2023 IB DP Philosophy Practice Paper with Answers

A high-quality response should develop a well-structured argument addressing the contrast between simulated behavior and lived human experience. Key discussion points include: 1. Conceptual Analysis of the Stimulus: Explain how the stimulus contrasts outward behavioral functionalism (simulated grief) with subjective internal states (the qualitative experience of loss, 'the lingering shadow of love'). Connect this to the mind-body problem and the hard problem of consciousness. 2. Philosophical Perspectives Supporting the Stimulus's Distinction: Use John Searle’s Chinese Room argument to assert that syntax (processing rules) does not equal semantics (understanding or feeling). Use Thomas Nagel’s concept of subjective character of experience ('what it is like to be') to argue that physical processes alone do not capture the qualitative essence of grief. Bring in phenomenological perspectives (e.g., Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty) to argue that emotions are situated, embodied ways of being-in-the-world, inextricably linked to our mortality (being-towards-death) and personal history, which a machine lacks. 3. Counter-arguments / Alternative Perspectives: Consider functionalism or behaviorism (e.g., Alan Turing, Daniel Dennett), which might argue that if a system behaves indistinguishably from a grieving human, it is functionally equivalent to having that emotion. Explore emergentism: the idea that sufficiently complex information processing could give rise to genuine conscious experience (consciousness as an emergent property). 4. Synthesis and Conclusion: Evaluate the implications for what it means to be human. Conclude whether mortality, vulnerability, and the capacity for genuine suffering (rather than cognitive calculation) are definitive boundaries of human nature.

The essay is evaluated out of 25 marks using the official IB Philosophy Paper 1 rubric: 1. Criterion A: Expression (5 marks) - Assess clarity of language, structured argumentation, and precise philosophical terminology. 2. Criterion B: Knowledge and Understanding (5 marks) - Assess the depth and accuracy of knowledge regarding philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and existentialism (e.g., Searle, Nagel, Heidegger, functionalism). 3. Criterion C: Analysis (5 marks) - Assess how effectively the student unpacks the stimulus, identifies key philosophical assumptions, and deploys relevant examples. 4. Criterion D: Evaluation (5 marks) - Assess the critical evaluation of opposing views (such as physicalism vs. dualism/phenomenology) and the strength of the thesis. 5. Criterion E: Relevance to the Core Theme 'Being Human' (5 marks) - Assess the explicit and continuous connection of the analysis back to what constitutes a human being.

### Introduction
- **Contextualization**: Introduce the regress problem (Agrippa's Trilemma) which challenges how beliefs are justified. When justification requires further reasons, we face three options: an infinite regress, an arbitrary stopping point (foundationalism), or circular reasoning (coherentism).
- **Definitions**: Define coherentism (the view that a belief is justified by its fitting into a coherent system of beliefs) and contrast it with foundationalism (the view that justification rests on basic, self-justifying beliefs).
- **Thesis**: Position the essay's stance (e.g., while coherentism offers an elegant solution to the artificiality of basic beliefs, it struggles to completely escape the charge of vicious circularity and isolation from reality unless modified with externalist constraints).

### Arguments in Favor of Coherentism
- **The Web of Belief**: Draw on Willard Van Orman Quine's concept of the 'web of belief' or Wilfrid Sellars' critique of the 'Myth of the Given'. Argument: Beliefs are not isolated bricks but mutually supporting nodes in a web. No single belief is immune to revision, and justification is holistic rather than linear.
- **Virtuous Circularity vs. Vicious Circularity**: Argue that coherentist justification is non-linear. The system of beliefs is justified as a whole. A belief is justified because of its membership in a coherent set, which is analogous to a crossword puzzle where answers support each other, rather than a single premise-conclusion chain.

### Critical Counter-arguments and Challenges
- **The Circularity Objection**: Foundationalists argue that coherentism relies on circular logic. If belief A is justified by belief B, which is justified by belief C, which is ultimately justified by belief A, then the justification has no external anchor.
- **The Isolation/Input Objection**: A system of beliefs could be perfectly coherent internally (such as a highly detailed fantasy novel or a systematic delusion) but completely false and disconnected from empirical reality. This suggests coherence is not sufficient for justification without perceptual input.
- **The Alternative Systems Objection**: For any given set of coherent beliefs, there could be multiple incompatible but equally coherent systems. Coherentism lacks an internal mechanism to choose which system is objectively true.

### Synthesis and Rebuttals
- **Modified Coherentism**: Discuss Laurence BonJour's or Keith Lehrer's attempts to introduce cognitive system requirements or observation beliefs that bridge the gap with reality, though critics argue this makes the theory hybrid (foundherentism).
- **Susan Haack's 'Foundherentism'**: Present an alternative that combines the strengths of both systems—analogy of the crossword puzzle where empirical inputs (clues) and mutual support (intersecting words) work together.

### Conclusion
- Summarize the main arguments.
- Provide a clear, final evaluation of whether coherentism overcomes the regress problem or merely renames circularity to bypass it.

### Mark Breakdown (Total: 25 Marks)
- **1–5 marks**: Superficial or highly confused. The candidate mentions justification or beliefs but fails to accurately define the regress problem or coherentism.
- **6–11 marks**: Descriptive understanding. The candidate defines foundationalism, coherentism, and the regress problem but lacks critical analysis or presents a highly biased, unstructured overview.
- **12–17 marks**: Good conceptual grasp. The candidate explains the difference between linear and holistic justification, outlines key objections (such as the isolation or circularity objection), and refers to relevant epistemological concepts.
- **18–21 marks**: Strong analytical focus. The candidate evaluates the strength of coherentist solutions (e.g., Quine's web of belief, Bonjour's system) against foundationalist critiques. There is a clear attempt to assess whether circularity is indeed resolved or merely repackaged.
- **22–25 marks**: Excellent philosophical depth and rigor. The argument is highly organized, critically assessing the nuances of the debate (such as Haack's foundherentism or the input problem). The conclusion is persuasive, balanced, and logically derived from the essay's arguments.

### Introduction
- **Contextualization**: Introduce meta-ethics and the division between cognitivism (moral statements express beliefs and have truth-value) and non-cognitivism (moral statements express non-cognitive states like emotions or desires).
- **Define Emotivism**: Explain emotivism (Boo/Hurrah theory) pioneered by logical positivists like A.J. Ayer and developed by C.L. Stevenson, which claims that 'Stealing is wrong' simply means 'Boo to stealing!'.
- **Define the Frege-Geach Problem**: Introduce Peter Geach’s objection (drawing on Gottlob Frege) regarding how moral terms behave when embedded in unasserted contexts (e.g., conditional statements like 'If stealing is wrong, then encouraging others to steal is wrong').
- **Thesis**: State whether the Frege-Geach problem represents a fatal blow to classic emotivism or if modern adaptations (such as expressivism and quasi-realism) can bypass the objection.

### Explaining the Frege-Geach Problem (The Core Challenge)
- **The Argument Form**: Present a valid logical syllogism:
1. If stealing is wrong, then encouraging others to steal is wrong.
2. Stealing is wrong.
3. Therefore, encouraging others to steal is wrong.
- **The Dilemma for Emotivists**:
- In premise 2, 'stealing is wrong' is asserted (under emotivism, it means 'Boo to stealing!').
- In premise 1, 'stealing is wrong' is *not* asserted—it is conditional. The speaker is not expressing disapproval of stealing in premise 1, only exploring a logical connection.
- Since the meaning of 'stealing is wrong' changes between premise 1 (unasserted, no emotion expressed) and premise 2 (asserted, emotion expressed), the argument commits the fallacy of equivocation. Thus, under emotivism, this valid deduction becomes invalid.

### Non-Cognitivist Responses and Modern Developments
- **Simon Blackburn’s Quasi-Realism**: Discuss Blackburn’s projectivism, where he argues that we can treat moral claims 'as if' they are truth-apt. He introduces a logic of attitudes where committing to certain attitudes entails committing to others, attempting to mirror standard propositional logic.
- **Allan Gibbard’s Norm-Expressivism**: Explain how Gibbard suggests moral judgments express acceptance of norms rather than raw feelings, attempting to provide a systematic rational framework for moral discourse.

### Evaluation and Criticisms
- **Do these responses work?**: Evaluate whether Blackburn’s or Gibbard's solutions genuinely solve the semantic problem or if they are simply 'closet cognitivism' under a different name. If they look, act, and reason like beliefs, why not just call them beliefs?
- **The Cognitivist Alternative**: Reassert the strengths of moral realism or intuitionism which easily handle the Frege-Geach problem by granting moral statements true propositional meaning, though at the expense of needing to explain moral motivation.

### Conclusion
- Summarize the debate.
- Provide a definitive verdict on whether the Frege-Geach problem successfully invalidates emotivism or if it merely forces non-cognitivism to evolve into more sophisticated forms.

### Mark Breakdown (Total: 25 Marks)
- **1–5 marks**: Superficial response. The candidate may understand that emotivism relates to feelings but does not understand or explain the Frege-Geach problem at all.
- **6–11 marks**: Basic comprehension. The candidate outlines emotivism and attempts to explain the Frege-Geach problem, but the explanation of the logic/conditional embedding is confused or inaccurate.
- **12–17 marks**: Competent conceptual analysis. The candidate clearly reconstructs the Frege-Geach conditional syllogism, explaining why the fallacy of equivocation occurs under non-cognitivism. Some mention of responses (e.g., Blackburn) is included but lacks critical depth.
- **18–21 marks**: Strong critical evaluation. The candidate discusses the implications of the embedding problem for emotivism's claim to represent natural moral language. Evaluates quasi-realist or norm-expressivist responses in detail.
- **22–25 marks**: Highly sophisticated and precise. The candidate demonstrates a flawless grasp of the semantic/logical challenge of embedding. Critical engagement with modern expressivism (Blackburn, Gibbard) is sharp, resulting in a cohesive, well-reasoned, and balanced conclusion.

An excellent response should:

1. Analyze the unseen text:
- Identify that the author views philosophy as a destructive and transformative process ("tears down scaffolding") rather than a constructive enterprise.
- Discuss key metaphors: the "diver plunging into turbulent waters" and "learning to breathe where there is no air" represent the profound discomfort and existential courage required to navigate uncertainty.
- Contrast the author's target (the pursuit of easy "answers" or dogmatic certainty) with the proposed goal: developing an "intellectual endurance" and the capacity to stand before the unknown.

2. Compare with personal experience of doing philosophy:
- Connect the text's focus on "unlearning" and "disorientation" with personal experiences during the IB Philosophy course (e.g., encountering radical skepticism in Epistemology, or challenging deeply-held assumptions about personal identity in the Core Theme).
- Contrast the text's purely destructive/skeptical view with moments where philosophy felt constructive—such as building rigorous ethical frameworks, designing just social systems, or achieving logical clarity.

3. Evaluate implications for wider society:
- Discuss how a society behaves if philosophy is viewed as a destabilizing force (which can liberate citizens from ideology but might risk cynicism) versus a constructive, problem-solving discipline.
- Consider whether the "shedding of illusions" is a necessary prerequisite for genuine civic engagement and social progress.

The essay is marked out of 25 according to the IB Philosophy Paper 3 assessment criteria:

- Criterion A: Expressing a personal view and experience of philosophy (6 marks)
Assess how effectively the student reflects upon their own personal experience of doing philosophy, demonstrating metacognitive awareness of their intellectual growth and reactions to philosophical inquiry.

- Criterion B: Analysing the view of philosophy in the text (6 marks)
Assess the student's understanding and critical dissection of the unseen passage, its core arguments, and its key metaphors (e.g., diving, dismantling scaffolding, intellectual endurance).

- Criterion C: Comparing and contrasting (6 marks)
Assess the quality and depth of the links established between the student's personal experience of philosophy and the perspective offered by the text.

- Criterion D: Structure and clarity of argument (7 marks)
Assess the logical structure, clarity, and philosophical precision of the essay, including the consistent and appropriate use of philosophical terminology.