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EnglandReligious Studies

Teleological Ethics and Free Will (Component 3)

6 dot points across 6 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do natural law, proportionalism, situation ethics and utilitarianism each handle abortion and euthanasia, and can any ethical theory be reliably applied to issues of life and death?

Component 3 the application of ethical theories to issues of human life and death: abortion and euthanasia under natural law, proportionalism, situation ethics and utilitarianism, and whether ethical theories can be applied, with strengths and weaknesses.
An Eduqas Component 3 (Religion and Ethics) guide to the application of ethical theories to issues of human life and death. Covers how natural law, proportionalism, situation ethics and utilitarianism each handle abortion and voluntary euthanasia (sanctity versus quality of life), and whether ethical theories can be reliably applied, with the evaluation the exam rewards.
17 min answer →

If our actions are fully determined by prior causes, genetics or conditioning, can we be morally responsible, and is praise, blame and punishment then unjust?

Component 3 determinism: hard determinism, philosophical determinism (Locke), scientific determinism and psychological behaviourism (Skinner), and the implications for moral responsibility, with strengths and weaknesses.
An Eduqas Component 3 (Religion and Ethics) guide to determinism. Covers hard determinism, philosophical determinism (Locke's locked-room thought experiment), scientific determinism (universal causation), and psychological behaviourism (Skinner's conditioning), and the implications for moral responsibility, praise, blame and punishment, with the evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Are we genuinely free, as libertarianism claims, or does the truth lie with compatibilism, which holds that freedom and determinism can both be true?

Component 3 libertarianism and the compatibility of determinism and free will: Sartre's radical freedom, the libertarian case, and compatibilism (soft determinism), with the implications for moral responsibility and strengths and weaknesses.
An Eduqas Component 3 (Religion and Ethics) guide to libertarianism and the compatibility of determinism and free will. Covers Sartre's radical freedom and bad faith, the libertarian case for genuine free choice, compatibilism (soft determinism), and the implications for moral responsibility, with the strengths and weaknesses the exam asks you to evaluate.
16 min answer →

If God predestines who is saved, as Augustine and Calvin teach, can human beings be free and morally responsible, and is such a God just?

Component 3 religious concepts of predestination: Augustine on grace and the Fall, Calvin's double predestination, the relation to divine omniscience and human freedom, and the implications for justice and responsibility, with strengths and weaknesses.
An Eduqas Component 3 (Religion and Ethics) guide to religious concepts of predestination. Covers Augustine on original sin and grace, Calvin's double predestination and the elect, the relation to divine omniscience and human freedom, Arminian and free-will responses, and the implications for justice and responsibility, with the evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Does Fletcher's situation ethics, by making agape the one absolute, give a genuinely Christian and workable moral method, or does its rejection of rules make it dangerously subjective?

Component 3 Fletcher's situation ethics: agape as the one absolute, the four working principles and six fundamental principles, conscience as a verb, and its application to life and death, with strengths and weaknesses.
An Eduqas Component 3 (Religion and Ethics) guide to Fletcher's situation ethics. Covers agape as the sole absolute, the four working principles, the six fundamental principles, conscience as a verb, the legalism/antinomianism contrast, and its application to issues of life and death, with the strengths and weaknesses the exam asks you to evaluate.
17 min answer →

Does utilitarianism, by judging acts on the happiness they produce, give a sound moral theory, or do the calculation, the neglect of justice and the demandingness undermine it?

Component 3 utilitarianism: Bentham's act utilitarianism (principle of utility, hedonic calculus) and Mill's rule utilitarianism (higher and lower pleasures, the harm principle), with their application to life and death and their strengths and weaknesses.
An Eduqas Component 3 (Religion and Ethics) guide to utilitarianism. Covers Bentham's act utilitarianism (the principle of utility and the hedonic calculus), Mill's rule utilitarianism (higher and lower pleasures, the harm principle), the application to issues of life and death, and the strengths and weaknesses (calculation, justice, demandingness) the exam asks you to evaluate.
17 min answer →