Skip to main content

← Philosophy and Reason syllabus

QLDPhilosophy and Reason

Unit 4: Moral philosophy and metaphysics

14 dot points across 14 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

If every event is caused by prior events, can our choices be free, and can we be morally responsible?

Are some actions right or wrong in themselves, regardless of their consequences, because of the duties reason imposes?

How far may the state and society legitimately restrict individual liberty?

Are moral claims objectively true or false, or are they expressions of feeling, convention or culture?

What makes you the same person over time, despite the constant change in your body and mind?

Where does knowledge come from, reason or experience, and are there ideas we have independently of the senses?

What are rights, where do they come from, and how can claims to rights be justified?

Can we know that the external world exists, or could all our experience be a systematic illusion?

Why do humans need government, and how do social contract theories justify the authority of the state?

What is the mind, and how does it relate to the physical brain and body?

How should a society distribute benefits and burdens fairly, and what does justice require?

What is knowledge, and is true justified belief enough to count as knowing?

Is the right action always the one that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number?

Should ethics ask what kind of person to be rather than what rules to follow or what outcomes to produce?