RST3BQ: Extended Mark Schemes
1 The Ontological Argument and the Relationship between Reason and FaithPage / Question / M / Paper
2 / Explain the ontological argument and what it shows about the relationship between reason and faith / 30 / Specimen Paper
2 / “the ontological argument does not succeed in going beyond defining God” / 20
11 / Key objections that have been made to the ontological argument / 30 / June 2010
14 / To what extent would the success or failure of ontological argument have any significance for religious faith / 20
25 / Analyse reasoning of the ontological argument as presented by Anselm and explain its purpose / 30 / June 2011
29 / “the ontological argument has no value for the non-believer” / 20
36 / Anselm’s ontological argument and relationship between faith and reason / 30 / June 2012
38 / “the ontological argument does not prove anything” / 20
49 / Two key objections to the ontological argument and the responses to them / 30 / June 2013
53 / “objections to the ontological argument are unconvincing” / 20
2 Religious Language
Page / Question / M / Paper
2 / Explain why it is difficult to talk meaningfully about God / 30 / Specimen Paper
3 / The purpose of religious language is not to describe God but to evoke a sense of His presence / 20
16 / Verification principle has challenged the meaningfulness of religious language / 30 / June 2010
19 / “religious responses to the verification principle have been largely unsuccessful” / 20
30 / What it means that religious language is non-cognitive and symbolic / 30 / June 2011
32 / “it is not possible to talk meaningfully about God” / 20
41 / Examine the problems raised by religious language / 30 / June 2012
43 / “the theory of language games does not solve the problems of religious language” / 20
53/54 / Explain: the verification principle, a ‘blik’ and eschatological verification / 30 / June 2013
55/56 / “only believers can talk meaningfully about God” / 20
3 Body, Soul and Personal Identity
Page / Question / M / Paper
4 / Similarities and differences between immortality and resurrection as concepts of how individuals survive beyond death. / 30 / Specimen Paper
6 / Evaluate the arguments for the existence of the soul / 20
21 / Examine the distinctive features of Near Death Experiences / 30 / June 2010
23 / Consider how far NED’s are evidence of survival beyond death / 20
34 / “I shall survive the death of my body” / 30 / June 2011
35 / “there are no reasonable grounds for belief in the existence of a soul” / 20
45 / Different ideas about the existence of the soul and its relationship with the body / 30 / June 2012
47 / “I cannot survive death” – assess this claim / 20
58 / Views of personal identity expressed in the theories of resurrection and reincarnation / 30 / June 2013
62 / “neither theories about resurrection, nor theories about reincarnation, justify belief in the existence of a soul” / 20
RST3B Scripts: Student Papers and Commentaries
1 The Ontological Argument and the Relationship between Faith and ReasonPage(s) / Question / M / Paper
1 / Objections that have been made to the Ontological Argument / 30 / June 2010
3 / To what extent would the success or failure of ontological argument have any significance for religious faith / 20
12 & 14 / Anselm’s ontological argument and the relationship between faith and reason in the ontological argument / 30 / June 2012
14 & 16 / “the ontological argument does not prove anything” – how far do you agree / 20
29 / Two key objections to the ontological argument and responses made to them / 30 / June 2013
30 & 32 / “Objections to the ontological argument are unconvincing” – how far do you agree / 20
2 Religious Language
Page (s) / Question / M / Paper
4 & 7 / What does it mean to say that religious language is Non-Cognitive & Symbolic? / 30 / June 2011
6 & 8 / “It is not possible to talk meaningfully about God” - Evaluate / 20
19 / Examine the problems raised by religious language / 30 / June 2012
21,22&23 / Evaluate the claim that “The theory of language games does not solve the problems of religious language” / 20
33 / Explain: the verification principle, a ‘blik’, eschatological verification / 30 / June 2013
34 / “Only believers can talk meaningfully about God.” – how far do you agree / 20
3 Body, Soul and Personal Identity
Page (s) / Question / M / Paper
10 / “I shall survive the death of my body” – Analyse the meaning of this statement / 30 / June 2011
11 / “there are no reasonable grounds for belief in the existence of a soul” / 20
24 / Explain different ideas about the existence of the soul and its relationship with the body / 30 / June 2012
26 / “I cannot survive my own death” – assess this claim / 20
35 & 38 / Examine views of Personal Identity expressed in the theories of resurrection and reincarnation / 30 / June 2013
37 & 39 / “Neither theories about resurrection nor theories about reincarnation justify belief in the existence of a soul” – how far to you agree / 20
RST3BL: Three Language Issues
Question / Notes / Page(s)1. Is it possible to talk meaningfully about God? / -Arguments that discussions about God are meaningful because they (a) refer to a God possessed of actual existence or (b) they prove that there is no God. / 1
-Definitions and analysis of Atheism / 1 to 3
-Non-Realist (Anti-Realist) interpretations of religious language, as well as its strengths and weaknesses. This point encompasses the early and later works of Wittgenstein. / 3 to 4
-Realist (Christian) approach to religious language accompanied by several criticisms. / 4 to 5
-Christian Theology: Via Affirmaitiva – this includes the Doctrine of Analogy, Univocal and Equivocal language; the analogy of attribution and the analogy of proportion. / 5 to 7
-Christian Theology: Via Negative – this includes a brief summary as well as key strengths and weaknesses of it as a theory. / 7 to 8
-Symbols: this gives a brief summary of the use of symbols in the history of religion, with particular focus on Paul Tillich, the cognitive and non-cognitive nature of symbols and Paul Ricoeur who contends that symbols provide a means for addressing the problem of evil. / 8 to 10
-General criticisms of the use of symbols / 10
2. How successfully has religion responded to the challenges of the verification and falsification principles? / -Considerations of the Vienna Circle and the “Logical Positivist” school of thought; main features of the movement, especially tautologies, are discussed. / 10 to 11
-Ayer’s Verification Principle; Strong and Weak Verification and how they are applied to arguments for God’s existence. / 11 to 14
-A lengthy extract from Ayer’s book “Language, Truth and Logic” / 13
-Ayers account of Logical Positivism and his ideas of Emotivism / 14 to 15
-Criticisms and counter arguments regarding Ayer’s theory / 15
-Ayer’s idea of aesthetics is considered (Picasso’s Cubism vs a Giraffe drawing) / 15
-General objections to (Ayer’s) Logical Positivism with particular emphasis on Karl Popper / 16 to 17
-Antony Flew: summary / 18
-Strengths and Weaknesses of Falsification against Verification / 18 to 19
Challenges to religious language: Richard Swinburne – example of toys in a cupboard / 20
Challenges to RL: Basil Mitchell – the parable of the Partisan and the Stranger. / 20 to 22
Hare’s idea of ‘Bliks’ is summarised, along with implications. / 21
Braithwaite: Religious language is conative / 22
Challenges to RL: John Hick – Principle of Eschatological Verification, the Parable of the Two Pilgrims and main difficulties of his Principle of Esc. Verification. / 23 to 24
3. How successful are the various explanations of the nature of religious language? / The notes necessary to answer this question can be found earlier in the document. / 24 to 25
The rock of atheism – The Problem of Evil: Extended Part Answers
The Problem of EvilPage(s) / Question / Notes
2-4 / Analyse the logical and the evidentialproblem of evil / Includes David Hume’sinconsistent triad and Rowe’s illustrations of the evidential problem of evil.
4-9 / Explain the main themes of theodicies in the Augustinian tradition / Includes the considerations of free will, the links between moral and natural evil, the nature of evil, the rejection of dualistic philosophy, determinism and original sin.
9-11 / “the theodicies of the Augustinian tradition have very few strengths” / Considers original sin as a mythological explanation for the reality of actual sin, whether God is exonerated from responsibility of evil, as well as scientific flaws.
11-25 / Examine the different explanations for the existence of natural evil in a world created by God / This question is incredibly varied and includes an evaluationof the Augustinian theodicies, an outline of Process Theodicy, Hicks vale of soul making and the Free Will Defence
12-14 / Strengths and Weaknesses of Augustinian theodicies / This evaluation comes within the question to explain the existence of natural evil.
15-17 / Outline Process Theodicy / This explanation of Process Theodicy comes within the question to explain the existence of natural evil.
17 / Strengths and Weaknesses of Process Theodicy / Four main points that highlight a strength or counter argument to the idea of Process Theodicy, including a consideration of whether it really is a theodicy.
18-21 / Outline Hick’s vale of soul making theodicy / A brief history behind the theory, as well as its main features and a summary of the epistemic distance.
21 / Outline the Free Will Defence / A brief outline of the Free Will Defence as well as the example of the King and the Peasant Girl as an illustration.
22-25 / Explain the Free Will Defence and examine its purpose / Outlines Augustine’s view, as the Free Will Defence is a branch of Augustinian thinking. It includes the Principle of Plenitude and the Argument from Aesthetics.
25-31 / “How far is free will a satisfactory explanation for the existence of evil in a world created by God?” / Includes the considerations of the reality of free will, determinism, the doctrine of predestination, and the general strengths and weaknesses of the free will defence with objections to these approaches and scholarly perspectives from Kant, Hick and Mackie.
31-34 / How far is free will a satisfactory explanation for the existence of evil in a world created by God? / Discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the free will defence in five paragraphs, including determinism, Hick, Hume’s inconsistent triad and Mackie.
34-38 / “The existence of moral evil is more difficult to justify than the existence of natural evil” / Discusses the implications of both moral and natural evil, with reference to scholars such as Everitt, Mill, Hick, Phillips and Mackie as well as mention of the Divine evil argument, the big bang and Dostoyevsky’s example of The Brothers Karamazov.
Specification
1 Ontological argument and the relationship between reason and faith
A01 (content; Knowledge and Understanding)
-Understanding of the ontological argument as presented by Anselm and Descartes
-Understanding of key objections to the ontological argument based on: the definition of God, existence as a predicate of God and the possibility of deriving existential claims from definition
-Responses the key objections of the ontological argument
-The relationship between faith and reason reflected in the ontological argument, and the value of the argument for faith
A02 (issues arising; Evaluation)
-Does the ontological have any value for the non-believer
-Does it successfully challenge disbelief in God
-How successful is the argument as proof of God’s existence
-Would the success or failure of the argument have any significance for faith
2 Religious Language
A01 (content; Knowledge and Understanding)
-The problems of religious language; its meaningfulness and the verification and falsification principles
-Responses to the verification principle including language as an expression of a ‘blik’ (Hare) and eschatological verification (Hick)
-Different views of religious language; analogical and symbolic, language games and religious language as non-cognitive
A02 (issues arising; Evaluation)
-how successfully has religion responded to the challenges of the verification and falsification principles
-is it possible to talk meaningfully about God
-how successful are the various explanations of the nature of religious language
3 Body, Soul and Personal Identity
A01 (content; Knowledge and Understanding)
-differing views on the nature and existence of the soul and the body/soul relationship
-personal identity and the possibility of continued personal existence after death, with particular regard to immortality, resurrection, rebirth, reincarnation and replica theory (page 59 of RST3BQ)
-the nature of Near Death Experiences and their value as evidence of survival beyond death
A02 (issues arising; Evaluation)
-is the notion of personal post mortem existence coherent
-do Near Death Experiences provide reasonable grounds for belief in the afterlife
-is the notion of soul coherent and are there reasonable grounds for belief in the existence of a soul
4 The Problem of Evil
A01 (content; Knowledge and Understanding)
-religious responses to the problem of evil with particular regard for the following theodicy’s: the main theodicy’s of the Augustinian tradition, the free will defence, John Hick’s vale of soul making tradition and responses to evil in process thought/theodicy
A02 (issues arising; Evaluation)
-the success of the theodicy’s as a response to the problem of evil
-what poses the greatest challenge to faith in God – natural evil or moral evil
-is free will a satisfactory explanation for the existence of evil in a world created by God
-The strengths and weaknesses of these responses (theodicy’s) to the problem of evil.
Page 1 of 5