← Religious Studies syllabus

EnglandReligious Studies

Religion and Ethics (Component 02)

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

What do corporate social responsibility, globalisation and whistleblowing demand of business, and how do Friedman's shareholder view and the ethical theories answer?

Component 02 Applied ethics (business ethics): corporate social responsibility, globalisation and whistleblowing, Friedman's shareholder view, and the application of Kantian ethics and utilitarianism to business.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to business ethics. Covers corporate social responsibility, globalisation and whistleblowing, Friedman's view that the social responsibility of business is to increase profits, the stakeholder alternative, and how Kantian ethics and utilitarianism apply to business, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Is conscience the voice of reason directing us to the good (Aquinas), the internalised voice of authority (Freud), or something else?

Component 02 Conscience: Aquinas's theological account (ratio, synderesis, conscientia) and Freud's psychological account (the super-ego and guilt), with the contrast between conscience as reason and conscience as a construct.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to conscience. Covers Aquinas's account of conscience as reason (ratio, synderesis, conscientia, vincible and invincible ignorance) and Freud's account of conscience as the super-ego producing guilt, with the contrast and the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

How do the sanctity of life and quality of life principles, and the ethical theories, apply to voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia?

Component 02 Applied ethics (euthanasia): the sanctity of life and quality of life principles, voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia, and the application of natural law and situation ethics to end-of-life decisions.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to euthanasia. Covers the sanctity of life and quality of life principles, voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia, the active/passive distinction, and how natural law, situation ethics and utilitarianism apply to end-of-life decisions, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

If our actions are determined by prior causes or by God, can we be free and morally responsible, and is praise, blame and punishment ever justified?

Component 02 Free will and moral responsibility: hard determinism, libertarianism and compatibilism (soft determinism), the influence of religious ideas of predestination, and the implications for moral responsibility, praise, blame and punishment.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to free will and moral responsibility. Covers hard determinism, libertarianism and compatibilism (soft determinism), the influence of religious predestination, and the consequences for moral responsibility, praise, blame and punishment, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Does Kant's categorical imperative, grounded in duty and the good will, give a sound and rational basis for morality, or is its rigid universalism a weakness?

Component 02 Kantian ethics: the good will and duty, the categorical imperative and its three formulations (universal law, ends in themselves, kingdom of ends), and the summum bonum, with strengths and weaknesses.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to Kantian ethics. Covers the good will and acting from duty, the categorical imperative and its three formulations (universal law, ends in themselves, the kingdom of ends), and the summum bonum with the postulates of freedom, immortality and God, plus the strengths, weaknesses and AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

What do moral words like 'good' mean: do they describe natural facts, point to a non-natural property known by intuition, or merely express our feelings?

Component 02 Meta-ethics: ethical naturalism, intuitionism (Moore and the naturalistic fallacy) and emotivism (Ayer and Stevenson), and the cognitive and non-cognitive divide.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to meta-ethics. Covers ethical naturalism, Moore's intuitionism and the naturalistic fallacy and open-question argument, and the emotivism of Ayer and Stevenson, with the cognitive and non-cognitive divide and the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Does Aquinas's natural law, with its primary precepts and doctrine of double effect, provide a reliable guide to moral action, or is it too rigid and dependent on a fixed human nature?

Component 02 Natural law: Aquinas's four tiers of law, the primary and secondary precepts, real and apparent goods, and the doctrine of double effect, with strengths and weaknesses as an ethical theory.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to natural law. Covers Aquinas's four tiers of law, the five primary precepts and the secondary precepts derived from them, real and apparent goods, and the doctrine of double effect, with the strengths and weaknesses and the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

How do natural law, situation ethics, Kantian ethics and utilitarianism approach premarital and extramarital sex and homosexuality, and how have changing religious beliefs shaped the debate?

Component 02 Applied ethics (sexual ethics): premarital and extramarital sex and homosexuality, the application of natural law, situation ethics, Kantian ethics and utilitarianism, and the influence of developments in religious belief.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to sexual ethics. Covers premarital and extramarital sex and homosexuality, how natural law, situation ethics, Kantian ethics and utilitarianism apply, and the influence of developments in religious belief, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

Is Fletcher's situation ethics, with agape as the only absolute, a liberating and loving approach to morality, or is it too subjective and open to abuse?

Component 02 Situation ethics: Fletcher's agape, the four working principles (pragmatism, relativism, positivism, personalism) and the six fundamental principles, with strengths and weaknesses as an ethical theory.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to situation ethics. Covers Fletcher's principle of agape, the four working principles (pragmatism, relativism, positivism, personalism) and the six fundamental principles, with the strengths, weaknesses and AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
16 min answer →

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

Component 02 Utilitarianism: Bentham's hedonic calculus, Mill's higher and lower pleasures and harm principle, and the contrast between act and rule utilitarianism, with strengths and weaknesses.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to utilitarianism. Covers Bentham's principle of utility and hedonic calculus, Mill's qualitative distinction between higher and lower pleasures, the contrast between act and rule utilitarianism, and the strengths and weaknesses (calculation, the tyranny of the majority, justice) the exam asks you to evaluate.
16 min answer →