AS Religious Ethics
This part of the course includes Kant's ethical theory and Utilitarianism. It looks at absolute and relative morality. It also includes a study of religious ethics.
On this site, we have assumed a study of Christian Ethics. Students find this the easiest approach, because the AS paper includes Natural Law and Situation Ethics (or another moral relativist theory), both of which have been adopted by or developed by Christians. Also, the legal arguments about Embryo Research, euthanasia, abortion etc. are more greatly influenced by Christianity than any other religion.
The course focuses on issues that have broadly been classified as 'medical ethics'. This includes abortion, euthanasia, the right to life, the right to a child, genetic engineering and Embryo Research.
There is huge overlap in these areas. The right to life is almost covered completely by discussions about abortion and euthanasia, as well as Embryo Research. Embryo Research overlaps with the right to a child and genetic engineering etc.
Genetic engineering is a broad term which has been used to include transgenics, GM crops, human cloning etc. Exam questions are generally quite broad, and should not focus on specific areas within genetics. This should leave students free to write about any aspect of genetic engineering.
OCR has also moved War, Peace and Justice into the AS.
