Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is the teleological system of ethical decision-making first set out in detail by Jeremy Bentham.

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 »

Course Notes for students of the OCR syllabus on Business Ethics as part of the Religion and Ethics Component

Buddhism, Environmental Issues, Equality, Kant, Kantian Ethics, Liberation Theology, OCR Business Ethics, Religion and Morality, Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics /

This blog entry is a one of several that are of relevance to the OCR syllabus for Business Ethics. The site itself is structured around the current Edexcel course. Business Ethics does not feature on that course. However, an attempt has been made here to ‘kill two birds with one stone’, insofar as some of

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

Book Review, Equality, General, Kant, Kantian Ethics, OCR Business Ethics, Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics /

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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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 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

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Revision test for the Edexcel syllabus on Environmental Issues

Environmental Issues, Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Revision Tests, Utilitarianism /

THESE QUESTIONS ARE BASED ON THE COURSE NOTES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES THAT CAN BE FOUND 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 THEY SHOULD BE

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Detailed Course Notes on Environmental Issues for students of the Edexcel syllabus

Environmental Issues, Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Utilitarianism /

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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Revision Test for the Edexcel syllabus on Utilitarianism

Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Revision Tests, Utilitarianism /

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

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Course Notes on Sexual Ethics for Edexcel students Part 3 – A Summary

Kant, Kantian Ethics, Natural Moral Law, Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Sexual Ethics, Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics /

From the Edexcel Syllabus 3.2 Sexual Ethics  a) The contribution of at least one world religion on issues in sexual ethics, including the teaching of sacred text(s) and understanding of the diversity of religious approaches, sexual relationships in and outside of marriage, including pre-marital sex, adultery, promiscuity, same-sex relationships, including marriage and civil partnership, contraception

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Course Notes for Edexcel students : Introduction to Sexual Ethics

Kant, Kantian Ethics, Natural Moral Law, Paper 2 Religion and Ethics, Sexual Ethics, Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics /

This introduction should help you to get clearer about your own views about sexual morality in terms of which actions you think are morally right and which are morally wrong. So it’s about finding out where our own boundaries are. Interestingly, a couple of philosophers who have contributed a lot to the debate about sexual

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