These questions are taken from the wording of the specitication, meaning they could all actually come up in the exam. They are roughly sorted into easy, medium and hard.
Find revision notes for Ethics here.
Natural Law
Easy
Does natural law provide a helpful method of moral decision-making?
Assess Aquinas’s natural law ethics.
Medium
Can judging something as right or wrong be based on whether it achieves its telos?
Does human nature have an orientation towards the good?
‘Ethics can be derived from human nature’ – How far do you agree?
Assess Aquinas’ claim that there is a tier of natural law between human and divine.
How ethical are the primary precepts?
Is there a moral law of God within human nature that is discoverable by reason?”
Evaluate Aquinas’ view that human law should be related to the natural law.
Hard
Is the universe designed with a telos?
How ethically valid is the doctrine of the double effect?
Does the doctrine of the double effect justify actions like killing in self-defence?
If human nature is sinful, can natural law theory work?
Analyse Aquinas’ four tiers of law.
“The eternal, divine and human laws are the only valid laws” – Discuss.
Critically assess Aquinas’ religious development of Aristotle’s concept of telos.
Situation Ethics
Easy
‘Situation ethics provides a helpful method of moral decision-making’ – How far do you agree?
Can judging something as right or wrong be based on the extent to which, in any given situation, agape is best served
Medium
Is Fletcher’s understanding of agape really religious?
Does Fletcher’s view of agape reduce to wanting the best for the person involved in a given situation rather than a religious view.
‘The rejection of absolute rules makes situation ethics entirely individualistic and subjective’ – Discuss.
Assess whether love should be the ruling norm in ethical decision-making.
Is love the only thing that is intrinsically good?
Hard
How successfully do Fletcher’s six propositions give rise to situation ethics?
“Fletcher’s four working principles should be applied to all moral actions” – Discuss.
Is conscience a verb or a noun?
Is Fletcher correct that conscience is a term the describes attempts to make decisions creatively?
“The laws of christian ethics cannot be relativised” – Discuss.
“Persons should be at the centre of ethics” – Discuss.
Kantian Ethics
Easy
Does Kantian ethics provide a helpful method of moral decision-making?
Can judging something as right of wrong be based on the extent to which duty is best served?
Medium
‘Excluding empathy and love from moral decision making is wrong’ – Discuss.
Are categorical imperatives our duty?
“Moral action is based on whether a maxim can be estabished as a universal law” – Discuss.
Should we take a deontological and absolutist approach to ethics?
Hard
To what extent is Kantian ethics is too abstract to be applicable to practical moral decision-making?
Critically assess Kant’s view that the hypothetical imperative cannot be the imperative of morality.
Is Kant correct that consequences are irrelevant to the morality of an action?
“The three postulates must be accepted in obeying a moral command” – Discuss.
Does ethics require postulating the existence of freedom, immortality and God?
“Kantian ethics is overly reliant on reason” – Discuss.
“Kantian ethics unduly rejects the importance of sympathy, empathy and love in moral decision-making” – Discuss.
Should morality be based on hypothetical imperatives?
“Consequences are irrelevant to moral decision-making” – Discuss.
Utilitarianism
Easy
Does utilitarianism provide a helpful method of moral decision-making?
Can moral judgement be based on the extent to which, in any given situation, utility is best served?
Medium
Is it possible to measure good or pleasure and then reach a moral decision?
“The moral action is the one which has the greatest balance of pleasure over pain” – Discuss.
Is moral action a matter of following accepted laws that lead to the greatest balance of pleasure over pain?
Is an action morally justified if it produces the greatest amount of good over evil?
Assess whether rule utilitarianism successfully improves on act utilitarianism.
Critically compare act and rule utilitarianism
Hard
How morally valid is the hedonic calculus?
“Morality is not based on utility” – Discuss.
Should Utilitarianism aim to promote the greatest overall balance of good over evil or the greatest amount of good over evil?
Euthanasia
Easy
Assess whether natural law is helpful for dealing with the issue of euthanasia
Assess whether situation ethics is helpful for dealing with the issue of euthanasia
‘euthanasia can be the loving choice in some situations’ – Discuss.
‘euthanasia goes against God’ – How far do you agree?
Can euthanasia ever be justified?
To what extent is euthanasia morally good?
Medium
Should a person have complete autonomy to choose euthanasia?
Is quality of life a basis on which euthanasia might be justified?
‘Life should never be ended because it is sacred’ – Discuss.
Can it ever be morally justifiable to end a person’s life without their consent?
Must human life possess certain attributes in order to have value?
Is euthanasia in the case of incurable illness morally justifiable?
Hard
‘The religious concept of sanctity of life has no meaning in twenty-first century medical ethics’ – How far do you agree?
Critically compare sanctity of life with autonomy as principles for judging the issue of euthanasia
Is there a moral difference between active and passive euthanasia?
Critically compare the morality of voluntary with non-voluntary euthanasia
Business Ethics
Easy
How useful is utilitarianism in dealing with issues in business ethics?
Assess whether Kantian ethics applies successfully to business ethics
What does it take for business to be ethical?
Medium
Does the principle of utility lead to ethical business?
‘the categorical imperative leads to ethical business’ – Discuss.
Is Corporate social responsibility just ‘hypocritical window-dressing covering the greedy profit motive of business.
Can human beings flourish in the context of capitalism and consumerism?
Assess whether corporate social responsibility makes business ethical
To what extent is whistle-blowing ethical?
How successful is Kantian ethics at dealing with the issue of (CSR/Whistleblowing/Globalisation)?
How helpful is Utilitarianism at dealing with the issue of (CSR/Whistleblowing/Globalisation)?
Hard
Assess whether globalisation encourages or discourages the pursuit of good ethics as the foundation of good business.
Is good ethics good business?
Should whistle-blowing be considered good ethical business practice?
How should a business treat its stakeholders?
Meta-ethics
Easy
Assess whether ethical terms such as good and bad have an objective factual basis that makes them true or false in describing something.
Do ‘good’ and ‘bad’ reflect only what is in the mind of the speaker?
Is the word ‘good’ meaningless?
‘Ethical naturalism is true’ – Discuss.
Assess intuitionism
Assess emotivism
Medium
Does common sense suggest that people just know within themselves what is good and bad?
“Values can be defined in terms of some natural property in the world” – Discuss.
“Basic moral truths are self-evident” – Discuss.
Can the word “good” be defined?
“Ethical terms evince approval or disapproval” – Discuss.
Hard
Critically compare relativism with absolutism
“What is meant by the word ‘good’ is the defining question in the study of ethics” – Discuss.
Conscience
Easy
Critically compare Aquinas and Freud’s view of the conscience
Are the workings of God present in the conscience?
Medium
‘Freud makes more sense of the concept of guilt than Aquinas’ – Discuss.
Does a theological approach to conscience work better than a psychological approach?
Critically compare Aquinas and Freud’s views on the process of moral decision-making.
Hard
Does conscience exist at all or is it an umbrella term for culture, environment, genetics and education?
Is conscience merely an umbrella term for the psychological factors involved in moral decision making?
Critically assess Freud’s psychosexual approach.
Sexual ethics
Easy
Are secular views on sexual ethics superior to traditional religious views?
‘Secular sexual ethics are an improvement on traditional religious views’ – How far do you agree?
Assess religious views on sexual ethics
How useful is natural law in dealing with issues in sexual ethics?
How useful is situation ethics in dealing with issues in sexual ethics?
How useful is Kantian ethics in dealing with issues in sexual ethics?
How useful is utilitarianism in dealing with issues in sexual ethics?
Medium
Do religious views on sexual ethics have a continuing role today?
Are normative theories useful for issues within sexual ethics?
Should sexual behaviour be entirely private or a matter of public norms and legislation?
Assess Aquinas’ on sexual ethics
Should sexual ethics be judged based on the loving thing to do in each situation?
How successful is the categorical imperative applied to sexual ethics?
‘Issues in sexual ethics should be judged based on the principle of utility’ – Discuss.
Can premarital sex ever be ethical?
Can extramarital sex ever be ethical?
Can homosexuality ever be ethical?
Hard
To what extent are traditional religious views on sexual ethics relevant today?
‘Developments in religious views on sexual ethics have had a significant impact’ – Discuss.
Have religious view on sexual ethics changed for the better?