AQA

Entry Requirements

Six GCSEs at Grade 6 or above INCLUDING:

Grade 6 or above for English Language OR Grade 6 or above for Religious Studies.

Course Overview

The A Level Philosophy qualification is designed to give students a thorough grounding in the key concepts and methods of philosophy. You will have the opportunity to engage with big questions in a purely secular context and will develop important skills that you need for progression to higher education.

You will engage with complex texts, analysing and evaluating the arguments of others and constructing and defending your own arguments. Philosophy is a good combination with many Humanities subjects but also successfully combines with Biology and Physics, Mathematics and Psychology.

Course Content

You will study four components: 

• Epistemology – You will study the basics of metaphysics and foundational theories of knowledge. This topic covers the epistemological arguments of Plato, Descartes, Locke and Berkeley.
• Moral philosophy – In ethics, we study all the important ethical theories that have helped humankind answer the eternal question ‹how should I act?
• Metaphysics of God – This topic includes the classic debates about God’s existence, but also asks us to define the term God.
• Metaphysics of mind – This topic is extremely lively in contemporary Philosophy as it is joined with Neuroscience and Psychology.

Careers 

Philosophy graduates are found working for almost every type of employer in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Opportunities are available in arts-based areas like publishing, the media, journalism, advertising and teaching, through to computing and IT.

Typical employers include: local government and the Civil Service, advertising, marketing and public relations agencies, management consultancies, secondary schools, further education colleges and higher education institutions, law firms, publishing companies, charities banking and insurance companies and accountancy firms.