Curriculum Portal

neurologyYou need to know

• A moral issue concerns questions of right and wrong, and good and bad behaviour.
• Morality is the understanding of what is right and wrong, and how to behave accordingly.
• Ethics is the study of what is right or wrong.
• Philosophy investigates fundamental questions about knowledge, reality, reason, and value, while epistemology specifically studies knowledge.
• A dilemma is a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives.
• Induced abortion is the deliberate medical or surgical ending of a pregnancy.
• Supporters argue that access to abortion protects women's rights and bodily autonomy because a woman can decide whether to continue a pregnancy, especially when it results from rape or threatens her life or health.
• Opponents argue that abortion is wrong because the foetus is a developing human life with the potential to become a person.
• Roman Catholic teaching opposes direct abortion because the sanctity of life requires human life to be protected from conception, and some Christians use Psalm 139:13–16 to support the belief that life in the womb is known by God.
• Animal testing is used to investigate medical treatments and assess whether products are safe before they are tested or used by humans.
• Supporters argue that animal testing is justified when it can produce significant benefits for human health and no reliable non-animal alternative is available.
• Opponents argue that causing animals pain and distress is unethical, especially when non-animal alternatives are available.
• Euthanasia is the deliberate ending of another person's life, usually to relieve suffering.
• Voluntary euthanasia occurs when a competent person requests that their life be ended.
• Non-voluntary euthanasia occurs when a person cannot give or withhold consent to their life being ended.
• Involuntary euthanasia means deliberately ending a person's life against that person's wishes.
• Active euthanasia involves a deliberate action that directly causes another person's death.
• Assisted suicide differs from euthanasia because the person ends their own life using assistance provided by someone else.
• Withdrawal of treatment means stopping a medical intervention and allowing the underlying condition to cause death; the term passive euthanasia is contested because withdrawal does not necessarily involve deliberately killing the person.
• Supporters argue that voluntary euthanasia can be justified because it may end unbearable suffering at the person's request.
• Many Christians oppose euthanasia because the sanctity of life principle, grounded in Genesis 1:27, holds that human life is God-given and sacred.
• Paley's design argument uses the analogy of the watchmaker to claim that complexity in nature implies a designer.
• The design argument attempts to prove the existence of God by inferring design from order and purpose in the universe.
• Critics argue that evolution can explain biological complexity without a designer, that natural evil challenges the claim that the world was designed by an all-loving God, and that natural laws can explain order in the universe.
• Natural evil is caused by nature, such as earthquakes.
• Moral evil is caused by humans, such as murder.
• The problem of evil is the challenge of reconciling the existence of evil with an all-powerful, all-loving God.
• Augustine's free will defence argues that moral evil results from humans misusing God-given freedom, and that genuine freedom makes the possibility of wrongdoing unavoidable.
• John Hick's soul-making theodicy argues that suffering can enable people to develop moral and spiritual virtues.
• There are different types of death penalty, such as hanging, lethal injection, firing squad, and electric chair.
• The deterrence argument supports the death penalty only if the threat of execution reduces serious crime; retributive arguments support it when execution is considered proportionate to murder, and victim-centred arguments claim that it shows victims' lives are valued.
• Opponents argue that the death penalty is unjust because wrongful executions cannot be reversed, it violates the right to life, and evidence does not show that it deters crime more effectively than imprisonment.
• Christian views on the death penalty differ because the Roman Catholic Church rejects it as an attack on human dignity, while some Christians interpret Genesis 9:6 as supporting execution as a proportionate punishment for murder.
• Secular views on the death penalty also differ because human rights organisations such as Amnesty International oppose it as a violation of the right to life, while some secular retributivists support it when they consider execution a fair and proportionate punishment.

• Define and use key terms accurately in context.
• Assess whether a given moral dilemma is useful or relevant in making a moral decision.
• Outline and contrast arguments for and against abortion, animal testing, euthanasia, and the death penalty.
• Explain and critique Paley's design argument, including its strengths and weaknesses.
• Give examples of natural and moral evil and explain their significance in the problem of evil.
• Assess and evaluate Christian responses to the problem of evil.