Philosophy tutors

The course title matters. Philosophy and Religious Studies can share topics while requiring different reading and answers. For school tuition, give the tutor the qualification, board and course code; for other study, name the text, module or question you want to explore.

AQA Philosophy examines the view that knowledge is justified true belief. Consider a stopped-clock example.

You glance at a clock that has always been reliable. It reads 2 pm, and it really is 2 pm. Unknown to you, the clock stopped exactly a day earlier. You have ordinary reasons to trust it.

“The clock is broken, so your belief is false” misses the problem. Your belief about the time is true; you believe it; and you have an ordinary justification for believing it. Yet arriving at the correct time through this broken clock seems too lucky to count as knowledge.

A stronger response is: “The case challenges whether justified true belief is enough for knowledge, because the belief is correct through coincidence.” It identifies the proposed definition and explains what the example tests.

For follow-up practice, change the actual time to 3 pm while the clock still reads 2 pm. Now the belief is false: the truth condition fails. Explaining that difference is more useful than memorising the story.

An essay needs more than the names of theories. AQA moral philosophy includes utilitarianism, Kantian ethics and Aristotelian virtue ethics, with applications such as lying. Here is a short practice example using a utilitarian approach, which assesses an action through its consequences for happiness or wellbeing.

Suppose a friend asks whether their poorly prepared presentation is ready. An initial answer says: “Praising it would make them happy, so lying is right.” That considers only an immediate benefit.

An objection could be that false reassurance leaves the friend unprepared and may damage trust when the truth emerges. A reply might say that, in the imagined circumstances, those harms are unlikely or smaller than the benefit. That reply still needs reasons; simply asserting it does not settle the issue.

A better judgement would be: “Sparing embarrassment counts in favour of the lie, but I have not shown that it produces the best consequences overall. Tactful, honest feedback may preserve encouragement while allowing the friend to improve.” This tests the claim against an alternative action.

For practice, explain which assumption your judgement depends on, then change it.