Paper 2 Religion and Ethics

What should they be reading? Which books are worth recommending to students of Philosophy and Religious Studies?

The following is a rather personal list of publications that I would recommend to sixth-formers who wish to expand their horizons a little by engaging in some supplementary reading over and above their course textbooks. Teachers who are inclined to read around the subject may enjoy some of them too. Note that I am restricting […]

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

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

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Book Review/Summer Reading 2 Martha Nussbaum – Not for Profit : Why Democracy Needs the Humanities

The American philosopher Martha Nussbaum may already be familiar to some readers of this blog, as Greek philosophy is one area of particular academic interest for her, and she has made a significant contribution to the field of modern virtue ethics. Specifically, she interprets Aristotle’s virtues as absolutes, and argues that justice, temperance etc. are

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

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 :

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Revision test for the Edexcel syllabus on Sexual Ethics

THESE QUESTIONS ARE BASED ON THE COURSE NOTES FOR THE ABOVE TOPIC THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE, HERE, AND HERE. THE SECTION ON EMBRYOLOGICAL RESEARCH, IVF, AND PRE-IMPLANTATION GENETIC DIAGNOSIS THAT IS DISCUSSED HERE IS ALSO OF RELEVANCE WITH RESPECT TO CHILDLESSNESS. THIS TEST (AND MANY OF THE OTHERS ON THIS SITE) MAY ALSO BE OF

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

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

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Situation Ethics in practice – an overview of the content of Joseph Fletcher’s less well-known book.

This aim of this post is to provide an additional resource for both teachers and students who are studying or revising Situation Ethics and, in particular, the topic of sexual ethics (as four chapters of the above publication are devoted to aspects of it). Additionally, Fletcher discusses the Is-Ought gap, Natural Law, euthanasia, the nature

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Revision test for the Edexcel syllabus on Religion and Morality

THESE QUESTIONS ARE BASED ON THE COURSE NOTES FOR THE ABOVE TOPIC THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE, HERE AND HERE. THIS TEST (AND MANY OF THE OTHERS ON THIS SITE) MAY ALSO BE OF USE TO STUDENTS FOLLOWING OTHER ADVANCED LEVEL RELIGIOUS STUDIES COURSES. BEAR IN MIND THAT THESE TESTS ARE MEANT TO BE DIFFICULT. FOR THIS REASON

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Course notes on Religion and Morality for students of the Edexcel syllabus – Part Three : Contemporary Focuses

From the syllabus for Religion and Ethics (Paper 2): 4.2 The relationship between religion and morality a) Dependence, independence, autonomy, theonomy, heteronomy, divine command ethics, challenges from atheist and anti-theist perspectives, moral arguments for the existence and nonexistence of God. b) Contemporary focuses, including the Westboro Baptist Church, religion and terror, conservative movements, including Quiverfull, biblical parenting.

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Revision Test for the Edexcel syllabus on Equality

THESE QUESTIONS ARE BASED ON THE COURSE NOTES FOR EQUALITY THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE. THIS TEST (AND MANY OF THE OTHERS ON THIS SITE) MAY ALSO BE OF USE TO STUDENTS FOLLOWING OTHER ADVANCED LEVEL RELIGIOUS STUDIES COURSES. BEAR IN MIND THAT THESE TESTS ARE MEANT TO BE DIFFICULT. FOR THIS REASON THEY SHOULD BE ATTEMPTED AFTER

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