Philosophy subject report · May 2015

May 2015 extended essay reports Page 1 Philosophy Overall grade boundaries Grade: E D C B A Mark range: 0-7 8-15 16-22 23-28 29-36 The range and suitability of the work submitted The submitted essays varied with regard to the achievement levels attained. The stronger essays had a clear, well-focused, and sufficiently narrow research question; the question was researched using a solid reference bank comprising relevant primary and secondary sources, which were integrated thoughtfully and carefully to support the developing argument ; displaying an effective use of philosophical terminology, clarity, and conciseness of expression. The best essays were logically structured, with an analytically clear and coherent flow of ideas, conceptual distinctness, and an effective and sophisticate d application of evaluative skills which were conducive to the development of a well -reasoned and cogent argument. The weaker essays were mostly narrative and descriptive in their approach; many times they merely listed, in a perfunctory manner and with a limited clarity, series of opinions collected from secondary sources. There were many excellent essays, just to mention one: “To what extent does Leibniz’s version of the Principle of Sufficient Reason pose a challenge to our conception of moral responsibility?”. Candidate performance against each criterion Criterion A: research question Many or most research questions were adequate, but there is a tendency to express the research questions in a broad/general way. This limits the number of marks that can be