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Paper 1

Paper 2

Paper 3

1.1 Identity

1.2 The self and the other

1.3 Consciousness

1.4 Personhood

1.5 Human nature

1.6 Freedom

2.1 The nature of art

2.2 The artist and the artistic process

2.3 Aesthetic experience and judgement

3.1 Nature of knowledge

3.2 Problems of knowledge

3.3 Application of knowledge

4.1 Normative ethics

4.2 Meta-ethics

4.3 Applied ethics

5.1 Nature and existence of God

5.2 Religious language

5.3 Religious experience and behaviour

6.1 Nature and methodologies of science

6.2 Science and the self

6.3 Science and society

7.1 The state

7.2 Justice

7.3 Liberty and rights

8.1 Social structures and institutions

8.2 Equality and discrimination

8.3 Gender

9.1 Philosophy and technology

9.2 Philosophy and the environment

9.3 The nature, function, and meaning of methodology of philosophy

10.1 Language, Truth and Logic – Alfred Jules Ayer

10.2 The Analects – Confucius

10.3 Meditations on First Philosophy – René Descartes

10.4 Black Skin, White Masks – Frantz Fanon

10.5 On the Genealogy of Morality – Friedrich Nietzsche

10.6 Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach – Martha C. Nussbaum

10.7 The Revolt of the Masses – José Ortega y Gasset

10.8 The Republic, Books IV–IX – Plato

10.9 The Ethics of Authenticity – Charles Taylor

10.10 Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu

10.11 The Second Sex – Simone de Beauvoir

10.12 On Liberty – John Stuart Mill

IB Philosophy 3.1.1 Nature of Knowledge Key Definitions

Definition

Epistemology

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge, including the distinction between knowledge and opinion, the role of reason and experience, and the conditions under which beliefs count as justified.

Definition

Knowledge

In Western philosophy, knowledge is traditionally defined as justified true belief, requiring that a claim be factually accurate, genuinely accepted by the person, and supported by adequate evidence or sound reasoning. This definition has been challenged by Gettier cases and alternative accounts from non-Western traditions.

Definition

Pratibha

In the philosophy of the Indian thinker Bhartrhari, pratibha refers to a form of direct, intuitive understanding or flash of insight that grasps meaning holistically, prior to and distinct from propositional analysis. It challenges Western epistemology's focus on propositional knowledge ('knowing that').

Definition

Self-knowledge

Self-knowledge refers to an individual's awareness and understanding of their own mental states, character traits, and motivations, a form of introspective access that philosophers from Socrates to Descartes have regarded as epistemically privileged. Whether such knowledge is genuinely immediate or mediated by social and linguistic frameworks remains a central debate in philosophy of mind and epistemology.

IB Philosophy 3.1.1 Nature of Knowledge Key Definitions

Definition

Epistemology

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge, including the distinction between knowledge and opinion, the role of reason and experience, and the conditions under which beliefs count as justified.

Definition

Knowledge

In Western philosophy, knowledge is traditionally defined as justified true belief, requiring that a claim be factually accurate, genuinely accepted by the person, and supported by adequate evidence or sound reasoning. This definition has been challenged by Gettier cases and alternative accounts from non-Western traditions.

Definition

Pratibha

In the philosophy of the Indian thinker Bhartrhari, pratibha refers to a form of direct, intuitive understanding or flash of insight that grasps meaning holistically, prior to and distinct from propositional analysis. It challenges Western epistemology's focus on propositional knowledge ('knowing that').

Definition

Self-knowledge

Self-knowledge refers to an individual's awareness and understanding of their own mental states, character traits, and motivations, a form of introspective access that philosophers from Socrates to Descartes have regarded as epistemically privileged. Whether such knowledge is genuinely immediate or mediated by social and linguistic frameworks remains a central debate in philosophy of mind and epistemology.