Epistemology: Set texts — AQA A-Level Philosophy

This row names Berkeley's Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (1713) as a set text for the epistemology unit, so you read the whole work rather than a summary. The dialogues stage a debate between Hylas, who defends material substance, and Philonous, who voices Berkeley's immaterialism. Read for the argument as it unfolds: how Philonous presses the relativity of perception, the separation of primary and secondary qualities, and the claim that esse est percipi. Track who speaks each claim, since Berkeley presents objections through Hylas and answers them through Philonous. Note where the dialogue form lets an objection stand or be resolved, and how sensory experience, God's role and the rejection of matter connect. Use your own notes on the moves, not memorised quotations.

This row names Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) as a set text, with Meditations 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 as the required reading. Read those five meditations in order and follow the argument as it develops. Meditation 1 builds doubt through the senses, dreams and an evil deceiver; Meditation 2 reaches the cogito and the wax example; Meditation 3 examines God's existence and the source of ideas; Meditation 5 returns to God and essence; Meditation 6 addresses the existence of material things and mind–body relations. Track how each meditation depends on the one before, and note where a conclusion is provisional. Work from the text, not a summary, and record the steps in your own words.

This row names a set text for the epistemology unit: Gettier's 1963 paper in Analysis, volume 23, issue 6, pages 121–123. Guided reading means you study the article itself, not a summary, so that you can use its arguments accurately in your own writing. Read the paper closely and identify its structure: Gettier sets out the traditional account of knowledge as justified true belief, then presents cases in which a person has a justified true belief that is not knowledge. Track each case step by step, noting what the subject believes, what justifies the belief, and why the belief is true yet fails to be knowledge. Record the role of luck and of inference from a false premise. Keep page references so you can locate passages again. Your aim is to explain the argument in your own words and evaluate it, not to memorise quotations.

This row names a set text for epistemology: Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748), but only Section 2 and Section 4, part 1. Guided reading means you work through those specified sections in the text itself. In Section 2 Hume distinguishes impressions from ideas and discusses the origin of our ideas. In Section 4, part 1 he introduces the distinction between relations of ideas and matters of fact, and raises the problem of how we reason about matters of fact beyond what we observe. Read only the set sections closely, noting Hume's definitions and examples, and separate his claims from your own evaluation. Keep page or section references so you can cite accurately. The aim is to understand the arguments well enough to explain and assess them in your own words.

This set-text study requires close reading of the Preface and Book 1 of Leibniz's New Essays on Human Understanding (1705), written as a dialogue between Philalethes, who voices Locke, and Theophilus, who voices Leibniz. Read the Preface for Leibniz's framing of the dispute and his image of the veined block of marble, which presents innate tendencies rather than fully formed ideas. In Book 1, follow the exchange on whether there are innate principles and ideas, attending to Leibniz's distinction between necessary truths known by reason and contingent truths drawn from experience. Track the dialogue form: identify who speaks, what claim is advanced and how it is answered, and note where Leibniz qualifies rather than simply rejects Locke's empiricism.

This row is a reading guide, not an assessed answer target. It directs you to Locke's Essay (1690) as the set text for the epistemology unit, with priority passages. Book 1 Chapter 2 attacks innate speculative principles: Locke argues that if such principles were imprinted on the mind, they would be universally assented to, yet children and idiots do not assent, so no universal consent exists. Note that innate practical (moral) principles are treated separately in Book 1 Chapter 3, so keep the two chapters distinct. Book 2 Chapter 1 examines the origin of ideas and argues against innate ideas; Chapter 2 distinguishes simple from complex ideas; Chapter 8 discusses primary qualities (solidity, extension, figure, motion, number) and secondary qualities (powers to produce sensations such as colour and taste); Chapter 14 concerns duration and time.

This row directs you to read Plato's Meno from 81e onward as a set text for epistemology. The passage beginning at 81e introduces the idea that the soul is immortal and has learned everything, so learning is recollecting what the soul already knows. Read closely: track how Socrates introduces this claim, how Meno responds, and how the slave-boy demonstration is used to support recollection. Note the distinction between true belief and knowledge that the dialogue develops, and how recollection is meant to explain the possibility of inquiry. As you read, annotate the argument's steps, identify the theory of knowledge being proposed, and prepare to explain and evaluate it. Your reading supports essay answers on Plato's account of knowledge and recollection; assessment rewards accurate reconstruction and critical evaluation, not memorised quotations.

This row directs you to read Chapters 1 and 2 of Russell's The Problems of Philosophy (1912) as a set text for epistemology. Chapter 1, 'Appearance and Reality', distinguishes appearance from reality, asking whether the table we perceive is the real table or only how it appears. Chapter 2, 'The Existence of Matter', argues that we cannot doubt the existence of sense-data but must ask whether there is a permanent object behind them, and Russell defends the view that matter exists. Read closely: track Russell's distinctions between appearance, sense-data and physical objects, and follow his argument for the existence of matter. Annotate the steps, identify the theory of knowledge being developed, and prepare to explain and evaluate it. Assessment rewards accurate reconstruction and critical evaluation, not memorised quotations.

This row is a set-text reference for the epistemology unit, not an assessed answer target. It names a 1732 letter, attributed to Catharine Trotter Cockburn, printed as an appendix to George Berkeley's Theory of Vision Vindicated and Explained, addressed to the author of the Minute Philosopher (Berkeley). Your task is to locate the text through your centre's prescribed edition, read it as a primary source in its own right, and connect its arguments to the epistemology themes you study. Note the attribution qualifier: the letter is presented as by an anonymous writer and only attributed to Trotter Cockburn, so discuss authorship cautiously and never present the attribution as certain. Track the argumentative moves the letter makes, the position it defends or attacks, and how it bears on questions about perception, knowledge and the limits of human understanding.

This row is a set-text reference for the epistemology unit, not an assessed answer target. It names Linda Zagzebski's 1999 chapter 'What is Knowledge?', published in John Greco and Ernest Sosa's edited collection The Blackwell Guide to Epistemology, pages 92 to 116. Your task is to obtain the chapter through your centre's prescribed access and read it as a sustained treatment of the definition of knowledge. As you read, identify the account of knowledge Zagzebski develops, the problems she raises for rival analyses (such as the traditional justified-true-belief approach and its difficulties), and the role of concepts such as intellectual virtue and the value of knowledge. Keep notes organised by argument, with page references from the 1999 chapter, and connect each argument to the epistemology themes you study. Stay within the 1999 publication and the AQA set-text list.