Buddhism: Dialogue with Ethics | AQA A-Level Religious Studies (7062)
Buddhism: Dialogue with Ethics
- 69 questions
- 5 subtopics
- Component 2: Buddhism, one religion of five
- Component 2
Buddhism: how ethical studies and the tradition have shaped one another.
Part of Component 2, sat only by students who take Buddhism as their chosen religion.
Sample questions from Buddhism: Dialogue with Ethics
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Buddhist Ethics Compared with Western Theories
What arguments challenge the view that Buddhist ethics are purely deontological?
Show the answer
The flexibility of precepts as training rules rather than absolute commands, and the consideration of intention and context in moral evaluation. -
Buddhist Ethics Compared with Western Theories
What is one argument against classifying Buddhist ethics as purely consequentialist, relating to the role of intention?
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Buddhist ethics places primary importance on intention (cetana) rather than outcome; the moral quality of an action is determined by the mental state behind it, not just its consequences. -
Buddhist Responses to Ethical Issues
How does Buddhism apply ahimsa to questions about animal treatment, vegetarianism and animal experimentation?
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The principle of non-harm is applied to animal life and death, though interpretations vary across different Buddhist traditions. -
Buddhist Responses to Ethical Issues
How do Buddhists generally view marriage?
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As a secular institution rather than a religious sacrament, though it is supported as conducive to a stable life. -
Buddhist Views on Human Life and Death
How have the Pali Canon's accounts of the monks Channa and Vakkali been used in the euthanasia debate?
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Both were seriously ill and took their own lives without being condemned by the Buddha, which some read as allowing a chosen death, while Damien Keown argues the Buddha exonerated them without approving the act. -
Buddhist Views on Human Life and Death
What did the 14th Dalai Lama say about cloning in The Universe in a Single Atom?
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He had no objection to cloning as a technology for medical and therapeutic purposes if it was guided by compassionate motivation, but felt instinctive revulsion at breeding semi-human beings for spare parts. -
Buddhist Views on Animal Life and Death
How did the emperor Ashoka apply Buddhist values to royal hunting?
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His eighth Rock Edict records that he replaced the royal pleasure tours, which had included hunting, with journeys to teach the dhamma. -
Buddhist Views on Animal Life and Death
Why do many Buddhists support human organ donation?
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Giving an organ is an act of dana and compassion, echoed in Jataka stories in which the Buddha in earlier lives gave his own body to save others.
The 5 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Buddhist Ethics Compared with Western Theories | Recall questions on the comparison with Kantian deontology, with consequentialism through karma, and with virtue ethics. | 12 |
| Buddhist Responses to Ethical Issues | Recall questions on character-based Buddhist ethics and its responses to abortion and euthanasia, the treatment of animals, theft, lying, marriage, genetic engineering and wealth. | 8 |
| Buddhist Views on Human Life and Death | Buddhist responses to the prescribed issues of human life and death, including abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, embryo research, cloning and designer babies, and capital punishment, drawing on the first precept, intention, the Vinaya, Keown, the Dalai Lama and Nagarjuna. | 19 |
| Buddhist Views on Animal Life and Death | Buddhist responses to the prescribed issues of animal life and death, including intensive farming, hunting and blood sports, animal experiments and cloning, and organ transplants, drawing on ahimsa, the Vanijja Sutta, Ashoka's edicts and dana. | 13 |
| Tolerance, Free Will and Responsibility in Buddhism | Recall questions on the principles supporting tolerance, the balance struck over religious expression and the tension over free will. | 17 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA A-Level Religious Studies Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 3,683 questions with their answers.