AQA A-Level Religious Studies 7062

Complete Specification — A/A* Revision Notes

Essay rule: Keep AO1 knowledge and AO2 evaluation separately addressable. AQA 10-mark parts test AO1; 15-mark parts test AO2. Component 2 dialogue questions are synoptic 25-mark evaluative essays.

Assessment Map

Component 1 — Philosophy of Religion and Ethics

• Written exam: 3 hours
• 100 marks
• 50%

Section A — Philosophy of Religion

• Arguments for the existence of God
• Evil and suffering
• Religious experience
• Religious language
• Miracles
• Self, death and the afterlife

Section B — Ethics and Religion

• Normative ethical theories
• Human life and death
• Non-human life and death
• Meta-ethics
• Free will and moral responsibility
• Conscience
• Bentham and Kant

Component 2 — Study of Religion and Dialogues

• Written exam: 3 hours
• 100 marks
• 50%

Choose one:

• 2A Buddhism
• 2B Christianity
• 2C Hinduism
• 2D Islam
• 2E Judaism

For the chosen religion:

• Sources of wisdom and authority
• God/gods/ultimate reality
• Self, death and afterlife
• Good conduct and key moral principles
• Expression of religious identity
• Religion, gender and sexuality
• Religion and science
• Religion and secularisation
• Religion and religious pluralism

Then:

• dialogue between religion and philosophy
• dialogue between religion and ethics

COMPONENT 1 — PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

1. Arguments for the Existence of God

Design Argument — Paley

Paley gives an a posteriori, inductive argument from apparent order and purpose.

Watch analogy

If a watch is found:

• its parts are arranged for a purpose;
• complexity suggests intelligent design;
• therefore a designer is the best explanation.

Paley argues the natural world displays even greater order and therefore points to a divine designer.

AO2 Strengths

• fits ordinary inference from order to intelligence;
• apparent fine-tuning can strengthen modern design reasoning;
• compatible with a creator who works through natural processes.

Hume's Criticisms

• analogy between universe and human artefact is weak;
• finite/imperfect world may imply finite/imperfect designer;
• many designers could be inferred;
• apparent order might arise naturally;
• argument does not establish the God of classical theism.

A* Judgement

The design argument may support probability more effectively than deductive proof. Its force depends on whether order is better explained by God or natural processes.

Ontological Argument — Anselm

An a priori, deductive argument.

Anselm: God is:

that than which nothing greater can be conceived.

If God existed only in the mind, a greater being could be conceived — one existing in reality. Therefore God must exist.

Gaunilo

Perfect-island parody: if Anselm's reasoning worked, defining a perfect island could make it exist.

Response: God is a necessary being, unlike contingent islands.

Kant

Existence is not a real predicate. Saying something exists does not add a property to its concept.

AO2

Strength: does not depend on empirical science.

Weakness: many reject movement from definition to real existence.

Cosmological Argument — Aquinas' Third Way

Observation: things are contingent — they come into and go out of existence.

Argument:

1. contingent things need explanations;
2. if everything were contingent, there could have been nothing;
3. nothing comes from nothing;
4. therefore a necessary being must exist;
5. this necessary being is identified with God.

Hume

• why must explanation terminate in God?
• causal principles learned within universe may not apply to universe as whole.

Russell

Universe may simply be a brute fact.

A* Issue

Even if a necessary foundation is established, further argument is required to identify it with a personal, omnipotent and morally perfect God.

2. Evil and Suffering

Types

Moral Evil

Suffering resulting from human action:

• murder;
• war;
• cruelty.

Natural Evil

Suffering from natural processes:

• earthquakes;
• disease;
• floods.

Logical Problem of Evil

If God is:

• omnipotent;
• omniscient;
• omnibenevolent,

why does evil exist?

The strongest logical form claims these attributes are incompatible with evil.

Evidential Problem

Even if some evil is logically compatible with God, the amount, distribution and apparently pointless nature of suffering may count as evidence against such a God.

Free Will Defence

God permits moral freedom because genuine freely chosen love/goodness is valuable.

Moral evil results from misuse of freedom.

Strength: explains why preventing every wrong choice would undermine freedom.

Weakness:

• does not easily explain natural evil;
• asks why an omnipotent God could not create free creatures who always freely choose good.

Hick — Soul-Making

Influenced by Irenaean ideas.

Humans created immature and develop toward moral/spiritual perfection.

A challenging world allows:

• courage;
• compassion;
• perseverance;
• genuine moral development.

Epistemic distance from God protects free development.

Strength: gives suffering developmental purpose.

Weakness:

• extreme suffering may destroy rather than develop;
• innocent suffering appears disproportionate.

Griffin — Process Theodicy

God is not classically omnipotent in coercive sense. God persuades creation toward good but does not unilaterally control all events.

Strength: reduces contradiction between divine goodness and evil.

Weakness: changes traditional concept of God substantially.

3. Religious Experience

Visions

Corporeal

Externally perceived.

Imaginative

Image occurs within mind.

Intellectual

Non-sensory awareness or insight.

Numinous Experience — Otto

Encounter with the wholly other:

• mysterium;
• tremendum;
• fascinans.

Experience combines awe, fear and attraction.

Mysticism — William James

Features often include:

• ineffability;
• noetic quality;
• transiency;
• passivity.

Stace

Mysticism involves non-sensuous/non-intellectual union. Distinguishes extrovertive and introvertive mystical experience.

Verification

Challenges:

• private experience;
• hallucination;
• psychology;
• neurology;
• drugs;
• cultural expectation.

Swinburne

Principle of Credulity

We should normally trust apparent experience unless there is reason not to.

Principle of Testimony

We should normally trust sincere reports of others unless there is reason not to.

AO2: reasonable ordinary epistemic rules, but extraordinary claims may require stronger evidence.

4. Religious Language

Cognitive vs Non-Cognitive

Cognitive language aims to state facts capable of truth/falsity.

Non-cognitive language may express:

• commitment;
• attitude;
• symbol;
• way of life.

Verification Principle

Logical positivist challenge: a statement is meaningful if:

• analytically true;
• or empirically verifiable.

Religious claims often fail this test.

Hick — Eschatological Verification

Some religious claims could be verified after death even if not falsified now.

Falsification

Flew: meaningful assertions should allow evidence counting against them.

Believers risk "death by a thousand qualifications" if no evidence could ever count against faith.

Hare — Bliks

Religious language can express foundational ways of seeing the world rather than factual hypotheses.

Wittgenstein — Language Games

Meaning depends on rules/use within a form of life.

Religious statements can be meaningful within religious practice.

Criticism: may isolate communities and make interfaith criticism difficult.

Analogy — Aquinas

Words applied to God are neither:

• exactly univocal;
• completely equivocal.

They can be used analogically.

Symbol — Tillich

Religious symbols:

• participate in reality to which they point;
• open levels of reality/experience.

Via Negativa

God better described by what God is not.

Strength: respects divine transcendence.

Weakness: may tell us too little.

5. Miracles

Miracle may mean:

• violation of natural law;
• extraordinary act of God;
• meaningful natural event interpreted religiously.

Hume

Miracles violate laws of nature. Evidence for natural law is based on uniform experience. Testimony for miracle is generally weaker.

Further concerns:

• unreliable witnesses;
• love of wonder;
• competing miracle traditions.

Maurice Wiles

Direct divine interventions create moral problems: if God intervenes sometimes, why not prevent atrocities?

Wiles prefers God working through creation rather than selective supernatural intervention.

Realist vs Anti-Realist

Realist: miracle refers to objective event/action of God.

Anti-realist: religious significance lies in interpretation within faith.

6. Self, Death and the Afterlife

Descartes — Substance Dualism

Mind/soul:

• thinking;
• non-extended.

Body:

• extended;
• physical.

Cogito supports existence of thinking self.

Criticism

Interaction problem: how does non-material soul cause bodily movement?

Materialism

Person may be fundamentally physical.

Challenge: if brain ends, what remains for personal survival?

Personal Identity after Death

Possibilities:

• immortal soul;
• resurrection;
• recreation;
• psychological continuity.

A* issue: does a perfect copy count as the same person?

COMPONENT 1 — ETHICS AND RELIGION

7. Natural Moral Law — Aquinas

Ethics grounded in purpose built into creation by God.

Four Tiers of Law

• eternal law;
• divine law;
• natural law;
• human law.

Primary Precepts

Commonly:

• preserve life;
• reproduce;
• educate offspring;
• live in society;
• worship God.

Secondary precepts derive from primary principles.

Real and Apparent Goods

Real good leads toward human telos. Apparent good seems attractive but does not achieve true flourishing.

Principle of Double Effect

An action with bad side effect may be permitted if:

• act itself good/neutral;
• bad effect not intended;
• good not achieved through bad;
• proportionate reason.

Proportionalism

Rejects rigid absolutism while retaining moral norms. A rule may be departed from for proportionate reason.

AO2: flexible but risks weakening objectivity of Natural Law.

8. Situation Ethics — Fletcher

Only absolute: [ \boxed{\text{agape}} ]

Rules are guidelines, not absolute laws.

Four Working Principles

• pragmatism;
• relativism;
• positivism;
• personalism.

Six Fundamental Principles

Core idea: love is intrinsically good and determines right action.

Strength: context-sensitive, person-centred.

Weakness:

• predicting loving outcome is difficult;
• subjective;
• could justify normally prohibited actions.

9. Virtue Ethics — Aristotle

Focus:

What kind of person should I become?

Goal: [ \boxed{eudaimonia} ]

Virtue is cultivated through:

• habit;
• practice;
• practical wisdom.

Doctrine of the Mean

Virtue lies between deficiency and excess relative to situation.

Example: courage between cowardice and rashness.

Strength: whole character/lifetime.

Weakness: less direct guidance in urgent dilemmas.

10. Applications: Human Life and Death

Apply Natural Law, Situation Ethics and Virtue Ethics to:

• embryo research;
• cloning;
• designer babies;
• abortion;
• voluntary euthanasia;
• assisted suicide;
• capital punishment.

Example — Abortion

Natural Law: preservation of life strongly weighs against intentional killing.

Situation Ethics: ask what agape requires in circumstances.

Virtue Ethics: ask what a compassionate, just and practically wise person would choose.

A* essays compare not just conclusions but decision-making method.

11. Non-Human Life and Death

Apply theories to:

• animals as food;
• intensive farming;
• animal experimentation;
• cloning;
• blood sports;
• xenotransplantation.

Key evaluative tensions:

• human benefit;
• animal suffering;
• intrinsic vs instrumental value;
• stewardship;
• proportionality.

12. Meta-Ethics

Divine Command Theory

Right = commanded by God.

Strength: objective authority.

Problem: Euthyphro-style dilemma: is something good because God commands it, or does God command because it is good?

Naturalism

Moral claims can be grounded in natural facts.

AQA uses Utilitarianism as a naturalistic example: pleasure/pain are empirically relevant.

Intuitionism

Moral truths known by direct rational intuition.

Strength: objective morality without reducing goodness to natural property.

Weakness: conflicting intuitions.

13. Free Will and Moral Responsibility

Conditions for responsibility:

• freedom;
• understanding right/wrong.

Libertarianism

Humans have genuine freedom.

Hard Determinism

Every action fully caused; genuine alternative possibility absent.

Compatibilism

Freedom can coexist with causal determination if action follows person's own desires/reasons without coercion.

Applications:

• blame;
• punishment;
• reward;
• rehabilitation.

14. Conscience

Conscience can be understood as:

• divine voice;
• reason;
• psychological/social mechanism.

Apply to:

• lying;
• promise breaking;
• adultery.

Evaluation: if consciences conflict, reliability as moral guide is questioned.

15. Bentham and Kant

Bentham — Act Utilitarianism

[ \boxed{\text{greatest happiness for greatest number}} ]

Hedonic calculus:

• intensity;
• duration;
• certainty;
• propinquity;
• fecundity;
• purity;
• extent.

Teleological and consequentialist.

Kant

Deontological ethics.

Good will: good without qualification.

Duty: act from moral law, not inclination.

Categorical Imperative

Universalisability: act only on maxim you can will as universal law.

Humanity: treat persons as ends, never merely means.

Comparison

Bentham:

• flexible;
• outcome-based.

Kant:

• consistent;
• protects persons;
• duty-based.

A*: evaluate whether religious ethics is closer to absolute duty or outcome/context reasoning.

COMPONENT 2 — COMMON STRUCTURE FOR ALL RELIGION OPTIONS

Each religion requires:

1. sources of wisdom and authority;
2. ultimate reality/God;
3. self, death and afterlife;
4. good conduct;
5. expression of identity;
6. gender and sexuality;
7. science;
8. secularisation;
9. pluralism;
10. philosophy dialogue;
11. ethics dialogue.

2A Buddhism

Sources

• Gautama Buddha;
• Pali Canon;
• Mahayana scriptures.

Theravada often emphasises historical Buddha and Pali Canon. Mahayana may understand teachings as upaya / skilful means.

Ultimate Reality

• anicca;
• anatta;
• dukkha;
• Nirvana;
• Mahayana emptiness;
• Trikaya.

Self / Afterlife

• five aggregates;
• samsara;
• karma;
• rebirth without permanent self;
• arhat and bodhisattva ideals.

Ethics

• intention;
• five precepts;
• ahimsa;
• six perfections.

Identity

Meditation, monastic/laity relationships, festivals and devotional practices can shape identity.

Gender/Sexuality

Evaluate:

• monastic traditions;
• changing roles of women;
• sexual ethics through precepts and intention.

Science

Dialogue often considers:

• no creator requirement;
• meditation/neuroscience;
• cosmological claims;
• compatibility with evolution.

Secularisation

"Secular Buddhism" may retain meditation/ethics while reducing supernatural claims.

Pluralism

Mahayana skill-in-means can support pluralism, but traditions differ over truth.

2B Christianity

Sources of Wisdom and Authority

• Bible;
• Church;
• reason/tradition;
• authority of Jesus.

Catholic: Scripture + Tradition + Magisterium.

Many Protestant approaches: greater emphasis on biblical authority.

God

Classical attributes:

• omnipotent;
• omniscient;
• omnibenevolent;
• eternal.

Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit — one God, three persons.

Jesus

Debates:

• divine/human nature;
• incarnation;
• authority;
• atonement.

Self / Death / Afterlife

• soul;
• resurrection;
• judgement;
• heaven/hell;
• differing interpretations.

Ethics

• agape;
• Sermon on the Mount;
• Natural Law in Catholic thought;
• conscience;
• virtues.

Identity

• baptism;
• Eucharist;
• prayer;
• church community.

Gender/Sexuality

Debates:

• ordained ministry;
• marriage;
• same-sex relationships;
• transgender questions.

Christian traditions differ substantially.

Science

Responses to:

• evolution;
• Big Bang;
• miracles;
• biblical interpretation.

Literalist and non-literal approaches must be distinguished.

Secularisation

Challenges:

• declining institutional authority;
• individualisation;
• pluralism.

Responses: evangelism, reform, contextual theology.

Religious Pluralism

Exclusivism: salvation uniquely through Christ.

Inclusivism: Christ saves even those without explicit Christian faith.

Pluralism: multiple religions mediate ultimate reality.

2C Hinduism

Sources

• shruti: Vedas/Upanishads;
• smrti: Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Manusmriti;
• gurus.

Ultimate Reality

• Brahman;
• nirguna Brahman;
• saguna Brahman;
• Trimurti;
• avatars such as Krishna/Rama.

Self / Afterlife

• atman;
• samsara;
• karma;
• moksha.

Different schools interpret relation between atman and Brahman differently.

Ethics

• dharma;
• karma;
• ahimsa;
• varna/ashrama duties;
• Bhagavad Gita and disciplined action.

Identity

• puja;
• darshan;
• festivals;
• pilgrimage;
• family/community practices.

Gender/Sexuality

Assess traditional texts, goddess traditions and modern reform.

Science

Debates over cosmology, evolution and reinterpretation of Hindu sacred texts.

Secularisation

Modern Hindu identity can combine religious, cultural and national forms.

Pluralism

Hindu traditions often provide resources for pluralism, but claims vary between schools and communities.

2D Islam

Sources of Wisdom and Authority

• Qur'an;
• Sunnah/hadith;
• Muhammad as Seal of Prophets;
• Shi'a authority of Imams.

God — Tawhid

God is:

• one;
• creator;
• omnipotent;
• merciful;
• compassionate;
• transcendent.

Avoid anthropomorphism.

Predestination and Freedom

Al-Qadr: debates between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

Historic approaches include Ash'ari and Mu'tazili emphases.

Self / Afterlife

Life is a test and worship of Allah. Beliefs may include:

• Barzakh;
• resurrection;
• judgement;
• Jannah;
• Jahannam.

Ethics

• Qur'an and Sunnah;
• Shari'ah;
• intention;
• justice;
• mercy;
• jihad correctly understood in varied senses.

Identity

• Five Pillars;
• prayer;
• fasting;
• zakat;
• Hajj;
• ummah.

Gender/Sexuality

Interpretations differ over:

• roles;
• modesty;
• marriage;
• sexuality;
• reform.

Distinguish traditionalist and modernist approaches.

Science

Islamic thought includes both compatibility and tension debates regarding:

• creation;
• evolution;
• cosmology;
• divine action.

Secularisation

Debate over relation between religion, state and modernity.

Pluralism

Qur'anic teachings on People of the Book, truth and salvation produce varied inclusivist/exclusivist readings.

2E Judaism

Sources

• Tenakh;
• Torah;
• Babylonian Talmud;
• rabbinic authority;
• Beth Din.

Orthodox and Reform/Liberal approaches differ over revelation and authority.

God

Monotheism: God is one, eternal, creator and sovereign.

Maimonides: Thirteen Principles.

Buber: God as Eternal Thou, known through I-Thou relationship.

Self / Afterlife

Purposes:

• obedience;
• tikkun olam;
• bringing Messianic Age.

Views vary over:

• She'ol;
• resurrection;
• immortality;
• reincarnation in Kabbalistic traditions.

Ethics

• mitzvot;
• covenant;
• pikuach nephesh;
• justice;
• charity.

Identity

• Shabbat;
• festivals;
• synagogue;
• dietary laws;
• lifecycle rites.

Gender/Sexuality

Orthodox, Reform and Liberal practice diverges substantially on:

• women's religious roles;
• marriage/divorce;
• same-sex relationships;
• transgender inclusion.

Science

Different interpretations of Genesis allow literal and non-literal approaches.

Secularisation

Jewish identity can be:

• religious;
• ethnic;
• cultural;
• national.

This complicates simple secularisation measures.

Pluralism

Jewish thought contains varying attitudes to covenant, other religions and universal salvation.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

For the selected religion, connect its beliefs to:

• ultimate reality;
• self/death/afterlife;
• authority;
• religious experience;
• science and religion;
• truth claims of other religions;
• miracles.

Evaluate:

• reasonableness;
• meaningfulness;
• internal coherence;
• consistency with wider belief system;
• faith as "belief in" vs "belief that".

A* Dialogue Structure

1. define religious claim;
2. explain internal religious basis;
3. apply philosophical challenge;
4. show religious response;
5. evaluate whether belief is weakened, reinterpreted or strengthened.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN RELIGION AND ETHICS

For chosen religion compare its ethics with:

• Kant;
• Bentham;
• virtue ethics.

Apply to:

• life/death;
• animal life;
• theft;
• lying;
• marriage;
• same-sex relationships;
• transgender matters;
• genetic engineering;
• wealth;
• tolerance;
• religious freedom;
• free will;
• conscience.

A* Dialogue

Do not ask only:

"What does religion say?"

Ask:

"How does engagement with philosophical ethics alter, challenge, defend or reinterpret the religious position?"

AQA EXAM TECHNIQUE

10-Mark AO1

Goal: accurate, detailed knowledge.

Structure:

• define;
• explain scholar;
• show reasoning;
• use relevant terminology;
• include disagreement where specified.

Avoid evaluation unless it directly clarifies the view.

15-Mark AO2

Goal: analysis/evaluation.

Use: Argument → reason → counterargument → assessment → judgement

Do not spend half the answer retelling AO1.

25-Mark Dialogue

Synoptic.

Structure:

1. issue and thesis;
2. religious position;
3. philosophical/ethical challenge;
4. response;
5. competing interpretation;
6. reasoned conclusion.

COMMON LOST MARKS

• calling every argument for God deductive;
• confusing a priori with "before birth";
• saying Hume simply "disproved God";
• confusing moral and natural evil;
• treating soul-making as explanation only for punishment;
• calling all religious experience mystical;
• verification and falsification treated as identical;
• saying Wittgenstein claims religious statements are meaningless;
• treating analogy as literal language;
• confusing Natural Law with laws of nature;
• Situation Ethics = "do whatever you want";
• Virtue Ethics = merely following virtues list;
• Bentham and Mill conflated;
• Kant judged by consequences;
• strong AO1 but no actual AO2 judgement;
• treating a religion as internally uniform;
• failing to distinguish Catholic/Protestant, Sunni/Shi'a, Orthodox/Reform, Theravada/Mahayana where relevant;
• dialogue essays that discuss philosophy and religion separately rather than interacting.