Extension Material

Extension material for students of the OCR syllabus on Business Ethics: Kwasi Kwarteng’s 2022 ‘Trickle-Down’ Mini-Budget, a recommendation for further reading, and reviews of Ronald E. Purser’s McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became The New Capitalist Spirituality, and Byung-Chul Han: Capitalism and the Death Drive.

Book Review, Buddhism, Extension Material, OCR Business Ethics, Religious Language, Utilitarianism /

THIS POST RELATES TO THE ISSUE OF ‘WHETHER OR NOT HUMAN BEINGS CAN FLOURISH IN THE CONTEXT OF CAPITALISM AND CONSUMERISM’. ‘Trickle-Down’ Economics Neoliberalism, the predominant global form of modern capitalism, is one that – rather like Covid-19 – has given rise to a number of variants, namely, Thatcherism, Bill Clinton’s Market Globalism (which basically […]

Extension material for students of the OCR syllabus on Business Ethics: Kwasi Kwarteng’s 2022 ‘Trickle-Down’ Mini-Budget, a recommendation for further reading, and reviews of Ronald E. Purser’s McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became The New Capitalist Spirituality, and Byung-Chul Han: Capitalism and the Death Drive. Read More »

Extension Material on Environmental Issues for students of the Edexcel syllabus: Kohei Saito – Marx in the Anthropocene.

Environmental Issues, Extension Material, Paper 2 Religion and Ethics /

From the syllabus for Religion and Ethics (Paper 2): 1.1 Environmental issues a) Concepts of stewardship and conservation from the point of view of at least one religion and at least one secular ethical perspective; animal welfare and protection, sustainability, waste management and climate change.  b) Strengths and weaknesses of significant areas of disagreement and

Extension Material on Environmental Issues for students of the Edexcel syllabus: Kohei Saito – Marx in the Anthropocene. Read More »

BOOK REVIEW/SUMMER READING Brad Warner – The Other Side of Nothing : The Zen Ethics of Time, Space and Being

Book Review, Buddhism, Extension Material, Hinduism, Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Problem of evil and suffering, Religious experience, Virtue Ethics /

NOTE: This blog entry is aimed more at teachers than students, as its purpose is to introduce a number of fairly recent texts that overlap with the territory of Religious Studies and Philosophy. Pretty much all the titles referenced here come highly recommended, including Brad Warner’s other publications, and especially Megan Phelps-Roper’s book Unfollow :

BOOK REVIEW/SUMMER READING Brad Warner – The Other Side of Nothing : The Zen Ethics of Time, Space and Being Read More »

Extension Material: 1. Just War Theory and the Ukraine-Russia Conflict. 2. Noam Chomsky on the morality of war and Ukraine.

Extension Material, Just War Theory, Kantian Ethics, Natural Moral Law, Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Sexual Ethics, Situation Ethics, Utilitarianism /

Just War Theory and the Ukraine-Russia War Before getting to the philosopher Noam Chomsky’s thoughts about the Ukraine-Russia conflict, it is worth looking at it from the perspective of Just War Theory, as the Edexcel syllabus mentions that contemporary conflicts ‘may be evaluated against this theory.’ The principles that inform Just War Theory have previously

Extension Material: 1. Just War Theory and the Ukraine-Russia Conflict. 2. Noam Chomsky on the morality of war and Ukraine. Read More »

Extension material for Paper 4B: QAnon and Christianity

Extension Material, New Movements in Theology, Paper 1 Philosophy of Religion, Paper 4B Christianity, Religious experience, Religious Language, Secularization /

This post relates to topic 4.2 Secularisation, in particular “The rise of New Religious Movements and definitions of ‘spiritual’ and ‘religious’“, and “Disillusionment with some aspects of traditional religion compared to hard line atheism.” It is also of relevance to topic 4.3 New Movements in Theology, specifically “The global development of Evangelicalism, and of the

Extension material for Paper 4B: QAnon and Christianity Read More »

Extension Material for Paper 1 Anthology Extract 1: J.L. Mackie ‘Evil and Omnipotence’ – a brief note on Boethius.

Anthology Extract, Extension Material, Paper 1 Philosophy of Religion, Problem of evil and suffering /

At the very end of his article, Mackie asserts that, ‘The paradox of omnipotence can be avoided by putting God outside time, but the free will solution of the problem of evil cannot be saved in this way,‘ Is he correct? One Christian philosopher who might have disagree is Boethius (c.480 – 524 AD). Boethius

Extension Material for Paper 1 Anthology Extract 1: J.L. Mackie ‘Evil and Omnipotence’ – a brief note on Boethius. Read More »

Extension Material for Paper 2 Medical Ethics – Beginning of Life Issues : Is it Better Never to Have Been Born?

Buddhism, Extension Material, Medical Ethics, Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Problem of evil and suffering, Utilitarianism /

‘ I’d consider myself a realist, alright? But in philosophical terms I’m what’s called a pessimist… I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself – we are creatures that should not exist by natural law… We are things that labour under

Extension Material for Paper 2 Medical Ethics – Beginning of Life Issues : Is it Better Never to Have Been Born? Read More »

Edexcel course notes: extension material on Rudolf Otto’s discussion of numinous religious experience/secularization.

Extension Material, Paper 1 Philosophy of Religion, Religious experience, Secularization /

From the Edexcel syllabus: 2.1 The nature of religious experience   a) Context of religious experience across religious traditions, range of definitions related to belief in God and/or ultimate reality, theistic and monistic views, ineffability, noetic, transience, passivity.   b) Types: conversion, prayer, meditation, mysticism, numinous. Relationship between religious experience and propositional and non-propositional revelation.

Edexcel course notes: extension material on Rudolf Otto’s discussion of numinous religious experience/secularization. Read More »