Exam practice
The Foundation paper almost always has some form of metaethical question. This may be a general question, such as "What do philosophers mean by the term 'good'?" It may be more specific, asking "Describe an emotivist's approach to ethics."
The following are AS exam questions written by OCR:
(a) Explain what scholars mean when they say that ethical statements are no more than expressions of opinion. [33]
(b) How far do you consider these views to be justified? [17]
(a) Explain how meta-ethics is different from normative ethics. [33]
(b) ‘Everyone knows what “good” means.’ Discuss. [17]
This is from the January 2005 Foundation paper:
(a) Explain what is meant by meta-ethics. [33]
(b) '"Good" always means the same thing.' Discuss. [17]
This is from the January 2006 paper:
(a) Explain the different ways in which ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ are used in meta-ethics. [33]
(b) ‘Terms such as “right” and “wrong” are no more than expressions of opinion.’ Discuss. [17]
June 2006:
(a) Explain, with examples, the use of meta-ethics. [33]
(b) ‘Ethical language is largely meaningless.’ Discuss. [17]
January 2007:
(a) Explain what is meant by emotivism and intuitionism. [33]
(b) ‘Ethical language has no purpose as it does not provide any answers.’ Discuss. [17]
(taken from the OCR website)
We now have an interactive diagram showing how to answer an ethics exam question, The 'structure' of the paragraph will be different for 'ethical theory' questions, but the basic principles are the same. Try filling it in yourself and print out the completed diagram.
