Educerie · IB Diploma · Philosophy
Core theme — Topic test · mark scheme
Short questions are point-marked. Questions 2 and 4 are banded, as philosophy is in the real papers. Naming philosophers is not itself creditable; using their arguments is.
1Personhood — 5 marks
(a) [2]
| The status or set of properties that makes an entity a person | 1 |
|---|---|
| Recognises that it carries moral standing — a person is owed moral consideration and cannot be treated merely as a means | 1 |
An answer equating personhood with being a human being scores a maximum of 1: whether the two coincide is precisely the question at issue.
(b) [3]
| States the criterion: a being is a person if it possesses rationality or the capacity to reason | 1 |
|---|---|
| Identifies the exclusion problem: infants, people with severe cognitive impairment, and those with advanced dementia would fail the criterion, yet almost no one accepts they lack moral standing | 1 |
| Develops a further difficulty, e.g. rationality admits of degrees so the threshold looks arbitrary; or it may include non-human animals and artificial systems that display reasoning | 1 |
The second mark is essential — an answer that only explains what rationality is scores 1.
2Argument analysis — 5 marks
| Sets the argument out in numbered premises and conclusion | 1 |
|---|---|
| Correctly reconstructs the stated premises: every action is caused by prior events; the agent did not choose those events | 1 |
| Identifies the unstated premise — that moral responsibility requires the agent could have done otherwise | 1 |
| Notes that the argument is valid if that premise is granted, so the dispute is about soundness, not structure | 1 |
| Identifies where the argument is vulnerable, e.g. the compatibilist rejects the hidden premise, redefining freedom as absence of constraint rather than absence of causation | 1 |
The third mark is the discriminating one and is what analyse is asking for. An answer that merely agrees or disagrees with the conclusion, without setting out the structure, scores a maximum of 1.
Award a mark within the band above for the observation that undermining determinism does not rescue responsibility, since an uncaused action is random rather than authored (the luck objection) — this is a strong response but not required for full marks.
3Determinism and fatalism — 2 marks
| Determinism: every event, including a choice, is the necessary consequence of prior causes and natural laws — and the agent's deliberation is itself part of that causal chain | 1 |
|---|---|
| Fatalism: the outcome will occur regardless of what the agent does, so deliberation is irrelevant to it | 1 |
Must be written as a comparison. The distinguishing point is that determinism makes deliberation causally efficacious though itself caused, whereas fatalism makes it idle. An answer treating the two as synonyms scores 0.
4Mind and body — 8 marks (banded)
| Band | Descriptor | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| 7–8 | Both positions stated at their strongest, with specific named objections (interaction problem, multiple realisability, qualia or the knowledge argument) and at least one reply on behalf of the position under attack. Conclusion is a judgement that follows from the argument, and is appropriately qualified. | 7–8 |
| 5–6 | Both positions explained with accurate objections, but the opposing view is not given its best form, or no reply is considered. Conclusion present but asserted. | 5–6 |
| 3–4 | Positions described accurately with limited evaluation; objections named but not developed. | 3–4 |
| 1–2 | Largely expository. Philosophers named without their arguments used. | 1–2 |
| 0 | Nothing creditable | 0 |
Indicative content — for dualism: the apparent categorial difference between thought and tissue; the conceivability of mind without body; the explanatory gap. Against dualism: the interaction problem and its energy-conservation implications; the retreat to epiphenomenalism making consciousness causally idle; the absence of any proposed mechanism. For physicalism: parsimony; the dependence of mental change on physical change. Against physicalism: multiple realisability defeating identity theory; qualia and the Mary thought experiment against functionalism.
A confident verdict the argument has not established scores lower than a qualified conclusion it has. An answer concluding that dualism is "obviously false" without engaging the qualia objection cannot reach band 7–8, and neither can one concluding dualism is true without addressing interaction.
Mark distribution
| Split | Allocation |
|---|---|
| By sub-topic | Personhood 5 · Freedom and determinism 7 · Mind and body 8 |
| By objective | AO1 knowledge 5 · AO2 application and analysis 5 · AO3 synthesis and evaluation 8 · AO4 organisation 2 |
| By command term | Evaluate 8 · Analyse 5 · Explain 3 · Define 2 · Distinguish 2 |
Total: 20 marks
Educerie · original mark scheme for original questions, written against the published IB syllabus structure for Philosophy, core theme, first assessment 2025. Last reviewed 5 September 2026.