A level - Philosophy of Religion (OCR)

Philosophy of Religion exam questions

AS Philosophy of Religion

A2 Philosophy of Religion

AS Philosophy of Religion

Ancient Greek influences on religious philosophy

Candidates are expected to have a basic knowledge of the thinking of Plato and Aristotle; they will not be expected to have first-hand knowledge of the texts. They should be able to highlight the strengths and weaknesses in the thinking of Plato and Aristotle in the areas specified below.

Plato: the Analogy of the Cave

The Republic VII. 514A–521B

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of what might be represented in the Analogy of the Cave by the following: the prisoners, the shadows, the cave itself, the outside world, the sun, the journey out of the cave and the return to the prisoners.

Candidates should be able to discuss critically the validity of the points being made in this analogy.

Plato: the concept of the Forms; the Form of the Good

Candidates should understand what Plato meant by 'Forms' and be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • the relation between concepts and phenomena;
  • the concept of 'Ideals';
  • the relation between the Form of the Good and the other Forms.

Candidates should be able to discuss critically the validity of the above points.

Aristotle: ideas about cause and purpose in relation to God

Metaphysics Book 12

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • Aristotle's understanding of material, efficient, formal and final cause;
  • Aristotle's concept of the Prime Mover.

Candidates should be able to discuss critically the validity of the above points.

Judaeo-Christian influences on philosophy of religion

Candidates should be familiar with Biblical texts to exemplify the topics below. There are no prescribed texts.

The concept of God as Creator

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • the way the Bible presents God as involved with his creation;
  • the imagery of God as a craftsman;
  • the concepts of omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence;
  • the concept of 'creatio ex nihilo'.

Candidates should be able to:

  • compare this view with Aristotle's Prime Mover;
  • discuss whether, if God created the universe, God is therefore responsible for everything that happens in it. Candidates should be able to discuss these areas in a critical manner.
The goodness of God

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • the ways in which the God of the Bible is seen as morally perfect and the source of human ethics;
  • the concept of God as lawgiver and as judge.

Candidates should be able to:

  • consider whether, in a Biblical context, God commands things because they are good or whether things are good because God commands them.

Candidates should be able to discuss these areas in a critical manner.

Traditional arguments for the existence of God
The Ontological argument from Anselm and Descartes; challenges from Gaunilo and Kant

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • the Ontological argument from Anselm and Descartes;
  • challenges to it from Gaunilo and Kant;
  • Anselm's understanding of God– his understanding of the differences between contingent and necessary existence;
  • Descartes' understanding of existence as a perfection which God cannot lack;
  • Gaunilo's analogy of the island in On Behalf of the Fool

Candidates should be able to discuss critically these views and their strengths and weaknesses.

The Cosmological argument from Aquinas and Copleston; challenges from Hume and Russell

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • the Cosmological argument from Aquinas and Copleston;
  • the arguments put forward by Copleston in the 1948 radio debate with Russell and Russell's counter arguments;
  • Hume's criticisms of the cosmological argument.

Candidates should be able to discuss critically these views and their strengths and weaknesses.

The Teleological argument from Aquinas and Paley; challenges from Hume, Mill and Darwin

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • the teleological argument from Aquinas and Paley;
  • the challenges to it from Hume, Mill and Darwinism.

Candidates should be able to discuss critically these views and their strengths and weaknesses.

The Moral argument from Kant: psychological challenges from Freud

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • the moral argument from Kant, including his concept of the 'summum bonum' and his inferences about innate moral awareness;
  • psychological challenges from Freud to the moral argument, his view that moral awareness comes from sources other than God.

Candidates should be able to discuss critically these views and their strengths and weaknesses.

Challenges to Religious Belief
The problem of evil

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • the problem of evil: the classic theodicies of Augustine and Irenaeus;
  • the nature of the problem of evil and the possible differences between natural and moral evil;
  • how each theodicy understands the responsibility of God for the existence of evil in the world;
  • the origins of evil and the role of human free will.

Candidates should be able to discuss critically these approaches and their strengths and weaknesses.

Religion and science

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • scientific and philosophical views on the creation of the universe; particularly the debate between Creationism and the Big Bang theory;
  • Darwinism and various developments of evolutionary theory;
  • 'Intelligent Design' and 'Irreducible Complexity';
  • religious responses to challenges posed by scientific views.

Candidates should be able to discuss critically these views and their strengths and weaknesses.

A2 Philosophy of Religion

Religious language

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • religious language – uses and purpose;
  • the via negativa (Apophatic way);
  • the verification and falsification principles;
  • different views on the meaningfulness of religious language;
  • the uses of symbol, analogy and myth to express human understanding of God;
  • the views of the Vienna Circle, A. J. Ayer, Anthony Flew, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Paul Tillich on religious language.

Candidates should be able to discuss these areas critically and their strengths and weaknesses.

Experience and religion

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the following in relation to God and religious belief:

  • arguments from religious experience from William James;
  • the aims and main conclusions drawn by William James in The Varieties of Religious Experience;
  • the following different forms of religious experience: visions, voices, 'numinous' experience, conversion experience, corporate religious experience;
  • the concept of revelation through sacred writings.

Candidates should be able to discuss these areas critically and their strengths and weaknesses.

 
Miracle - a study of how God might interact with humanity, by looking at the concept of miracle

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the following in relation to God and religious belief:

  • arguments from religious experience from William James;
  • the aims and main conclusions drawn by William James in The Varieties of Religious Experience;
  • the following different forms of religious experience: visions, voices, 'numinous' experience, conversion experience, corporate religious experience;
  • the concept of revelation through sacred writings.

Candidates should be able to discuss these areas critically and their strengths and weaknesses.

Nature of God

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • God as eternal, omniscient, omnipotent and omni-benevolent – and the philosophical problems arising from these concepts;
  • the views of Boethius in his discussion of eternity and God's foreknowledge in Book 5 of The Consolations of Philosophy;
  • the question as to whether or not a good God should reward and punish.

Candidates should be able to discuss these areas critically and their strengths and weaknesses.

 
Life and death

Candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • distinctions between body and soul, as expressed in the thinking of Plato, Aristotle, John Hick and Richard Dawkins;
  • other concepts of the body/soul distinction;
  • different views of life after death: resurrection and reincarnation;
  • questions surrounding the nature of disembodied existence;
  • the relationship between the afterlife and the problem of evil.

Candidates should be able to discuss these areas critically and their strengths and weaknesses.

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