Philosophy and Ethics
 

Award:  AS/A2 Level               Exam board  OCR                          Level      3
 

Outline of the course

Philosophy is about considering why people believe what they believe, and what leads people to make the decisions they make.  It will give you a chance to work out what you believe and why you believe it.  Ethics is about what makes an action or a person right or wrong, and why do we have concepts like “right” and “wrong”.  This will give you opportunity to discuss and consider issues that are pertinent to your life. 

Skills you will develop include:

• An appreciation of the main questions people have asked about life, reality and religion in history.
• The ability to analyse a problem and determine several solutions
• The ability to interpret and evaluate religious concepts, issues and ideas, the relevance of arguments and the views of scholars;
• The ability make strong arguments and use logic correctly
• Skills in discussion, both spoken and written

Assessment:

There is no coursework within this course.  There are 4 units which are each assessed with 90 minute examinations.  2 exams are at the end of Year 12, and 2 at the end of Year 13.

Unit	Name	Contents
G571	AS Philosophy of Religion	Ancient Greek ideas regarding religious philosophy Judaeo-Christian ideas regarding religious philosophy Traditional Arguments for the existence of God Challenges to religious belief
G572	AS Religious Ethics	Ethical Theories Applied Ethics Topics: abortion, euthanasia, genetic engineering, war and peace
G581	A2 Philosophy of Religion	Religious language, religious experiences, the Nature of God, life and death, miracles.
G582	A2 Religious Ethics	Meta-ethics; Free will and determinism; Conscience, Virtue Ethics. Applied Ethics Topics: Environmental Ethics; Business Ethics, Sexual Ethics.

Careers and Further Study:

Philosophy and Ethics is a great subject because it gives you skills that employers are looking for:

–        An ability to think critically and objectively

–        An ability to write clearly and effectively

–        An ability to present your case convincingly.

–        An ability to organise material with attention to detail and in a logical manner.

–        A keen awareness of the implications of political decisions and a keen sense of the issues involved in disagreements.

–        An ability to develop creative solutions to unique situations.