Content and Exam Tips for OCR A Level Religious Studies
1. Normative Ethical Theories: Religious Approaches
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Aquinas
Content
Aquinas’ natural law, including:
telos
the four tiers of law
the precepts
Key Knowledge
origins of the significant concept of telos in Aristotle and its religious development in the writing of Aquinas
what they are and how they are related:
Eternal Law: the principles by which God made and controls the universe and which are only fully known to God
Divine Law: the law of God revealed in the Bible, particularly in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount
Natural Law: the moral law of God within human nature that is discoverable through the use of reason
Human Law: the laws of nations
what they are and how they are related
the key precept (do good, avoid evil)
five primary precepts (preservation of life, ordering of society, worship of God, education of children, reproduction)
secondary precepts
Joseph Fletcher
Content
Fletcher’s situation ethics, including:
agape
the six propositions
the four working principles
conscience
Key Knowledge
origins of agape in the New Testament and its religious development in the writing of Fletcher
what they are and how they give rise to the theory of situation ethics and its approach to moral decision-making:
Love is the only thing that is intrinsically good
Love is the ruling norm in ethical decision making and replaces all laws
Love and justice are the same thing–justice is love that is distributed
Love wills the neighbour’s good regardless of whether the neighbour is liked or not
Love is the goal or end of the act and that justifies any means to achieve that goal
Love decides on each situation as it arises without a set of laws to guide it
what they are and how they are intended to be applied:
pragmatism: it is based on experience rather than on theory
relativism: it is based on making the absolute laws of Christian ethics relative
positivism: it begins with belief in the reality and importance of love
personalism: persons, not laws or anything else, are at the centre of situation ethics
what conscience is and what it is not according to Fletcher, i.e. a verb not a noun; a term that describes attempts to make decisions creatively