1. Utilitarianism
Key criticisms of the argument relating to: the possibility of infinite regress and the universe as a ‘brute fact’; the fallacy of composition; the identity of the necessary being as God and drawing a conclusion that goes beyond the evidence
2. Religious experience
- The variety of religious experience: credit will be given for reference to any relevant form of religious experience, but candidates are expected to be familiar with the main characteristics of visions, conversion and mystical experiences
- The argument from religious experience for the existence of God
- The challenges to religious experience from philosophy and science
3. Psychology and religion
Freud
Religion as a collective neurosis; as wish fulfi lment and a reaction against helplessness; and as a response to the Oedipus complex and repressed guilt
Jung
Religion as an expression of the collective unconscious; the ‘god within’; the theory of archetypes: the shadow, the animus, anima and the Self and the quest for integration
4. Atheism and postmodernism
- The rise of atheism and the death of God: reasons for the rise of atheism with reference to science, empiricism, evil, the rebellion against moral absolutes and awareness of other faiths; meaning of the slogan ‘God is dead’
- The nature of atheism: positive and negative atheism; distinction from agnosticism
- Religious responses to atheism, including a postmodernist view of religion. Key ideas in postmodernism: religions as cultural constructs; no right or wrong religions; personal spiritual search, the religious supermarket and the pick
Back to top
Unit 3 – Religion and Ethics
1. Libertarianism, free will and determinism
- Free will: question of genetics and environment; free will curtailed by volition; contracting into societies; conflict of free wills
- Libertarianism: the personality and the moral self; the conscience; the causally undetermined choice
- Determinism: the principle of causality; ‘hard’ determinism and ‘soft’ determinism; internal and external causation
- A religious perspective on libertarianism and determinism
2. Virtue Ethics
- Aristotle’s view: happiness (eudaimonia), moral and intellectual virtues, cardinal virtues and capital vices
- Modern Virtue Ethics: MacIntyre and Foot
- The application of Virtue Ethics to one issue of the candidate’s choice apart from issues in science and technology
3. Religious views on sexual behaviour and human relationships
- Scripture-based ideas which are rooted in text
- Institutional-based ideas which have been developed by a particular religious institution
- Individual-based ideas which will have been developed from individual conscience or interpretation of Scripture/institutionalbased ideas
- Sexual behaviour outside marriage, including pleasure and procreation
- Views on marriage as a sacred event or secular monogamy, polygamy, polyandry, adultery
- Human relationships, respect and responsibility for others, the abuse of power
- Concept of love (different styles: brotherly, physical, Christian agapé), family and children
4. Science and technology
- Experimentation (animals and humans) and the role of ethics in decision-making
- Inventions and the role of ethics in the control of their use (e.g. nuclear inventions)
- Scientific and technological advances and decisions about who benefits
- Human rights and the confl ict with the use of technology, e.g. surveillance, data storage, cyber crime
- A religious perspective on these issues in science and technology
Back to top
Unit 4 – Life, Death and Beyond
- Religious and secular perspectives on the nature and value of human life
- Religious Nature: e.g. created by God, not perfect, redeemable, dualistic; and/or non-theistic perspectives
- Religious Value: e.g. in the image of God, life is a gift from God, highest element in creation; and/or non-theistic perspectives
- Secular Nature: another animal, one aspect of evolution, mortal
- Secular Value: responsible for preservation of environment, each human is of equal value
- Eschatological and apocalyptic, religious and secular teaching and attitudes, can all be treated together as teaching and attitudes towards the future, especially the end. Within a religious context there are examples of teaching in scriptures; apocalyptic is often associated with scripture in some hidden or coded form. Secular interests in ‘the end of the world’ or time signs and indications of when this might be
- Religious and secular ideas about the importance of the present life and life after death
- Religious views often focused around judgement, either imposed or self-imposed with idea that life on earth is a stage in human existence. Secular view that there is only one life and that is on earth, but this may not lead to egotistical view; view that life after death does not give life on earth a purpose
- Beliefs about death and beyond, both religious and non-religious.
- Death sometimes seen as the end; there is nothing beyond; sometimes seen as the end of the present being but with elements moving beyond death, a stage in the existence of a human – a rite of passage
- Beyond, a spiritual world, a world which is in suspension awaiting something, a parallel existence either bodily or not, an existence with God; a transition back to another existence; continuity of personal identity
Back to top