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neurologyYou need to know

• Deontological ethics judges actions by duties, rules or intrinsic rightness rather than mainly by their consequences.
• Natural moral law, developed by Aquinas, teaches that human reason can identify moral laws from human nature and purpose as a participation in God's eternal law.
• The five primary precepts of natural moral law are to preserve life, reproduce, educate offspring, live in an ordered society and worship God.
• Secondary precepts are practical rules derived from the primary precepts, and natural moral law distinguishes real goods, which truly fulfil human purpose, from apparent goods, which only seem attractive.
• The principle of double effect says an action with both good and bad effects may be permitted if the act is good or neutral, the bad effect is not intended, the good effect is not achieved through the bad effect, and there is a proportionately serious reason.
• Proportionalism argues that a normally wrong action may be justified by a proportionate reason when choosing the lesser evil, so it allows exceptions to absolute rules.
• Teleological ethics judges actions mainly by their ends or consequences, asking what result an action is likely to produce.
• Fletcher's situation ethics teaches that agape, or self-giving Christian love, is the only intrinsic good and that the most loving outcome determines what is right.
• Situation ethics is guided by four working principles—pragmatism, relativism, positivism and personalism—and six fundamental principles, including that love is the ruling norm and justice is love distributed.
• Character-based ethics focuses on the moral character of the agent rather than on rules alone or consequences alone.
• Aristotle's virtue ethics teaches that the goal of human life is eudaimonia, often translated as flourishing, and that virtues are stable habits formed by practice and guided by reason.
• Aristotle's doctrine of the mean says that a virtue lies between extremes of excess and deficiency, and practical wisdom, or phronesis, helps a person judge the right response in context.
• Natural moral law usually judges theft and lying to be wrong because they damage justice, trust and the common good, while situation ethics may allow them if they produce the most loving result and virtue ethics asks what an honest, just and compassionate person would do.
• Natural moral law is often praised for its clear moral boundaries and protection of basic human goods, but it is criticised for relying on disputed ideas about fixed human purpose and for being inflexible in hard cases.
• Situation ethics is often praised for compassion and flexibility, but it is criticised for subjectivity, unpredictability and difficulty in deciding which outcome is truly the most loving.
• Virtue ethics is often praised for developing moral character and moral maturity, but it is criticised for giving less precise action-guidance and for uncertainty about which virtues should take priority.
• In debates about embryo research, cloning and 'designer' babies, natural moral law commonly opposes creating, selecting or destroying embryos for human purposes, while situation ethics may permit these practices to reduce suffering and virtue ethics asks whether they express responsibility, justice and respect for life.
• In debates about abortion, voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide, natural moral law usually opposes the deliberate ending of innocent human life, while situation ethics may allow it in compassionate cases and virtue ethics examines whether the decision reflects virtues such as compassion, courage and justice.
• On capital punishment, Aquinas argued that the state may execute offenders to protect the common good, while situation ethics judges it by loving consequences and virtue ethics asks whether it expresses justice or vengeance.
• In debates about using animals for food, intensive farming, scientific procedures, cloning, blood sports and organ transplants, natural moral law often gives greater moral weight to human life than animal life but still rejects unnecessary cruelty, while situation ethics and virtue ethics both require careful judgement about suffering, compassion and responsible use of power over animals.

• Differentiate deontological, teleological and character-based ethics by identifying whether a moral judgement depends mainly on duty, consequences or virtues.
• Apply natural moral law to a moral dilemma by linking the case to primary and secondary precepts, distinguishing real and apparent goods, and testing side effects through the principle of double effect.
• Judge a case through proportionalism by identifying the lesser evil and explaining whether a proportionate reason justifies an exception to a moral rule.
• Apply situation ethics to a scenario by selecting the most loving action with reference to agape, the working principles and the fundamental principles.
• Apply virtue ethics to a scenario by identifying relevant virtues and vices, using the doctrine of the mean, and explaining what a practically wise person would choose.
• Compare ethical theories by explaining why they reach similar or different conclusions about theft, lying, human life and non-human life.
• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of natural moral law, situation ethics and virtue ethics with reference to coherence, flexibility, action-guidance and practical consequences.
• Construct a reasoned argument on issues such as abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment and animal use by using specialist terminology accurately, referring to Aquinas, Fletcher and Aristotle correctly, and reaching a justified conclusion.
• Analyse ethical claims philosophically by testing definitions, assumptions and implications through reasoned argument rather than relying on assertion alone.