IB SL Philosophy

“Socrates did not teach philosophy, he taught to philosophize” (Daniel and Auriac, 2011: 416). Studying philosophy develops highly transferable skills such as the ability to formulate arguments clearly, to make reasoned judgments, and to evaluate highly complex and multifaceted issues. The emphasis of IB Philosophy is on actively engaging students in philosophical activity in their own lives. The course is focused on stimulating students’ intellectual curiosity and encouraging them to examine both their own perspectives and those of others. Students master close reading techniques and philosophical analysis and argumentation and write papers synthesizing these skills.

Students may opt to take the first mod, Being Human (ENG650A), in 11th grade and the remaining mods in 12th grade, or they may take all three mods in the same year.

In the second mod, Philosophy in Depth, students choose to focus on one of the following dimensions of philosophy: aesthetics; epistemology; ethics; philosophy and contemporary society; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; or political philosophy. The central text of the third mod is Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save which considers the moral responsibility of citizens of affluent nations vis-a-vis poverty in developing nations.

In each mod, students complete mocks of the respective SL exam questions as well as the Internal Assessment (IA) task, which is a philosophical analysis of a fictional or creative text. The course employs equitable standards-based grading with the standards and rubrics coming directly from the IB assessment criteria. Assessment weights match the IB Philosophy syllabus, and final grades will be determined by IA marks and summative performance on mock exams.

Students enrolled in this course must sit for the IB exam.

Min-Max Credit Hours: 3.0-3.0