When deciding what is right, should we follow rules, calculate consequences or cultivate good character?
The three main normative ethical theories: natural moral law (Aquinas), situation ethics (Fletcher) and virtue ethics (Aristotle), including their key principles and applications.
An AQA A-Level Religious Studies answer to the three normative ethical theories, covering Aquinas's natural moral law, Fletcher's situation ethics and Aristotle's virtue ethics, with their key principles, strengths and weaknesses.
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What this dot point is asking
AQA wants you to explain three normative ethical theories: Aquinas's natural moral law, Fletcher's situation ethics and Aristotle's virtue ethics, giving each theory's key principles and assessing their strengths and weaknesses.
Natural moral law (Aquinas)
Acts are judged by whether they pursue real goods (those that genuinely fulfil our God-given nature) rather than apparent goods (things that merely seem good, where reason has been led astray by desire). The doctrine of double effect allows a bad side effect if the act itself is good, the bad effect is foreseen but not intended, and the good outweighs the bad (the classic example is giving a dying patient pain relief that shortens life). Natural law is therefore deontological and absolutist: certain acts are intrinsically right or wrong regardless of consequences. Its strengths are clarity, universality and a rational basis open to believers and non-believers alike; its weaknesses are its dependence on a contested teleological view of human nature, the naturalistic worry about deriving "ought" from "is", and its inflexibility in hard cases.
Situation ethics (Fletcher)
It works through four working principles (pragmatism, the act must work; relativism, no fixed rules; positivism, love is freely chosen as the starting point; personalism, people come before rules) and six fundamental principles (for example, "love is the only thing that is intrinsically good" and "the end justifies the means, nothing else"). Fletcher rejects both rigid legalism (slavishly following rules) and lawless antinomianism (no principles at all) in favour of acting out of agape in each situation. It is teleological and relativist: the right act is the one with the most loving outcome. Strengths are its flexibility, compassion and grounding in the Christian command to love; weaknesses are its vagueness (what love requires is unclear), its reliance on predicting outcomes, and the danger that "the loving thing" can be used to justify almost anything.
Virtue ethics (Aristotle)
Virtue ethics is agent-centred: it asks "what kind of person should I be?" rather than "what rule applies?" or "what are the consequences?". Aristotle distinguishes intellectual virtues (developed by teaching) from moral virtues (developed by habit), and holds that we become just by doing just acts. Strengths are its realism about moral development, its focus on the whole person and motivation, and its avoidance of rigid rules; weaknesses are that it gives little concrete guidance in a dilemma (it does not directly tell you what to do), the golden mean is hard to locate, and it may rest on a culturally specific view of which traits count as virtues.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 20175 marksExplain Aquinas's theory of natural moral law, including the primary precepts.Show worked answer →
A 5-mark Paper 2 (Ethics) AO1 question. Markers want the structure of the theory and the five primary precepts.
Aquinas holds that there is a rational, God-given order in human nature, and that reason can discern the good we are naturally inclined to pursue. The supreme principle is "do good and avoid evil", from which reason derives five primary precepts that flow from human nature: preserve life, reproduce, educate the young, live in an ordered society, and worship God. Secondary precepts are reasoned applications of these (for example, "do not murder" from preserving life). Acts are judged by whether they pursue real goods rather than apparent goods, and the doctrine of double effect permits a bad side effect if the act itself is good and the bad effect is unintended. Strong answers note natural law is deontological and absolutist.
AQA 202020 marks'Situation ethics gives better moral guidance than natural moral law.' Assess this view.Show worked answer →
A 20-mark Paper 2 essay, mainly AO2. Reward a balanced comparison reaching a justified judgement.
Set out both theories accurately: Fletcher's situation ethics (agape as the only intrinsic good, the four working and six fundamental principles, a teleological and relativist approach) and Aquinas's natural moral law (precepts, real and apparent goods, double effect, deontological and absolutist). Evaluate "better guidance". For situation ethics: it is flexible, compassionate and personal, fitting hard cases natural law handles rigidly. Against: it is vague (what does love require here?), can justify almost anything, and relies on uncertain predictions. For natural law: it gives clear, universal rules and protects against abuse; against: it can be inflexible and rests on a contested view of human nature and purpose. Judge, for example, that situation ethics suits complex modern dilemmas while natural law gives firmer protection, so "better" depends on the case. Top-band work tests both on a worked dilemma.
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Sources & how we know this
- AQA A-level Religious Studies (7062) specification — AQA (2016)