political philosophyUnit 4 Politics · Unit 4 Topic 2 — Political philosophy (external assessment)

    Human nature, positive/negative freedom, formal/substantive equality, equity, justice, distributive justice, authority, democracy

12. AnarchismUnit 4 Politics · Unit 4 Topic 2 — Political philosophy (external assessment)

    Bakunin and Rothbard; social anarchism and anarcho-capitalism; the illegitimacy of the state

13. LibertarianismUnit 4 Politics · Unit 4 Topic 2 — Political philosophy (external assessment)

    Locke and Nozick; self-ownership, entitlement theory, the minimal state, Wilt Chamberlain, taxation as forced labour

14. Social liberalismUnit 4 Politics · Unit 4 Topic 2 — Political philosophy (external assessment)

    Rawls and TH Green; justice as fairness, the difference principle, positive freedom, the enabling state

15. SocialismUnit 4 Politics · Unit 4 Topic 2 — Political philosophy (external assessment)

    Marx and Owen; class, alienation, common ownership; communism inquired into under socialism

16. From assumptions to the ideal societyUnit 4 Politics · Unit 4 Topic 2 — Political philosophy (external assessment)

    How each philosophy's view of human nature drives its values, its view of government and its ideal society

17. Comparing the four philosophies on recurring EA issuesUnit 4 Politics · Unit 4 Topic 2 — Political philosophy (external assessment)

    Government power, obligation, property, fairness and freedom compared across the four philosophies

18. Deconstructing and evaluating stimulus argumentsUnit 4 Politics · Unit 4 Topic 2 — Political philosophy (external assessment)

    Deconstructing stimulus arguments into standard form and evaluating premises on their own merits

19. Writing the external-assessment analytical essayUnit 4 Politics · Unit 4 Topic 2 — Political philosophy (external assessment)

    Thesis, criteria for judgment, paragraph sequence and using 15 minutes of planning time

20. The marking guide decodedUnit 4 Politics · Unit 4 Topic 2 — Political philosophy (external assessment)

    The seven marking-guide tables (50 marks) and what QCAA subject reports reward