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Religion and Ethics (Units 2 and 4)

9 dot points across 9 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

What is conscience, and is it the voice of God, of reason, or of upbringing?

Conscience: Aquinas' rational conscience (synderesis and conscientia), Freud's psychological conscience (the super-ego), and the implications for moral decision-making.
A WJEC A-Level Religious Studies study of conscience: Aquinas' rational account (synderesis and conscientia, conscience as reason making right decisions), Freud's psychological account (conscience as the super-ego formed by authority), and what each means for moral decision-making.
13 min answer →

What are the foundations of ethical thought, and how do divine command theory, virtue theory and egoism ground morality?

Ethical thought: divine command theory (and the Euthyphro dilemma), virtue theory (Aristotle), and ethical egoism, with their strengths and weaknesses.
A WJEC A-Level Religious Studies study of foundational ethical thought: divine command theory and the Euthyphro dilemma, Aristotelian virtue theory (the golden mean, eudaimonia), and ethical egoism, with the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
14 min answer →

Are we free and morally responsible, or are our actions determined, and how does predestination affect this?

Free will and moral responsibility: hard determinism, libertarianism and compatibilism (soft determinism), religious determinism and predestination (the Calvinist view), and the implications for moral responsibility.
A WJEC A-Level Religious Studies study of free will and moral responsibility: hard determinism, libertarianism and compatibilism (soft determinism), religious determinism and the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, and what they mean for moral responsibility.
14 min answer →

How does Kant ground morality in duty and reason rather than consequences?

Kantian ethics: duty and the good will, the categorical and hypothetical imperatives, the formulations (universal law, ends in themselves, kingdom of ends), and the postulates.
A WJEC A-Level Religious Studies study of Kantian ethics: duty and the good will, the difference between hypothetical and categorical imperatives, the three formulations of the categorical imperative, and the three postulates of practical reason.
14 min answer →

What do moral words like 'good' actually mean, and are moral statements true or just expressions of feeling?

Meta-ethics: ethical naturalism, intuitionism (Moore's naturalistic fallacy), and emotivism (Ayer, Stevenson), with their strengths and weaknesses.
A WJEC A-Level Religious Studies study of meta-ethics: ethical naturalism, intuitionism (G. E. Moore, the naturalistic fallacy and the open-question argument), and emotivism (Ayer and Stevenson), with the strengths and weaknesses of each theory of moral language.
14 min answer →

How does Aquinas' Natural Moral Law work as a deontological approach to ethics?

Natural Moral Law: Aquinas' theory, the four tiers of law, the primary and secondary precepts, real and apparent goods, and the doctrine of double effect.
A WJEC A-Level Religious Studies study of Natural Moral Law: Aquinas' deontological theory, the four tiers of law, the primary and secondary precepts, real and apparent goods, interior and exterior acts, and the doctrine of double effect.
14 min answer →

How do ethical theories and religious teaching approach issues of sexual ethics?

Applied ethics - sexual ethics: premarital and extramarital sex, homosexuality and contraception, and how Natural Law, Situation Ethics, Kantian ethics and utilitarianism apply to them.
A WJEC A-Level Religious Studies study of applied sexual ethics: premarital and extramarital sex, homosexuality and contraception, and how Natural Law, Situation Ethics, Kantian ethics and utilitarianism, alongside religious teaching, apply to these issues.
14 min answer →

How does Fletcher's Situation Ethics use love as the single guide to moral action?

Situation Ethics: Fletcher's theory, agape as the only intrinsic good, the four working principles and the six fundamental principles, with strengths and weaknesses.
A WJEC A-Level Religious Studies study of Situation Ethics: Joseph Fletcher's teleological theory, agape as the only intrinsic good, the four working principles (pragmatism, relativism, positivism, personalism) and the six fundamental principles, with strengths and weaknesses.
13 min answer →

How does utilitarianism judge actions by their consequences for happiness, and does it work?

Utilitarianism: Bentham's act utilitarianism and the hedonic calculus, Mill's qualitative and rule utilitarianism, and the strengths and weaknesses of the theory.
A WJEC A-Level Religious Studies study of utilitarianism: Bentham's act utilitarianism and the hedonic calculus, Mill's higher and lower pleasures and rule utilitarianism, and the strengths and weaknesses of judging actions by their consequences for happiness.
14 min answer →