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Tasmanian Certificate of Education
PHILOSOPHY
Senior Secondary
Subject Code: PHL315113
External Assessment
2015
Time: Three Hours
On the basis of your performance in this examination, the examiners will provide results on each of
the following criteria taken from the course statement:
Criterion 1
Communicates philosophical ideas and information.
Criterion 2
Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of philosophical ideas.
Criterion 3
Explains the logic and reasoning used in philosophical arguments.
Criterion 4
Evaluates the relative strengths and weaknesses of philosophical arguments.
Pages:
12
Questions:
15
©
Copyright for part(s) of this examination may be held by individuals and/or organisations other than the Office of
Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification.
Philosophy
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CANDIDATE INSTRUCTIONS
You MUST make sure that your responses to the questions in this examination paper will show your
achievement in the criteria being assessed.
This paper is divided into FIVE sections.
You must answer:
•
ALL questions in Section A, in short answer form
•
BOTH questions in Section B, in short answer form
•
ONE question in Section C in essay form, from this section
•
ONE question in Section D in essay form, from this section
•
ONE question in Section E in essay form, from this section
The recommended time to be spent on a section is given in the instructions in that section.
All written responses must be in English.
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Philosophy
SECTION A
Answer ALL questions in this section.
Use a separate answer booklet for this section.
It is recommended that you spend approximately 15 minutes on this section.
This section assesses Criteria 1 and 2.
PHILOSOPHERS AND THE GOOD LIFE
Question 1
Describe the basic features of a happy life according to one of the philosophers you have studied this
year.
Question 2
Describe the basic features of hedonism.
Question 3
Assess whether Schopenhauer was a pessimist.
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Philosophy
SECTION B
Answer BOTH questions in this section.
All questions are of equal value.
Use a separate answer booklet for this section.
It is recommended that you spend approximately 30 minutes on this section.
This section assesses Criteria 1, 2 and 3.
FREE WILL
Question 4
If human beings are genuinely free to make choices, then they are outside the realm of cause and
effect. But how is that possible?
Discuss this ‘if … then’ sentence with respect to various philosophical positions on free will.
Question 5
Imagine a defence attorney who says: ‘If all the influences on us were known, we could never claim to
make a completely free choice’.
Is moral responsibility simply our ignorance of causes? Do you agree or disagree - defend your chosen
position.
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SECTION C
Answer, in essay form, ONE question from this section.
All questions are of equal value.
Use a separate answer booklet for this section.
It is recommended that you spend approximately 45 minutes on this section.
This section assesses Criteria 1, 2, 3 and 4.
LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING
Question 6
Many philosophers have presented arguments for the existence of God. Is the God discussed in these
arguments specific to any religious tradition? Why have philosophers generally thought that the
question of God’s existence is not simply settled by Scripture?
Question 7
Explain and evaluate the argument from design. What is the best version of this argument? Does that
version successfully establish its conclusion? Defend your position.
Question 8
Are science and religion in competition to explain the natural world? Justify your position.
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Philosophy
SECTION D
Answer, in essay form, ONE question from this section.
All questions are of equal value.
Use a separate answer booklet for this section.
It is recommended that you spend approximately 45 minutes on this section.
This section assesses Criteria 1, 2, 3 and 4.
EPISTEMOLOGY
Question 9
Are all our ideas or concepts ultimately derived from the sense experience as Empiricists like Hume
supposed? What sort of concepts are difficult for empiricists to explain?
Question 10
How do inductive arguments differ from deductive ones? Illustrate with examples of both kinds of
arguments. In light of this difference, explain the so-called ‘problem of induction’. Does this problem
mean that it is irrational to believe that the sun will come up tomorrow? Justify your answer.
Question 11
A sceptic will argue that s/he does not know whether s/he has a hand in front of him or her.
Analyse and evaluate the arguments that a philosopher you have studied would use in supporting or
rejecting what a sceptic will claim.
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SECTION E
Answer, in essay form, ONE question from this section.
Use a separate answer booklet for this section.
It is recommended that you spend approximately 45 minutes on this section.
This section assesses Criteria 1, 2, 3 and 4.
MIND/BODY
Question 12
How are the mind and body related? Justify your response with reference to a range of philosophers
you have studied.
Question 13
‘It is not the mind that survives death, it is the soul which survives death.’
Analyse and evaluate the arguments that a philosopher you have studied would use in supporting or
rejecting the above claim.
Question 14
‘Our memories and habits are bound up with the brain, in much the same way in which a river is
connected with the riverbed. The water in the river is always changing, but it keeps to the same course
because previous rains have worked a channel. In like manner, previous events have worn a channel
in the brain, and our thoughts flow along this channel. This is the cause of memory and mental habits.
But the brain, as a structure, is dissolved at death, and memory therefore may be expected to be also
dissolved. There is no more reason to think otherwise…’
(B. Russell)
Do you agree with Russell? Justify your response with reference to a range of philosophers you have
studied.
Section E continues.
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Section E (continued)
Question 15
‘Why did he kill him?’
Answer A:
Because he hated him intensely and wanted more than anything to see him dead!
Answer B:
Because, as a result of the motion of certain particles of matter in his brain,
electrochemical impulses were discharged along certain neural pathways, stimulating
certain efferent nerves, activating the muscles in his hand and arm, causing them to
move in a certain way.
Do these two explanations conflict with each other? Does purposive explanation necessarily conflict
with such ‘mechanical’ explanations as provided by Answer B? How do you conceive the relation
between them?
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This question paper and any materials associated with this examination (including answer booklets, cover sheets, rough note paper, or
information sheets) remain the property of the Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification.
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