Religion & Philosophy - Year 13

Religion & Philosophy Overview

Term 1: Philosophy of Religion

Topics include:

Religious language

The issue of whether religious language should be viewed cognitively or non-cognitively.

The challenges of the verification and falsification principles to the meaningfulness of religious language.

Religious language as a language game with reference to Wittgenstein.

Miracles

Differing understandings of ‘miracle’

realist and anti-realist views.

Comparison of the key ideas of David Hume and Maurice Wiles on miracles.

The significance of these views for religion.

Self, death and the afterlife

The nature and existence of the soul; Descartes' argument for the existence of the soul.

The body/soul relationship.

The possibility of continuing personal existence after death.

  1. Exam styles questions: Students will be assessed on their knowledge and understanding of religion and belief and their ability to analyse and evaluate aspects of, and approaches to, religion and belief, including their significance, influence and study. Students will answer a 10 and 15 mark question.
Religious Experience

A personal experience of the divine.

Miracle

An unexpected event demonstrating the specific power of the divine or supernatural. For Hume, this always entails a breach of the natural laws of physics, but Aquinas and others, emphasize the religious meaning of such events.

Realist

Scientific theories can give us true descriptions of the world and knowledge of things that we believe to exist but cannot observe. The world is ‘mind-independent’ and exists in and of itself regardless of our beliefs. about it.

Anti-Realist

The view that we cannot have knowledge of a mind-independent world, as any phenomena we observe are then interpreted through the mind. Therefore to speak of an unobservable ‘something’ such as the power of the divine has no cognitive content.

Soul

The ‘essence’ of the person. The nature of the soul is much debated but it is generally considered to be spiritual rather physical and it is usually distinguished from the body and the mind.

Via Negativa

The ‘negative way’, mainly associated with Thomas Aquinas. He argues that human language is inadequate in describing God; therefore we can only speak of him in terms of what he is not.

Blik

Term used by R. M. Hare to describe a religious frame of reference within which everything is interpreted

Symbolic

A view of religious language which sees the words representing a reality to which they point, and in which they participate, but which they cannot describe.

Mystical experience

Mystical experiences or systematic meditation, which cause a heightened awareness of the divine or an ultimate reality.

Proof

Evidence or argument establishing a fact or the truth of a statement. In philosophy, this means there is sufficient evidence or argument to support the truth of a proposition.

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Awareness and evaluation of philosophical and religious arguments.

Create a supportive community:

Understanding of the beliefs of others and respect shown through discussion of various viewpoints.

Term 2: Ethics and Religion

Topics include:

Introduction to meta ethics: the meaning of right and wrong

Free will and moral responsibility

The conditions of moral responsibility: free will; understanding the difference between right and wrong.

The extent of moral responsibility: libertarianism, hard determinism, compatibilism.

The relevance of moral responsibility to reward and punishment.

Conscience

Differing ideas, religious and non-religious, about the nature of conscience.

The role of conscience in making moral decisions with reference to:

telling lies and breaking promises

adultery.

The value of conscience as a moral guide.

Bentham and Kant

Comparison of the key ideas of Bentham and Kant about moral decision making.

  1. Exam styles questions: Students will be assessed on their knowledge and understanding of religion and belief and their ability to analyse and evaluate aspects of, and approaches to, religion and belief, including their significance, influence and study. Students will answer a 10 and 15 mark question.
Deontological

Any ethical theory which argues that the rightness or wrongness of an act lies in doing the right thing because it is the right thing in itself – regardless of any consequences. It is judged by whether the act adheres to specific duties, and rules.

Teleological

Any ethical theory which argues the rightness or wrongness of an action according to its consequences. The term is derived from the Greek ‘telos’ meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’.

Libertarianism

Belief that human beings are ultimately free moral agents despite environmental and other limitations.

Hard determinism

Belief that as all events are causally determined and the result of previous events, choices and actions, therefore human free will is an illusion.

Doctrine of the mean

Aristotle’s belief that developing the moral virtues depended on determining the ‘middle way’ between the vices of excess and deficiency.

Utilitarianism

A teleological, normative ethical theory. An example of ethical naturalism that identifies the ‘good’ in human experience is what causes pleasure and ‘wrong’ is what brings pain

Moral responsibility

To be morally responsible requires freedom of choice. It is the status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward, or punishment for an act or omission, in accordance with moral obligations.

Naturalism

A meta-ethical view that morality is defined by facts about nature or human nature.

Non-Naturalism

The meta-ethical view that knowledge is a factual property known through means outside ‘naturalism’, for example by intuition or God’s commands.

Capital Punishment

Punishment for a crime via the death penalty.

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Awareness and evaluation of ethical and religious arguments.

Create a supportive community:

Understanding of the beliefs of others and respect shown through discussion of various viewpoints.

Term 3: Study of Christianity

Topics include:

• Religion, gender and sexuality

• Religion and science

• Religion and secularisation

• Religion and religious pluralism.

  1. Exam styles questions: Students will be assessed on their knowledge and understanding of religion and belief and their ability to analyse and evaluate aspects of, and approaches to, religion and belief, including their significance, influence and study. Students will answer a 10 and 15 mark question.
Calvinism

The doctrine of Christianity which follows the teachings of Calvin, including predestination and sola scriptura.

Canon

The texts which are found in authorised versions of the Bible.

Creatio ex nihilo

The Latin for ‘creation from nothing’, referring to the belief that God created the universe from nothing as an act of omnipotence and grace (love).

Deism

The belief, prevalent in Process Theology, that God is not fully omnipotent, but rather is confined by the laws of the universe and must act in accordance with them.

Eschatology

The study of the ‘end times’, or of the end of the world, which Christians believe will occur, and which is depicted in the book of Revelation (also known as the book of the Apocalypse).

Ius ad bellum

A part of St Thomas Aquinas’ ‘Just War Theory’, ius ad bellum refers to the criteria that must be satisfied before a war can be declared and be considered justified and moral (for example, it must be declared by a legitimate authority).

lus in bello

The second aspect of St Thomas Aquinas’ ‘Just War Theory’, ius in bello refers to the criteria that must be followed during warfare in order for it to continue being justified and moral (for example, trying to avoid harming innocent civilia

Pluralism

The belief that all religions describe and worship the same God, just in different ways and from different perspectives. All religions have access to the Truth of God.

Sola Fide

‘Only faith’; the belief that a Christian is justified (shown to be righteous and a good Christian) before God only by their faith in him and Jesus, rather than by their actions or ‘works’.

Sola Scriptura

‘Only Scripture’; all that Christians need in order to understand God, Jesus, and their faith can be found in the Bible, which contains the inerrant words of God and must be the sole source of authority for Christians.

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Awareness and evaluation of theological arguments and religious thought.

Create a supportive community:

Understanding of the beliefs of others and respect shown through discussion of various viewpoints.

Term 4: Dialogue between Philosophy of Religions and Christianity

Students will study beliefs and teachings about:

-God

-Self, death and the afterlife

-Sources of wisdom and authority

-Religious experience

-The relationship between scientific and religious discourses.

-The truth claims of other religions

-Miracles.

The following issues, and the impact of the discussion on religious belief past and present, should be considered:

-How far the belief is reasonable – that is based on reason and/or consistent with reason.

-How meaningful the statements of faith are, and for whom.

-How coherent the beliefs are, and how consistent they are with other beliefs in the belief system.

-The relevance of philosophical enquiry for religious faith, with particular reference to the debate about the nature of faith as ‘belief in’ or ‘belief that’.

  1. Exam styles questions: Students will be assessed on their knowledge and understanding of religion and belief and their ability to analyse and evaluate aspects of, and approaches to, religion and belief, including their significance, influence and study. Students will answer a 25 mark question.
Reason

The use of logic to come to a conclusion.

Cognitive Language

Language which conveys a knowledge claim or factual information which can be shown to be true or false depending on evidence.

Non-Cognitive Language

Language about which it is inappropriate to ask whether it is true or false in a factual sense. This includes, for instance, statements of emotions or moral claims.

Verification Principle

Idea that the meaning of a statement lies in the method of its verification—so that any statement that cannot, even if only in theory, be verified, is meaningless.

Falsification principle

Belief that the meaningfulness of a statement lies in the method of its falsification. A sentence is only factually significant if there is some evidence to falsify it.

Mystical experiences

Mystical experiences or systematic meditation, which cause a heightened awareness of the divine or an ultimate reality.

Numinous experiences

An experience of the holy; something wholly other than the natural world and beyond comprehension. Involves the power or presence of a deity. Otto describes them as ‘mysterium tremendum et fascinans’ (‘a tremendous and fascinating mystery’).

Intellectual Vision

A vision without any visual image, an ‘illumination of the soul’ which is seen with the ‘eye’ of the mind. Those who experience them claim to ‘see things as they really are.’ They are hard to describe using language as they are a form of mystical experien

Imaginative Vision

Vision seen in the mind, usually through a dream experience.

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Awareness of religious and philosophical thought and the influence on society and believers.

Create a supportive community:

Understanding of how views and beliefs are formed and practiced. Respect and tolerance shown.

Term 5: Dialogue between Ethical Studies and Christianity

Students will study Christian responses to the following approaches to moral decision-making in the light of key Christian moral principles:

-deontological, with reference to Kant.

-teleological and consequential, with reference to Bentham.

-character based, with reference to virtue ethics.

The impact of other ethical perspectives and ethical studies on Christian views about these issues, both past and present. This will include challenges to and support for Christian views; compatibility of Christian views with those of other ethical perspectives; the relative strengths and weaknesses of Christian perspectives and other ethical perspectives studied on these issues; the implications of criticisms of Christian ethical teaching for the religion as a whole and its sources of authority.

  1. Exam styles questions: Students will be assessed on their knowledge and understanding of religion and belief and their ability to analyse and evaluate aspects of, and approaches to, religion and belief, including their significance, influence and study. Students will answer a 25 mark question.
Intensive farming

Also known as factory farming, this is a production-focused approach towards farm animals which aims to maximize output, while minimizing production costs. Often associated with intensive breeding programmes, hormone modification and cramped conditions.

Animal experimentation

The use of non-human animals in experiments for medical or scientific progress.

Meta Ethics

Considers the meaning and justification of ethics. Meta ethics considers the meaning of terms such as ‘good’ and ‘right’.

Moral responsibility

To be morally responsible requires freedom of choice. It is the status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward, or punishment for an act or omission, in accordance with moral obligations.

Libertarianism

Belief that human beings are ultimately free moral agents despite environmental and other limitations.

Conscience

The faculty said to enable us to make moral decisions, by giving us a sense of right and wrong.

Utilitarianism

A teleological, normative ethical theory. An example of ethical naturalism that identifies the ‘good’ in human experience is what causes pleasure and ‘wrong’ is what brings pain

Blood Sports

A sport involving the hunting, wounding, or killing of animals.

Deontological

Any ethical theory which argues that the rightness or wrongness of an act lies in doing the right thing because it is the right thing in itself – regardless of any consequences. It is judged by whether the act adheres to specific duties, rules and obligat

Teleological

Any ethical theory which argues the rightness or wrongness of an action according to its consequences. The term is derived from the Greek ‘telos’ meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Awareness of religious and ethical thought and the influence on society and believers.

Create a supportive community:

Understanding of how views and beliefs are formed and practised. Respect and tolerance shown.

Term 6: Exams and Revision

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Create a supportive community: