|
Specifically designed to meet the demands of the new VCE Philosophy Study Design and Prescribed Text List (2025) and an invaluable resource for navigating key knowledge, skills and assessment requirements for Units 1&2.
A COMPREHENSIVE COMPANION TO VCE UNITS 1&2 – FULLY UPDATED AND REVISED
VCE Philosophy: A Student Text for Units 1&2 is the only introductory textbook written specifically for students and teachers of VCE Philosophy. Containing a huge variety of classroom activities, discussion questions, written exercises, opportunities for reflection, assessment ideas and guides to primary texts, VCE Philosophy: A Student Text for Units 1&2 will equip students with the knowledge and skills to fully engage in VCE Philosophy as critical, creative and reflective thinkers, both independently and with others.
New and experienced teachers alike will appreciate the wealth of suggestions for lesson content, assessment tasks, and how to nurture philosophical skills, scaffold work with primary texts and construct a rich and stimulating philosophical curriculum and classroom environment.
This fully revised and updated 4th Edition includes new activities, text studies, chapters (‘The Nature and Methods of Philosophy’ and ‘Philosophy: its Nature, Purpose and Value’) and topics (‘On Personal Identity’ and ‘On the Nature of Mind’), as well as explicit treatment of the new Characteristics of Study and how they can be reflected in the curriculum.
UNITS 1&2 CONTENTS
Chapter 1 – Welcome to Philosophy
• What is philosophy?
• Where did philosophy come from?
• Branches of philosophy
• What is ‘doing philosophy’?
• Reading, writing, talking, thinking: the key philosophical skills
• The Characteristics of Study
Chapter 2- The Nature and Methods of Philosophy
• The nature of philosophy
• Identifying arguments
• Standard form
• Extended standard form
• Other tools for understanding arguments
• Evaluating arguments
• Further tools for evaluating arguments: formal and informal fallacies
Chapter 3 – Metaphysics
• On materialism and idealism
• On the nature of mind
• On personal identity
• On the existence and nature of God
• On free will and determinism
• On time and space
Chapter 4 – Epistemology
• On knowledge
• On the possibility of a priori knowledge
• On science
• On objectivity
Chapter 5 – Ethics and Moral Philosophy
• On the foundations of moral philosophy
• On moral psychology
• On right and wrong
Chapter 6 – Further Problems in Value Theory
• On rights and justice
• On liberty and anarchy
• On aesthetic value
• On the interpretation of artworks
Chapter 7 – Philosophy: Its Nature, Purpose and Value
• Designing Your Units 1&2 Course
• A Sample Course Plan
• Suggestions for Student Assessment
Chapter 8 – Teaching and Learning with this Book
• Designing your Units 1&2 course
• Responding to the Characteristics of Study
• A sample course plan
• Suggestions for student assessment
|
VCE Philosophy 4th Edition