Judaism: Dialogue with Ethics | AQA A-Level Religious Studies (7062)

Judaism: Dialogue with Ethics

151 questions
10 subtopics
Component 2: Judaism, one religion of five
Component 2

Judaism: how ethical studies and the tradition have shaped one another.

Part of Component 2, sat only by students who take Judaism as their chosen religion.

Sample questions from Judaism: Dialogue with Ethics

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Kant, Bentham and Jewish Ethics

What is the key difference between the source of moral duties in Kantian deontology and Jewish ethics?

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Jewish moral duties derive from divine command, whereas Kantian duties derive from autonomous human reason.
Consequences, Character and Jewish Ethics

What central question does virtue ethics ask about moral life?

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Virtue ethics asks what kind of person one should become rather than what specific actions one should perform.
The Mitzvot and Tikkun Olam

Which principle demonstrates consequentialist elements in Jewish ethics by allowing life-saving to override other commandments?

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Pikuach nefesh.
Sanctity of Life, Animals, Theft and Lying

How is shechitah designed to minimise animal suffering?

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Shechitah uses a swift cut to the throat with an extremely sharp blade, intended to cause rapid loss of consciousness and reduce pain.
Capital Punishment, Euthanasia and Cloning in Judaism

Why does Reform Judaism oppose capital punishment?

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Since 1959 its rabbis and congregations have held that Jewish tradition found execution repugnant in practice, that courts can make fatal mistakes, and that there is no convincing evidence it deters crime.
Marriage, Sexuality and Genetic Engineering

How have Reform and Liberal Judaism responded to same-sex relationships in terms of marriage and rabbinic ordination?

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They have developed liturgies for same-sex marriages and may ordain openly gay and lesbian rabbis.
Wealth, Tolerance and Religious Freedom in Judaism

What are the Noahide laws, and what do they imply for tolerance?

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Seven basic laws that Judaism holds are binding on all humanity, so non-Jews who keep them are righteous without needing to convert.
Bechirah Chofshit: Free Will and Conscience

What is the yetzer ha-ra?

Show the answer
The inclination toward evil within each person.

The 10 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Kant, Bentham and Jewish Ethics	Recall questions on Kant's categorical imperative and duty and how Jewish ethics shares yet differs from it, and on teleological ethics, Bentham's principle of utility and the factors of the hedonic calculus.	16
Consequences, Character and Jewish Ethics	Recall questions on teleological elements such as pikuach nephesh, virtue ethics beside middot, imitatio Dei and Maimonides' mean, and why Jewish ethics and the Beth Din resist a single framework.	13
The Mitzvot and Tikkun Olam	Recall questions on why the mitzvot look deontological, how the 613 reflect that framework, and why tikkun olam suggests Jewish ethics is not purely so.	17
Sanctity of Life, Animals, Theft and Lying	Recall questions on pikuach nefesh, b'tzelem Elohim, euthanasia and abortion, tza'ar ba'alei chayim and shechitah, and geneivat da'at, lying for the sake of peace and lashon hara.	17
Capital Punishment, Euthanasia and Cloning in Judaism	Jewish responses to capital punishment, euthanasia and cloning, from the Torah and the rabbis' restrictions on execution to Israel's abolition, the laws of the goses, Reform and Orthodox views, and genetic screening.	15
Marriage, Sexuality and Genetic Engineering	Recall questions on kiddushin and the ketubah, Orthodox and Progressive views of same-sex relationships, Leviticus 18:22 and transgender issues, and shutafut and playing God in genetic engineering.	13
Wealth, Tolerance and Religious Freedom in Judaism	Jewish teaching on wealth and tzedakah, including Maimonides' levels of giving, the basis for tolerance in the Noahide laws and the command to love the stranger, and modern cases on freedom of religious expression.	16
Bechirah Chofshit: Free Will and Conscience	Recall questions on bechirah chofshit, Deuteronomy 30:19 and Maimonides on foreknowledge, the yetzer ha-tov and yetzer ha-ra, teshuvah and responsibility, and the limited authority of conscience.	19
Other Ethical Traditions and Jewish Ethics	Recall questions on the challenges posed by utilitarianism and Kantian ethics and on the support natural law theory can lend.	15
What Ethical Criticism Means for Torah and Halakha	Recall questions on the implications of criticism for the status of Torah and claims about halakha, and the benefit when other traditions agree.	10

Judaism: Dialogue with Ethics is 151 of the 3,683 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

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.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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.
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.