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EnglandReligious Studies

Philosophy of Religion (Component 01)

10 dot points across 10 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do Plato's Theory of Forms and Aristotle's four causes and Prime Mover shape the way philosophers reason about God and reality?

Component 01 Ancient philosophical influences: Plato (the Forms, the Form of the Good, the analogy of the cave) and Aristotle (the four causes and the Prime Mover), and the contrast between Plato's rationalism and Aristotle's empiricism.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 01 guide to ancient philosophical influences. Covers Plato's Theory of Forms, the Form of the Good and the analogy of the cave, Aristotle's four causes and the Prime Mover, and the contrast between Platonic rationalism and Aristotelian empiricism that the exam asks you to evaluate.
17 min answer →

Does the existence of a changing, contingent universe require a first cause or necessary being beyond itself, or can the universe be a brute fact?

Component 01 Arguments from observation: the cosmological argument of Aquinas (the first three Ways, from motion, causation and contingency) and the Kalam argument, together with the criticisms of Hume and Russell.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 01 guide to the cosmological argument. Covers Aquinas's first three Ways (motion, causation, contingency), the Kalam argument from a beginning in time, and the criticisms of Hume (the causal leap) and Russell (the universe as a brute fact and the fallacy of composition), with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Can the existence of God be proved from the definition of God alone, by reason without appeal to the world?

Component 01 Arguments from reason: the ontological argument of Anselm (Proslogion II and III), with Descartes's and Malcolm's developments, together with the criticisms of Gaunilo (the perfect island) and Kant (existence is not a predicate).
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 01 guide to the ontological argument. Covers Anselm's two forms (Proslogion II and III), Descartes's supremely perfect being, Malcolm's necessary existence, and the criticisms of Gaunilo (the perfect island) and Kant (existence is not a predicate), with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Can religious experiences such as mystical and conversion experiences count as evidence for the existence of God, or are they better explained psychologically and physiologically?

Component 01 The nature and impact of religious experience: mystical experience (William James), conversion and corporate experience, the value of experience, and challenges from physiology, psychology (Freud) and the diversity of experiences.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 01 guide to religious experience. Covers William James's four marks of mystical experience and his pragmatic approach, conversion and corporate experiences, Swinburne's principles of credulity and testimony, and challenges from physiology, Freud and the diversity of experiences, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

If God is beyond human comprehension, how can human language describe God: only by negation, by analogy, or through symbol?

Component 01 Issues in religious language (negative, analogical and symbolic): the apophatic via negativa, Aquinas's analogy of attribution and proportion, and Tillich's account of religious language as symbol.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 01 guide to negative, analogical and symbolic religious language. Covers the apophatic via negativa, Aquinas's analogy of attribution and analogy of proportion as a middle way between univocal and equivocal language, and Tillich's symbols that participate in what they point to, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Is religious language meaningful, and if it cannot be verified or falsified, is it still saying something or only expressing an attitude or a way of life?

Component 01 Issues in religious language (twentieth-century perspectives): the verification principle (Ayer), the falsification debate (Flew, Hare and Mitchell) and Wittgenstein's language games.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 01 guide to twentieth-century perspectives on religious language. Covers Ayer's verification principle, the falsification debate between Flew, Hare and Mitchell, and Wittgenstein's language games, weighing whether God-talk is meaningful, cognitive or non-cognitive, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Are mind and body two distinct substances, as Plato and Descartes hold, or is the mind nothing over and above the physical body, as materialists argue?

Component 01 Soul, mind and body: Plato's dualism and the immortal soul, Aristotle's soul as the form of the body, Descartes's substance dualism, and the materialist challenge (including Dawkins), with implications for life after death.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 01 guide to the soul, mind and body. Covers Plato's dualism and immortal soul, Aristotle's soul as the form of the body, Descartes's substance dualism and the interaction problem, and the materialist challenge from Dawkins, with the implications for life after death the exam asks you to evaluate.
17 min answer →

Does the order, regularity and apparent purpose of the universe show that it was designed by God, or can it be explained without a designer?

Component 01 Arguments from observation: the teleological (design) argument of Aquinas (the Fifth Way) and Paley (the watch analogy), together with Hume's criticisms and the challenge of Darwinian evolution.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 01 guide to the teleological (design) argument. Covers Aquinas's Fifth Way (design qua regularity), Paley's watch analogy (design qua purpose), Hume's criticisms of the analogy and the inference to one perfect designer, and the Darwinian challenge, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Are the divine attributes of omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevolence and eternity coherent, and can God's foreknowledge be reconciled with human free will?

Component 01 The nature of God: the attributes of omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevolence and eternity, the dilemma of foreknowledge and free will, and the contrast between God as timeless (Boethius, Aquinas) and everlasting (Swinburne).
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 01 guide to the nature of God. Covers omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevolence and eternity, the coherence problems each raises, the dilemma of foreknowledge and free will, and the contrast between a timeless God (Boethius, Aquinas) and an everlasting God (Swinburne), with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Is the existence of evil and suffering compatible with an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God, and do the Augustinian and Irenaean theodicies succeed?

Component 01 The problem of evil: the logical and evidential problems (Mackie, Rowe), the Augustinian theodicy (privation, the Fall, free will) and the Irenaean (Hick's soul-making) theodicy, with their strengths and weaknesses.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 01 guide to the problem of evil. Covers the logical problem (Mackie's inconsistent triad), the evidential problem (Rowe), the Augustinian theodicy (privation of good, the Fall, free will) and the Irenaean soul-making theodicy (Hick), with the strengths, weaknesses and AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
17 min answer →