A compulsory core theme, seven optional themes, a prescribed text and an HL extension — all written. The core theme comes from the Course Companion; the optional themes, the twelve prescribed texts and the HL extension carry a source note on each card, since the Companion covers only the core.
1. Key concept 1: Identity
What makes someone the same person over time, and how much of that is given by culture.
PH1.1 — Personal identity
PH1.1.1 · Personal identity
PH1.2 — Identity over time
PH1.2.1 · Identity over time
PH1.3 — Cultural identity
PH1.3.1 · Cultural identity
2. Key concept 2: The self and the other
Whether there is a self at all, how it is bounded, and what other people have to do with it.
PH2.1 — Self and non-self
PH2.1.1 · Self and non-self
PH2.2 — Solipsism and intersubjectivity
PH2.2.1 · Solipsism and intersubjectivity
PH2.3 — Relations to others
PH2.3.1 · Relations to others
3. Key concept 3: Consciousness
What consciousness is, how it relates to the body, and how we can know other minds exist.
PH3.1 — Consciousness, the self and the world
PH3.1.1 · Consciousness, the self and the world
PH3.2 — The mind–body problem
PH3.2.1 · The mind–body problem
PH3.3 — The problem of other minds
PH3.3.1 · The problem of other minds
4. Key concept 4: Personhood
What qualifies something as a person, and what follows once it does.
PH4.1 — Self-consciousness
PH4.1.1 · Self-consciousness
PH4.2 — Agency
PH4.2.1 · Agency
PH4.3 — Moral responsibility
PH4.3.1 · Moral responsibility
5. Key concept 5: Human nature
Whether humans share a fixed nature, and what reason and emotion contribute to it.
PH5.1 — Individuality and universality
PH5.1.1 · Individuality and universality
PH5.2 — The nature versus nurture debate
PH5.2.1 · The nature versus nurture debate
PH5.3 — Emotion and reason
PH5.3.1 · Emotion and reason
6. Key concept 6: Freedom
Whether we are free, what would threaten that, and what living freely demands.
PH6.1 — Freedom and determinism
PH6.1.1 · Freedom and determinism
PH6.2 — Social conditioning
PH6.2.1 · Social conditioning
PH6.3 — Existential angst and authenticity
PH6.3.1 · Existential angst and authenticity
A. Optional theme A: Aesthetics
The nature of art, the artist and the artistic process, and how aesthetic experience and judgement work.
PHA.1 — The nature of art
PHA.1.1 · The nature of art
PHA.1.2 · Creativity
PHA.1.3 · Art and its physical, social and cultural context
PHA.2 — The artist and the artistic process
PHA.2.1 · The artist
PHA.2.2 · The artistic process (including the impact of technology)
PHA.2.3 · The artist and society (including accountability, conformity and censorship)
PHA.3 — Aesthetic experience and judgement
PHA.3.1 · Aesthetic experience
PHA.3.2 · Aesthetic judgement
PHA.3.3 · Beauty and taste
B. Optional theme B: Epistemology
What knowledge is, the classic problems that threaten it, and who gets access to it.
PHB.1 — Nature of knowledge
PHB.1.1 · Nature of knowledge
PHB.1.2 · Truth
PHB.1.3 · Sources of knowledge
PHB.2 — Problems of knowledge
PHB.2.1 · Scepticism
PHB.2.2 · Theories of perception
PHB.2.3 · Theories of justification
PHB.3 — Application of knowledge
PHB.3.1 · Knowledge and power
PHB.3.2 · Access to knowledge
PHB.3.3 · Knowledge and technology
C. Optional theme C: Ethics
Normative theories of right action, the status of moral claims themselves, and three prescribed applied fields.
PHC.1 — Normative ethics
PHC.1.1 · Moral principles
PHC.1.2 · Virtue/character-based theories
PHC.1.3 · Deontological versus teleological theories
PHC.2 — Meta-ethics
PHC.2.1 · The origins and nature of moral values
PHC.2.2 · Foundations for moral judgements
PHC.2.3 · Ethical language
PHC.3 — Applied ethics
PHC.3.1 · Biomedical ethics
PHC.3.2 · Business ethics
PHC.3.3 · Distribution of wealth
D. Optional theme D: Philosophy of religion
The nature and existence of God, whether religious language means anything, and religious experience.
PHD.1 — Nature and existence of God
PHD.1.1 · Nature of God
PHD.1.2 · Arguments for the existence of God
PHD.1.3 · Arguments against the existence of God
PHD.2 — Religious language
PHD.2.1 · Nature of religious language
PHD.2.2 · The problem of religious language
PHD.2.3 · Attempted solutions to the problem of religious language
PHD.3 — Religious experience and behaviour
PHD.3.1 · Definitions/characteristics of religious experience
PHD.3.2 · The value of religious experience
PHD.3.3 · Religion in a multicultural environment
E. Optional theme E: Philosophy of science
What makes something science, what science says about the self, and science’s relationship with society.
PHE.1 — Nature and methodologies of science
PHE.1.1 · The nature of science (aims, assumptions, foundations and development of science)
PHE.1.2 · Demarcation (science, pseudo- science and non-science)
PHE.1.3 · Methodologies of science (induction, unification and reduction)
PHE.2 — Science and the self
PHE.2.1 · Cognitive science and the concept of the self
PHE.2.2 · Explanations of the self (biological and biochemical explanations; teleological and reductive explanations)
PHE.2.3 · Causality and determinism
PHE.3 — Science and society
PHE.3.1 · Science and values: impartiality, neutrality, autonomy and accountability
PHE.3.2 · The effects of society and social values on science
PHE.3.3 · Implications of science: the impact of science on society
F. Optional theme F: Political philosophy
The state and its forms, competing accounts of justice, and the limits of liberty and rights.
PHF.1 — The state
PHF.1.1 · The state (and its origins)
PHF.1.2 · Forms of government
PHF.1.3 · Civil society
PHF.2 — Justice
PHF.2.1 · Social justice
PHF.2.2 · Distributive justice, retributive justice and punishment
PHF.2.3 · Interrelationships between justice, freedom and equality
PHF.3 — Liberty and rights
PHF.3.1 · Rights, duties and responsibilities (including human, non-human, legal and natural rights)
PHF.3.2 · Positive and negative liberty
PHF.3.3 · Censorship and freedom of information
G. Optional theme G: Social philosophy
Social structures and institutions, equality and discrimination, and gender.
PHG.1 — Social structures and institutions
PHG.1.1 · Formal and informal social structures
PHG.1.2 · Nature, structure and function of social institutions
PHG.1.3 · Family, marriage and education as social institutions
PHG.2 — Equality and discrimination
PHG.2.1 · Treatment of minority and marginalized groups in society (including structural violence)
PHG.2.2 · Tolerance
PHG.2.3 · Social discontent and social change
PHG.3 — Gender
PHG.3.1 · Nature of gender; sex and gender
PHG.3.2 · Gender and identity; the impact of gender differences on human self-understanding
PHG.3.3 · Gender politics; gender roles; constructs of femininity and masculinity
T. Prescribed text: one from the IB list
One text studied in depth and examined on its own paper, open book, with a clean unannotated copy. Which text is your school’s choice.
PHT.1 — The IB list of prescribed philosophical texts
PHT.1.1 · Alfred Jules Ayer: Language, Truth and Logic
PHT.1.2 · Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex, Volume 1 part 1, Volume 2 part 1 and Volume 2 part 4
PHT.1.3 · Confucius: The Analects
PHT.1.4 · René Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy
PHT.1.5 · Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Masks
PHT.1.6 · John Stuart Mill: On Liberty
PHT.1.7 · Friedrich Nietzsche: The Genealogy of Morals
PHT.1.8 · Martha C. Nussbaum: Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach
PHT.1.9 · José Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses
PHT.1.10 · Plato: The Republic, Books IV–IX
PHT.1.11 · Charles Taylor: The Ethics of Authenticity
PHT.1.12 · Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
H. HL extension: Philosophy and contemporary issues
Technology, the environment, and philosophy’s own nature and method, the HL-only topic, assessed on an unseen text in Paper 3.
PHH.1 — Philosophy and technology
PHH.1.1 · Nature and role of technology; relationship between technology and nature
PHH.1.2 · Impact of technology on individuals and societies
PHH.1.3 · Philosophical challenges arising from developments in biotechnology, robotics, and information and communication technology
PHH.2 — Philosophy and the environment
PHH.2.1 · Environmental challenges and degradation
PHH.2.2 · Environmental conservation and activism
PHH.2.3 · Intrinsic and extrinsic value; deep ecology, social ecology and anthropocentrism
PHH.3 — The nature, function, meaning and methodology of philosophy
PHH.3.1 · Nature of philosophy
PHH.3.2 · Function and meaning of philosophy
PHH.3.3 · Philosophical methodology
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