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AS Ethics Revision How to do applied ethics

AS Ethics Revision How to do applied ethics. It’s really quite simple once you get your head around it … As you do more revision, you will start to make links and it will become easier to grasp the bigger picture, and therefore, to do applied ethics!!. Example 1.

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AS Ethics Revision How to do applied ethics

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  1. AS Ethics RevisionHow to do applied ethics It’s really quite simple once you get your head around it … As you do more revision, you will start to make links and it will become easier to grasp the bigger picture, and therefore, to do applied ethics!!

  2. Example 1 • Explain how a follower of Natural Law might approach the issue of abortion (25 marks) • You would need to explain the theory of Natural Law associated with Aquinas, influenced by Aristotle. Key points to include: • Natural Law is absolutist and deontological, depending on the idea that God created things to fulfil a purpose • Human reason should be used to work out how to act morally. • This should then be applied to the question of abortion by explaining how in Natural Law the preservation of the innocent is a primary precept and that the foetus deserves the same status as a born human • The concept of primary and secondary precepts • The doctrine of double effect could also be applied to abortion, explaining how Natural Law would allow this.

  3. Example 2 • Assess the extent to which Utilitarianism is a useful method of making decisions about abortion (10 marks) • Candidates may assess the usefulness of Bentham’s approach and contrast it with that of Mill, or they may contrast a Utilitarian approach to abortion with that of another ethical theory. • Good responses are likely to consider issues relating to the rights of the mother and the foetus. • Better responses might consider the long term consequences of an abortion, in discussing the balance of pleasure and pain.

  4. Example 3 • Explain how religious ethics might be applied to issues of war and peace (25 marks) • Some candidates may simply explain Just War theory, such answers are unlikely to achieve the highest levels. Better answers are likely to use examples to illustrate the application of Just War theory. • Other responses may give an account of the varieties of approaches to pacifism: absolute, relative, contingent etc, and apply this to a religious framework. • Some candidates might refer to both Just war and pacifism as contrasting approaches. • Good responses from a Christian perspective might explain Christian realism. The approaches to issues of war can be explained from the point of view of any world religion.

  5. Example 4 • To what extent is Kant’s ethical theory a good approach to human embryo research? (10 marks) • Candidates may explore the issue of how easy or difficult it would be to universalise embryo research in a way that would encompass all the different reasons for carrying it out. • Candidates may consider the embryo is being used as a means to an end, and reject embryo research, or they may question whether an embryo is a human being, and so look to the universal benefits of embryo research in curing diseases. • Candidates may refer to inflexibility and better answers may refer to conflict of principles, and the fact that Kant’s stress on acting out of duty alone means that there is no room for compassion and all consequences are ignored whatever they may be.

  6. Plan an essay • Explain how religious ethics might be applied to issues of war and peace. (25) • Explain why a follower of religious ethics might object to euthanasia.  (25) • Explain a Utilitarian approach to war. (25) • Explain how a follower of Natural Law might respond to issues raised by voluntary euthanasia (25) • ‘Natural Law is not the best approach to euthanasia’. Discuss (10) • To what extent is Kant’s ethical theory a good approach to human embryo research? (10) • Assess the extent to which Utilitarianism is a useful method of making decisions about abortion. (10)

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