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COMPLETE ALL A LEVEL ETHICS ESSAYS
- Module
- Unit 3 - Religion and Ethics
- Institution
- WJEC
ALL A01 AND A02 ETHICS ESSAYS FOR EDUQAS (WJEC) RELIGIOUS STUDIES A LEVEL
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A01 Ethics Come up twice- 1D,1F,2A,2C,3C,3D,4B,4D
2016 Specimen Come up 3 times
Section A - 4A
- 2E,2C Never come up
Section B - 2B,3F,4C,4F
- 1D,3B,4A
- All themes do seem to come up
2018 - However 20 markers don’t have to be from
Section A the same subtheme, often 30 markers
- 4B,4E mixed as well
Section B - 30 markers often worded weirdly
- 1F,2C,3E - Situation ethics and Determinism are most
common
2019 - Irrelevant what has and hasn’t come up as
Section A all themes are to connected (e.g. 30 marker
- 1A,1B from theme 3a will include knowledge from
Section B 3b,3c)
- 2F,3C,4D - Implication question for utilitarianism and
libertarianism is yet to be tested
2020
Section A
- 3A,3D
Section B
- 4A, 1C,2A
2021
Section A
- 4A,4D
Section B
- 3C, 1D,2D
2022
Section A
- 1F,1E
Section B
- 2A,3D,4B
,Theme 1A
Explain the divine command theory with reference to Adam’s modified DCT
P1
- God is the origin and source of all morality
- Normative and meta-ethical
- Objective – what god says is good is good
- ‘piety is that which is dear to the gods’
P2
- Challenges to the divine command theory include the arbitrariness problem which
has been attempted to be solved
P3
- Adams states that it is logically possible for god to one day command evil, however it
is unthinkable due to his nature as omnibenevolent
- One who commands cruelty would not be a loving god and we wouldn’t have to
follow DCT – however God is loving and would never do this
- ‘by saying x is wrong we mean x is against the commands of a loving god’ – Adams
Explain the divine command theory
P1
- God is the origin and regulator of morality
- DCT is an approach called theological voluntarism
- We have free will and still follow god as we will be judged
P2
- DCT states that what god commands is = good (meta -ethical)
- We ought to obey anything that God commands (Normative)
P3
- Gods character of omnipotent makes sense
- Even atheists would agree that an omnipotent, perfect beings laws should be
followed
- Therefore his laws are not subjective they are objective
Examine the challenges to the Divine Command theory
P1
- The Euthyphro dilemma asks by Plato: “I wish to understand weather the holy is
believed by the gods because it is holy, or holy because it is loved by the Gods’
- First horn shows – Good is commanded by god because it is good
- This leaves something that god is living up to – good is seen as a separate entity to
god
P2
- Second problem with the Euthyphro dilemma is the arbitrariness problem
- Good is commanded by god therefore it is good – this is a problem as god could
command anything and we would have to call it good
P3
- The pluralism objection
- There are many contrasting views about what is good between religions
- There is no objective way of knowing which is correct so religious believers must use
reasoning to decide- this is very similar to what non religious people do
,Theme 1B
Explain Virtue Theory with reference to Aristotle and Jesus
P1
- Aristotle believes that eudemonia is the goal for life – however this does not happen
overnight – rather it is achieved by the journey of virtuous living over a lifetime
- ‘one day, or a brief space of time cannot make a man blessed and happy’
- Eudemonia can be achieved through fulfilling ones function – only adult humans can
experience eudemonia
- The 5 intellectual virtues are achieved through education and can help a person
come to the understanding of truth – phronesis is the use of practical wisdom to
know how to be virtuous in any situation
P2
- Twelve moral virtues – peoples qualities on a scale
- The ideal is the central golden mean – (rashness, courage, cowardice) (ambition,
proper ambition, un-ambitiousness)
- ‘it is easy to miss the target’ – Aristotle – not easy to always be in the golden mean
- The incontinent – try to be in the mean but easily give into temptations
- The continent – know the path they should follow and is virtuous
P3
- Jesus teachings connote that he also believed that virtue is an important part of life
- Jesus supports love and the law however in his writings it seems as If he moved away
from purely legal ideology to focus on personal qualities rather than actions
- The sermon of the mount include the beatitudes which are recounts of personal
characteristics that receive gods blessing – ‘blessed are the merciful, peacemakers
etc’
Outline the challenges to virtue theory
P1
- Virtues are not a guide to practical moral behaviour
- There is no rulebook – someone who is not already virtuous wont know how to be
virtuous
- Aristotle believed that children will become virtuous in the future if they have a good
upbringing but not all children have this
- Virtue theory assumes that people know what is moral – and that what is virtuous is
also moral – which it isn’t always
P2
- Cultural relativism – not all cultures believe the same
- In some cultures it is virtuous to forever mourn a person that has passed, in others it
is to celebrate their life
P3
- Virtuous acts can be used for immoral acts as virtue theory is not concerns with the
consequences of actions
- Virtues can conflict
- Being honest in every situation may not be the most moral
- It may take courage for example to do a bad act such as kill someone
, Theme 1C
Explain ethical egoism with reference to max Stirner
P1
- Ethical egoism is a normative theory – each person should act in their own self
interest
- We have no moral obligation to help others – Rand believes that if we are altruistic
(care for others) we may put our lives at risk and treat our life as a disposable
commodity
- However it is not the same as hedonism (pleasure as the highest good) – this is
because we should concentrate on long term pleasures rather than short term
interests
P2
- Focusing on long term interests may lead to us helping others – for example
murdering someone would not be in our interest as we would go to prison
- We may help someone to get something in return
- Physiological egoism states that we naturally act in our own self interest – even if we
believe we are doing something to help others
P3
- Max Stirner believed that religious promises were ‘spooks’ – ‘you have become
slaves to righteousness’ – religious believers think that they are getting freedom but
end up satisfying something other than themselves – ‘ a religious person will utter
only narrow stuff’
- Stirner also believed that people can become slaves to other things (the desire to get
rich) – even if you think you are acting in you own self interest, you are being rules
by something else – he calls this Eigenheit
- A union of egoist – a group of people with no obligation to each other who all act in
their self interest
Outline the challenges to ethical egoism
P1
- Destruction of community ethos – there will be no sense of community, no spirit, no
trust etc
- We care about people close to us and ethical egoism states that we must always act
in our interest and not help them
P2
- Social injustices – covid pandemic everyone stockpiling food
- Could lie, steal to benefit oneself
P3
- If a union of egoists gets large enough it may lead to discrimination
- Large groups could believe that minorities or women are inferior and they may
develop into hate etc
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