1. Philosophy teacher support material
External assessment: sample G
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
Sample G
According to the ideas expressed in the extract, philosophical activity is the critical ability possessed
by human beings. Once understood that life has a deeper sense than sole survival, whoever then
starts striking out on her or his own to find a goal is a philosopher. He or she does not accept a ‘pre-
packaged ideology’ and therefore starts to ‘wonder’ about one which might be correct. Therefore
whenever inquiring about any subject, including philosophy itself, that is to philosophise.
The argument is successful in putting forward what can be a major input to philosophy activity: living
life according to some beliefs, or accepting values that give it sense. It is said that philosophers are
those who live in whatever mode but a practical ‘survival one’ which does not lead to a sense of
fulfilment. This is true although there are people living without much time to spend in “wondering
about their own feelings” who nevertheless do possess a set of values that they live according to. Is
this a ‘pre-packaged ideology’? It might be and if this is the case history provides us with example of
ideologies spreading throughout entire nations among the poor people who could be easily
indoctrinated. Take, for example, Chinese peasants who turned to support communism ideology after
being brainwashed by Mao’s propaganda.
The ‘average philosopher’, as the extract leaves room for a more practiced philosopher, would not
accept communist values in this case without some reflections on his or her own. He or she would
wonder about the nature of communist concepts and critically evaluate them to state whether he or
she does or does not agree with them. According to the argument this is likely to happen in moments
of deep joy or desperate sadness. This is because of man’s tendency to engage in deep reflection
after strong emotional states of being. Therefore it comes naturally to think that man usually lives on a
superficial level of understanding of reality until the moment he realises, Plato would say
‘remembers’, that there are deeper layers.
However there might be simple people living in a ‘survival mode’ who nevertheless possess values
which come from life experience as well as personal intuition, rather then a passive absorbed
ideology. For instance a simple German man, under Hitler’s regime, who refuses to denounce his
Jewish neighbour. Is he a philosopher because of his ability to independent analyse the situation? He
certainly is, according to the extract. On the other hand, it can be argued that he simply acted
coherently with his own consciousness.
Is therefore philosophical activity to do with being in touch with our consciousness? We are now
entering a territory which behaviourists, functionalists and other philosophical currents have several
problems to confront. Hence we are restricting the philosophical field. Therefore it is logical to
appreciate the extract as dealing with a specific environment of philosophical activity: ethics and
morality. It does not suit that well if we think about metaphysics, cosmology, ontology. Of course the
extract takes into account the fact that, starting from moral issues, one begins to inquire about any

2. Philosophy teacher support material
External assessment: sample G
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
concepts and goes on until reaching the radical meaning of words. On the other hand the extract
remains too vague in defining the state of wondering as the capacity to challenge socially accepted
assumptions.
In my opinion philosophical activity is the search for truth. It may start from a state of wondering, from
a development of critical skills but it needs to make a step forward beyond that. What differentiates a
philosopher from an aware person, in fact, is the lack of the Knowledge of the latter.
Philosophy means love for Knowledge and implies the total dedication of its performer to the
understanding of the outside world as well as the inner reality.
I believe that philosophical activity can be understood as the attempt to supplement the inner world of
our true self, mind, body with the existence, or perceived existence, of an outside reality ruled by
unknown laws—laws that philosophers tackle and explain with different arguments. This is the reason
why no other science or discipline on earth seems to give man answers which really explain our
existence and purpose of existence in a more exhaustive way than philosophy.
I therefore agree with the extract in as far as the development of critical thinking skills is a way
leading towards a more accurate understanding of reality, although that alone is not sufficient to make
one a philosopher. Let us consider Plato’s myth of the cave, we shall compare a person who starts
wondering about the shades he sees on the wall of the cave. This fellow may be a philosopher
according to the extract, in fact he is challenging what he has been given to believe is for real. Yet,
despite his deep thoughts about those shapes, he is still imprisoned in the cave struggling to find
sense in being there. Whereas the real philosopher understands what is going on and exits the cave
to see the ‘real world’.
This is how I picture philosophical activity. Wondering may be a good starting point but it can also
lead nowhere without the right intuition/reasoning/discovery which gives one the truthful picture of
reality. Only after being able to see that can one consider oneself a philosopher. Only when one is
able to see what many others, because of a shortening of horizons, are not capable of figuring out
can one consider oneself as engaging in philosophical activity.
[912 words]