Summary A* quality notes on sexual ethics RS A-level OCR
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Course
Ethics
Institution
OCR
Extremely high-detailed and comprehensive A* ethics notes including not only the content/arguments but also a whole range of relevant scholars, responses and pros and cons of the different arguments. Everything you would need for this topic on any question at A* level! Tonnes of great examples and ...
Homosexuality in the Bible:
In Leviticus, it says that God hates when “a man lies with another man” and Jesus, in
Corinthians, suggests that men who have sex with men will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
However, 0.0002% of the Bible talks about homosexuality and yet it is fixated upon in religious
communities. Other teachings and commandments, such as on slavery, are seen as outdated
and irrelevant and yet not the few passages on homosexuality. Richard B Hayes would describe
this as the ‘cherry-picking’ of religious passages to fit one’s agenda.
Utilitarianism
“It will be my contention that Utilitarianism’s libertarian nature is helpful in freeing sexual ethical
issues such as homosexuality from oppressive social norms and legislation. However, it’s
teleological and relative nature might be taken too far and could justify acts which lack intrinsic
moral value such as many casual relationships, extramarital sex and in extreme cases
gangrape. Despite this, Mill’s rule utilitarianism prevents these from occurring and therefore
prevents the need for other ethical approaches to be used”
Utilitarianism is a modern and progressive system which is applicable to 21st century society.
Bentham’s Utilitarianism focuses on the pleasure of the majority and therefore acts such
as gang rape would be moral under the system.
John Stuart Mill’s non-harm principle postulates that there is no need to intervene in anyone’s
life unless to prevent people being harmed. If people involved in sexual behaviour have given
consent and no one is being harmed, then no further rules are needed. This solves the
majoritarian issues of act utilitarianism.
Homosexuality
Bentham himself advocated for the decriminalisation of homosexuality. He argued that it caused
extreme psychological pain having to hide your sexuality, whilst the discomfort greater society
felt about homosexuality was minimal in comparison. Furthermore, homosexual sex is an act
that leads to great pleasure and happiness - and would thus pass the hedonic calculus. It was a
Utilitarian argument at the heart of the 1957 Wolfenden Report which first recommended the
legalisation of homosexuality.
However, it all depends on the society you live in and is subject to ‘tyranny of the
majority’. Utilitarianism does not correct bigoted and outdated societal views but
reinforces them. In a society where the majority are extremely homophobic and feel
immense pain at homosexual acts occurring, then Utilitarianism would suggest it is
immoral. The lack of principles mean these issues are subject to the whims of the
masses. In many middle-Eastern countries such as Sudan, the UAE and Iran
homosexual sex is punishable by death as the law is based on the religious views of the
masses. Utilitarianism would uphold such laws despite going against human rights and
promoting violence. John Rawls: we should judge a society by the way it treats its
minorities.
, Utilitarianism is extremely subjective. You could see the legalization of homosexuality as
leading to a positive, more modern and accepting society or the negative erosion of
traditional social family values.
Pre-marital sex
Utilitarians would ordinarily have no issue with premarital sex as it can be seen as causing
pleasure which the hedonic calculus deems morally valuable. This is particularly true now that
better access to contraception prevents some of the negative consequences of sex, such as
unwanted pregnancies and STIs.
Such a viewpoint with a focus on pleasure would encourage casual relationships and
one-night stands, cheapening the nature of sex.
Extra-marital sex
Utilitarianism could be deemed to uphold the importance of marriage because of the positive
impacts it has on society. It can be seen to provide the best circumstances for a child to grow up
in. According to reports, children with married parents are 75% more likely to succeed and
participate well in school.
However, for Utilitarians, all that matters is outcome. Therefore, extra-marital sex should be
judged on a case-to-case basis and would be completely moral and encouraged as long as your
spouse does not find out. In this case, you and the other person enjoy pleasurable sex and no
pain is created.
However, as Vardy said, we are not good at predicting outcomes. Extra-marital sex is
often found out and can cause lots of pain for partners and children when this happens.
There can also be other unforeseen consequences such as children being born outside
of wedlock which highlights the risks and fundamental flaw of teleological theories. Some
rule utilitarians may argue therefore that the non-harm principle would fully oppose extra-
marital sex as affairs typically cause more harm than good.
It is irrational to suggest that the morality of extra-marital sex is dependent entirely on
whether the spouse subsequently finds out. Consequences outside of our control dictate
right and wrong.
Kantian Ethics
Arguably emotions and passions are at the heart of these issues and an ethical system based
purely on logic and rationality seems unhelpful.
Homosexuality
Kant himself opposed homosexuality and saw it is a degradation of human nature based purely
on desire, which meant you could not treat the other person as an end.
In addition it is wrong as it fails the universalisation of maxims formulation. We could not have a
successful, functioning society if everyone had homosexual sex.
Bisexuality could be universalised.
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