A level Philosophy

Welcome to our humble philosophy home!


A level Philosophy is, by nature, a qualification. So it has a syllabus, exam papers, marking schemes, model answers, textbooks, exam reports…


AQA documents

Links take you to the relevant pages of the AQA site.

Syllabus

Here is the full specification

Public exam dates (Year 13, 2025)

Assessment is by two 3 hour exams:

  • Paper 1 (Epistemology & Ethics): Tuesday 13 May 2025 am
  • Paper 2 (Metaphysics): Tuesday 20 May 2025 am

See the AQA exam timetable (2025)

Paper 1: Epistemology & Ethics

Paper 2: Metaphysics

Note: The 2024 question papers won’t be posted by AQA until June 2025.

Grade boundaries

Each paper is marked out of 100. So the maximum mark is 200.

Grade201920202021202220232024
A*154137137140157155
A131114113119136133
B107929295110108
C837072718483
D594952475859
E352832233235

page last updated: 16.08.2024


Textbooks

A brief overview of the A level Philosophy textbooks:

Michael Lacewing

Source: Routledge
Source: Routledge

According to one critic cited by the publisher, Lacewing ”really brings the A-Level philosophy syllabus to life”. Umm…

My view: sterile texts that reduce philosophy to something technical. Nevertheless, required reading given Lacewing’s status as main examiner.

Christian Feest

Source: philosophyalevel.com

Our students have used and liked Feest’s book and website. The entire A level specification is covered.

My view: An excellent book that makes the A level accessible. The title How to Get an A… is a bit too ambitious though.

Daniel Cardinal, Gerald Jones, & Jeremy Hayward

Source: Hodder Book 1 Book 2
Source: Hodder
Source: Hodder

There are four books by these authors: two long textbooks and two slim revision guides.

My view: The detailed textbooks are easier to read than Lacewing’s. Concepts are explained thoroughly. The revision guides usefully isolate key points.

K. Lancaster

Source: Amazon
Source: Amazon

One of our students, who went on to study Philosophy at Durham, used it fairly extensively.

My view: It outlines the subject in a skeletal form that students might find easier to grasp. Relatively brief and so not intimidating.


Primary texts recommended by AQA

AQA has produced lists of recommended primary texts.

These links to take you to electronic versions of the texts that are in the public domain:

Epistemology

Berkeley, George (1713), Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous

Descartes, René (1641), Meditations on First Philosophy

Gettier, Edmund (1963), ‘Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?

Hume, David (1748), An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Sections 2 and 4 (part 1)

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1705), New Essays on Human Understanding, Preface and Book 1

Locke, John (1690), An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book 1 (esp. Chapter 2), Book 2 (esp. Chapters 1, 2, 8 and 14), Book 4 (esp. Chapter 11)

Plato, Meno, from 81e

Russell, Bertrand (1912), The Problems of Philosophy, Chapters 1 and 2

Trotter Cockburn, Catharine (1732), (attrib) ‘A Letter from an anonymous writer to the author of the Minute Philosopher’ Appendix to G Berkeley Theory of Vision Vindicated and Explained

Zagzebski, Linda (1999), ‘What is Knowledge?’

Ethics

Annas, Julia (2006), Virtue Ethics

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

Ayer, Alfred J (1973/1991), The Central Questions of Philosophy, pages 22–29

Ayer, AJ (1946), Language, Truth and Logic, (esp. Chapters 1 and 6)

Bentham, Jeremy (1789), Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, Chapters 1 and 4

Diamond, Cora (1978), Eating Meat and Eating People

Foot, Philippa (1972), Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives

Hare, Richard M (1952) The Language of Morals, Chapters 1, 5, 7, 10.2

Hume, David (1739–40), Treatise of Human Nature, Book III, Part 1

Kant, Immanuel (1785), Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Chapters 1 and 2

Mackie, John L (1977), Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong, Chapter 1, Sections 8 and 9

Mill, John Stuart (1863), Utilitarianism, Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5

Moore, George E (1903), Principia Ethica, Sections 6–14

Smart, Jack J C & Williams, Bernard (1973), Utilitarianism: For and Against, Chapters 2 and 3