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Home , Euthyphro dilemma, Exclusivism

Year 11-12 Transition Learning Programme

An Introduction to AS Religious Studies , and Hinduism

An Introduction to Philosophy of AS The of Classical

In AS and A Level RS Philosophy, you will examine and evaluate arguments which attempt to prove or disprove the existence of the God of Classical Theism. The God of Classical Theism is the monotheistic God of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and is the focus of what is known as . 3 attributes of this God in particular, raise issues. I have given you a flavour of the debate below.

1. If God is omnipotent (all powerful; ability to do anything and everything), then can he do literally everything or only those things that are logically possible? In the , he gave Abraham and Sarah, a son, when they were in their old age, and he parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to escape from Egypt; but does it mean he could make a square , 2+2 = 7, change the past, or create a stone too heavy for himself to lift?

Some scholarly input: Descartes argued that God could do all these things and more. God is the source of and can suspend logic (but does this make God an arbitrary tyrant, who can change rules as he sees fit?) Aquinas argued that ‘whatever implies does not come within the scope of divine ’ and he listed 20 things God couldn’t do. To be omnipotent means to be able to

do all the things it is possible to do, but no more! Vardy would argue that in this case, God’s

omnipotence is limited.

Over to you! What do you think? Can you think of things which are logically possible but extremely unlikely? Can you think of things which are logically impossible? Does it make sense to you that God can do these things? Which scholar’s ideas do you most agree with and why?

2. If God is omniscient (all-knowing), then this means his knowledge is infallible! He knows long forgotten events in history, whether there is life elsewhere in the universe, people’s secret thoughts, the amount of grains of sand in the Sahara! However, problems arise for philosophers and theologians.

Some scholarly input: If God knows everything, past, present and future, and he knows the suffering which is to occur, then why does he not prevent it? An omniscient God cannot be omnipotent or omnibenevolent. Kant - If God knows everything, then he knows my future actions. Does this compromise my as a human? Am I truly free?

Over to you! What do you think? Can God really know the future choices you will make, if you haven’t yet made them? If you decide to have fish and chips tonight, and at the last minute, change to pizza, is that really you? Do you have any moral autonomy? Do you think an omniscient God can also be loving and powerful? If so, how?

3. If God is omnibenevolent (perfectly good), then his goodness lacks nothing, and could not be better! In the Bible, God creates humans in his own image, saves the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, gives them guidance on how to live, sacrifices his only Son to redeem the of mankind. However, in the Bible also, God punishes the innocent Job relentlessly, kills innocent Egyptians with 10 plagues, gives guidance on slavery, the selling of women, the killing of homosexuals!

Some scholarly input: questions where goodness comes from. He expresses the controversy of goodness and in particular, God’s goodness in the , named after the young man Euthyphro, whose father had been imprisoned. Euthyphro asks ‘Is a thing good because God commands it? Or Does God command things that are good?’. On the one hand, if something is only good because God commands it, why should be agree? What if God suddenly started to command us to rape, torture, commit adultery etc. Would be think these actions were good? On the other hand, if God only commands things we know are good, then goodness is independent of God. He is only telling us what we already know. Does this diminish God? Is goodness greater than him? Some scholarly input:

Over to you! Which option would you prefer? Why? Is God a divine dictator, or a by-stander of , simply pointing out the obvious? Can you justify an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God who allows evil and suffering? How?

Youtube Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs_gY1K1AMU What is God like? Crash Course Philosophy No. 12 (10 mins 31 secs)

The Challenge from New In A2 Philosophy, we examine challenges to God, including the rise of the New Atheists. Following the attacks on New York on 9/11, there arose a movement that saw religion not just as a matter of personal , but as dangerous and deluded. The Four Horsemen of Atheism are: , Richard Dawkins, , and Christopher Hitchens. They exhibit high levels of confidence in their views and are motivated by a sense of moral outrage. Below, is a flavour of their challenge to religious faith.

Richard Dawkins Sam Harris

Faith and religion are irrational! Faith is Religious people ‘believe things strongly without infantile, and relies on blind trust! ‘Faith, being evidence’ that isn’t based on evidence’. ‘Only ‘Old Testament law is barbaric’ religious faith is a strong enough force to motivate such utter madness in otherwise sane Dan Dennett and decent people’. Religion is a virus, forced upon children, offering ‘Belief in God is unreasonable’ misleading education, breeding prejudice and ‘Religion is a fiction-generating contraption’ ignorance; a form of child abuse. Faith is dangerous, and leads to fanaticism, evil, a malignant virus – ‘an indulgence of Chris Hitchen irrationality that is nourishing extremism, Dan Dennett division and terror’. Religion is ‘wishful thinking’. ‘The God of the Old Testament is arguably the ‘Belief in God is unreasonable’ ‘The effect of belief is positively harmful’ most unpleasant character in all of fiction’. ‘Religion is a fiction-generating contraption’ Believers have ‘persuasive gullibility’

Over to you!

Which of the views above do you think has credibility, and causes damage to religious faith? Why? Are there any views above you would challenge, and why? How do you think a religious believer would respond to these statements?

Clips:

There are many clips on youtube of the Four Horsemen in action, often debating with religious apologists. I

would suggest you select a few of interest to watch. I have also placed some below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7IHU28aR2E The Four Horsemen (2 hours)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHAz-ULSdhI Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion (1 hour 33 mins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWJfdRpHWuk Best of Sam Harris (10 mins)

Publications:

Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion, The Selfish Gene, River out of Eden, the Blind Watchmaker

Chris Hitchens: God is not Great.

An Introduction to AS Religious Ethics

In the study of Ethics you will be analysing Ethical Theories and applying them to modern . You will be studying 6 Ethical Theories in AS Ethics: (see below), Situation Ethics, , , Divine Command Ethics and .

What is Deontological and /Teleological?

1) Watch the video that explains and defines Deontological - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWZi-8Wji7M 2) Watch the video that explains and defines Consequentialism – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51DZteag74A 3) Watch the video that explains Teleological ethics – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYST-2-KdP4

4) Explain the 3 words with examples: Concept Definition Example

Deontological

Consequentialism

Teleological

5) Look at the Trolley Problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOpf6KcWYyw

Explain reasons why pulling the lever is Teleological/Consequentialist and not pulling the lever is Deontological.

Utilitarianism- Key Theory

Utilitarianism is a Teleological Consequentialist Theory. It is based upon, ‘the greatest good for the greatest number.’ Utilitarianism influenced our British politics turning it into a democratic system; where the people could vote for those in power.

6) Watch the following video briefly outlining the theory of Utilitarianism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a739VjqdSI 7) Explain Utilitarianism in your own words: Utilitarianism is….

The founder of Utilitarianism was called Jeremy Bentham. He developed a mathematical way of determining how you could work out the, ‘greatest good for the greatest number’. This was called the Hedonic Calculus.

8) Watch the following video that explains the 7 aspects of the Hedonic Calculus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxca2vbWK5s

9) Write out the 7 Criteria for the Hedonic Calculus:

10) What are the positives and negatives of utilitarianism?

Watch the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FrZl22_79Q

Write down the strengths and weaknesses of this idea.

Strengths Weaknesses

11) What would a Utilitarianist do?

Look at the following scenarios and write out what a Utilitarianist would do.

Moral dilemma What would a Utilitarianist do? You are a Christian and a pacifist; you feel that all forms of violence are wrong. You notice a terrorist is going around shooting people in your street. By your feet you notice a gun that has bullets in it. Do you break your moral code and kill the terrorist or keep to your pacifistic principles and refuse to kill the terrorist, allowing more people to die?

You are a doctor and have taken the Hippocratic oath, where you stated to do no harm to patient. You are operating on a patient who you have just found out has raped and killed 10 women. At the same time there are other operating rooms where patients are dying due to missing vital organs. If you allow your patient to die, other doctors could use his organs to save 5 lives. Do you break your Hippocratic Oath and not save the life of your patient to save those of others?

Clips:

Biography of Jeremy Bentham – Founder of Utilitarianism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c358xzlrO-s 19.13 mins

John Stuart Mill – Development of Utilitarianism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr9954kaFBs 8.06 Mins

An Ethical Discussion with a Modern Utilitarian Scholar () about Animal Rights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSEfiPm_YRE&t=414s 1 hour 30 mins

Publications:

Peter Vardy, Paul Grosch – The Puzzle of Ethics, 1997 (A good introduction to Ethical Theories)

Mel Thompson- Access to Philosophy: An Introduction to Philosophy & Ethics 2008

An Introduction to AS Hinduism

Your AS and A Level in Religious Studies will consist of , Religious Ethics and a Study of Religion, chosen by the centre. We will study Hinduism. Some of you will have studied Hinduism at GCSE RS with us and have a very good foundation in this religion already; others of you will be new to it. This is therefore an excellent opportunity to lay foundations/get ahead with some general knowledge of this religion.

For your information:

 The AS Specification includes: Origins of Hinduism, Teachings, Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita, Beliefs about God, Trimurti, and Atman, Karma and Samsara, Varnashramadharma & Dalits, Ahimsa and Festivals: Holi & Durga-Puja  The A2 Specification includes: Key Thinkers, Teachings, Beliefs, Movements, Migration, /, Feminism, Wealth, Science, and Bioethics

Much of the AS course was covered at GCSE but will require an increase in depth and the addition of scholarly thought. Much of the A2 course will be completely new to you all.

Youtube Clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfhka-OvLSA My Life, My Religion: Hinduism (30 mins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhTpJxlJi2I Hinduism Introduction (10 mins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSzNUqA0Fc0 The Ganges with Sue Perkins (4 mins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNcx8H7pcMg What is Yoga? (4 mins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6x9Ms2IXVg&t=8s (duty) explained. (7 Mins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn0oZ3ulGUM The Story of Rama and Sita (14 Mins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwjZvTZIvp8 The Story of Krishna (15 Mins)

Publications:

Amrutur V. Srinivasan – Hinduism for Dummies, 2011

Owen Cole – Teach Yourself Hinduism, 2003

Good Luck Everyone! We hope you are interested and stimulated by some of the topics included here. We are available to answer your questions on our emails:

[email protected]

[email protected]

We hope to see many of you with us for AS Religious Studies when we return. Remember that the entry requirement is B grades / grade 6 in your GCSE literacy subjects (English Lang/Lit, History, RS etc)