Philosophy & Ethics

Philosophy and Ethics will provide you with a wide range of transferable skills. Click here to see examples of where Philosophy and Ethics can take you.

GCSE Philosophy and Ethics

Contact Information, Mr J. Plackett, Subject Leader

Course Content

The course allows students to investigate and discuss a range of controversial issues and big questions, such as: does God exist? Is there an afterlife and what does it look like? Should the death penalty be legal? Is war ever right? Why are people against abortion? And many more. 

The two modules we cover are:

The Study of Religions: Beliefs, Teachings and Practices.

Students will cover 2 religions: these are Christianity and Hinduism. Within these religions they will look at such diverse issues as:

•  The nature and existence of God

•  Worship, rituals, festivals and pilgrimage

• The afterlife, near death experiences, heaven and hell, reincarnation

•  Creation stories and The Big Bang

Thematic Studies: Students will cover the following four themes:

• Relationships and families (Same-sex relationships, divorce, gender equality, and more)

• Religion and life (Pollution, eating meat and animal abuse, abortion, euthanasia, and more)

• Religion, crime and punishment (Causes of crime, treatment of criminals, the death penalty, and more)

• Religion, peace & conflict (Causes of war, nuclear weapons, pacifism, and more)

Many different issues are explored such as: is it ever acceptable to fight in a war? Is the death penalty a good deterrent? Do people who use drugs deserve to be punished? What can we do to protect the earth? Is it moral to test cosmetics on animals?

Skills Developed

Students will develop critical thinking skills, learning how to detect truth from lies. This also helps students to analyze facts and evidence in order to reach independent conclusions. We want students to be able to think for themselves which is increasingly important in a world full of misinformation. Philosophy and Ethics provides all the tools for pupils to construct arguments and debate confidently. These skills are highly important and valuable in all subjects and future careers, enabling our students to be articulate, confident, and capable. 

Assessment

There are two exams for this subject, one for each of the modules: both are 1 hour 45 minutes in length

Progression Routes:

Academic 

A Level Religious Studies/Philosophy and Ethics

A Level Law

A Level English Literature

A Level History

A level Psychology

Employment opportunities

Journalism

Novelist/Writer

Politics

Law

Psychology

Teaching 

Business 

Social work