Unit 3 Edexcel Religious Studies A2

Does anyone know if they will give us a choice for the religious language section?

I've only been revising verification, falsification, analogy and language games, i've missed out myth and symbol

Will they give us a choice on which ones to answer on, because I'm not sure if I now have to learn about myth and symbol :frown:

Reply 1

sendintheclowns

They might do, or they might dictate which ones you have to do. Given that it hasn't come up for two summers now, you're on strong ground with verification & falsification I think.

Reply 2

diamonddust

15

We need a general thread on Unit 3....
I've looked at loads of Ontological Argument questions and I'm wondering if it might come up with religious experience as I've seen it come that way before... hmm.

Reply 3

sendintheclowns

Original post by diamonddust

We need a general thread on Unit 3....
I've looked at loads of Ontological Argument questions and I'm wondering if it might come up with religious experience as I've seen it come that way before... hmm.

It's only come up as a combined OA/RelExp question in the specimen papers iirc - he's never set it in a live paper. The fact that Non-existence / critiques of Religion hasn't been in for 2 years (I think) makes me think that there's a good chance of it coming up this year. In the 11 years that this modular exam has been going - and it's been set by the same bloke in all that time - he's never left the OA out, and he's never combined it with anything else. He also thinks it's a relatively difficult topic so he's unlikely to do much with it other than a straightforward 'vanilla' question.

Reply 4

scotzbhoy

I'm a little concerned about this one. Is it possible for them to give a question on atheism and critiques of religion as a topic by itself, rather than combining it with ontological or religious experiences?
And for the ethics section, will they always ask about religion and morality, and could they combine religion and morality with another topic?
The only thing I'm really worried about is if on the ethics section we only get a choice between Natural Moral Law and Virtue Ethics. I'm not good on virtue ethics and I don't think I could write a whole essay on NML.

Reply 5

sendintheclowns

Yes they absolutely can set a standalone question on atheism & critiques, it's a separate part of the spec to the OA and RelExp.

Reply 6

scotzbhoy

Original post by sendintheclowns

Yes they absolutely can set a standalone question on atheism & critiques, it's a separate part of the spec to the OA and RelExp.

It's just that in the past they've always included it as a part of one of the other two.

Reply 7

diamonddust

15

Original post by sendintheclowns

It's only come up as a combined OA/RelExp question in the specimen papers iirc - he's never set it in a live paper. The fact that Non-existence / critiques of Religion hasn't been in for 2 years (I think) makes me think that there's a good chance of it coming up this year. In the 11 years that this modular exam has been going - and it's been set by the same bloke in all that time - he's never left the OA out, and he's never combined it with anything else. He also thinks it's a relatively difficult topic so he's unlikely to do much with it other than a straightforward 'vanilla' question.

Thanks so much! I haven't actually learned Atheism/Critiques of Religion... I might have to have a quick look in my book.

Reply 8

kalak278

OP

ahh do we need to know myth and symbol, i'm really worried because i haven't looked at it at all xx

Reply 9

sendintheclowns

Original post by diamonddust

Thanks so much! I haven't actually learned Atheism/Critiques of Religion... I might have to have a quick look in my book.

In the past he has 'nominally' combined it with Religious Experience and Ontological by asking the AO2 question "to what extent would this argument convince an atheist" or something similar. In fact that isn't an atheism question at all, it's a bog standard evaluation of the argument question very slightly rephrased, but importantly for him it let's him keep the exam board inspectors happy 'cos it looks like he's regularly setting all the topics on the spec.
For the atheism/critiques stuff I'd just learn two critiques, and manipulate them to service an atheism question if needs be, but to be honest the RE and OA questions are always easier.

Reply 10

sendintheclowns

Original post by kalak278

ahh do we need to know myth and symbol, i'm really worried because i haven't looked at it at all xx

If you haven't done them you might be stuffed because there is no guarantee that he will et an option list of topics in the religious language question, so he might set

a) How does Verficiation show that religious language is meaningless?
b) Evaluate the claim that it is not beingless because it is symbolic

On the other hand, it's so long since verification/falsification were on the exam that I reckon there is a VERY high chance of those dominating the RL question.

Reply 11

monkeyonthelake

Just to clarify, is this paper like the AS Unit 1 in that you choose 3 topics and they are in set pairs?

I have the pairs being this:

Religious Experience + Ontological Argument

Religious Language + Life After Death

Religion and Morality + Ethical theory

Ethical Language + Justice, Law and Punishment

Just want to check I'm revising the right things as I don't want to turn up only knowing enough to answer two questions due to mistaken pairings. :smile:

PS: I'm revising Ontological Argument, Religious Language and Ethical Language.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 12

tegmcflur

Original post by monkeyonthelake

Religious Experience + Ontological Argument

Religious Language + Life After Death

Religion and Morality + Ethical theory

Ethical Language + Justice, Law and Punishment

I'm not sure if this applies to what you're revising, but I think the Religious Experience + Ontological Argument box also contains Atheism and Critiques of religion and the Ethical Language + Justice, Law and Punishment box also contains Objectivity, Subjectivism and Relativism.

Reply 13

esa

Original post by monkeyonthelake

Just to clarify, is this paper like the AS Unit 1 in that you choose 3 topics and they are in set pairs?

I have the pairs being this:

Religious Experience + Ontological Argument

Religious Language + Life After Death

Religion and Morality + Ethical theory

Ethical Language + Justice, Law and Punishment

Just want to check I'm revising the right things as I don't want to turn up only knowing enough to answer two questions due to mistaken pairings. :smile:

PS: I'm revising Ontological Argument, Religious Language and Ethical Language.

is that defenitly enough to revise?

Reply 14

Kaskade

3

Hello, I am having trouble answer this question:

"The argument (religious experience) merely indicates the probability of God and this is of little value to religious believers" Discuss. (12)

I would go:

What is a proof, why religious experience doesn't fit into this
What is a probability, why religious experience fits into this

Why it is important to religious people (i.e. Ayer (after religious experience, Schlieremacher (self authenticating)

My opinion.

But i don't know howw to beef it out a little... Any advice or different ways of approaching this?

Reply 15

monkeyonthelake

Original post by esa

is that defenitly enough to revise?

Well the Ontological Argument is pretty much stand alone but EL and RL both have multiple topics and I'm revising all of them.

EL - Emotivism, Intuitionism, Meta Ethics etc...
RL - Verification, Falsification, Language Games, Bliks, Myth and Symbol, Analogy etc...

This should be enough if the pairs I have given are correct as you only need to answer three questions.

I only had three solid areas of revised knowledge for my AS exam last month and that was absolutely fine as I knew the topics coming up were always in the same pairs. Not been told it's different this time around.

Reply 16

LibbyU

Original post by monkeyonthelake

Just to clarify, is this paper like the AS Unit 1 in that you choose 3 topics and they are in set pairs?

I have the pairs being this:

Religious Experience + Ontological Argument

Religious Language + Life After Death

Religion and Morality + Ethical theory

Ethical Language + Justice, Law and Punishment

Just want to check I'm revising the right things as I don't want to turn up only knowing enough to answer two questions due to mistaken pairings. :smile:

PS: I'm revising Ontological Argument, Religious Language and Ethical Language.

Yes. Those pairings are correct. You need to bear in mind though that ATHEISM can replace one of them. I've revised Religious experience, religious language, ethical theory and ethical language. By revising 4 you won't be screwed if one of your three are replaced by atheism. You also missed out objectivity, subjectivity and relativism.

Reply 17

LibbyU

Original post by monkeyonthelake

Well the Ontological Argument is pretty much stand alone but EL and RL both have multiple topics and I'm revising all of them.

EL - Emotivism, Intuitionism, Meta Ethics etc...
RL - Verification, Falsification, Language Games, Bliks, Myth and Symbol, Analogy etc...

This should be enough if the pairs I have given are correct as you only need to answer three questions.

I only had three solid areas of revised knowledge for my AS exam last month and that was absolutely fine as I knew the topics coming up were always in the same pairs. Not been told it's different this time around.

I'm hoping its enough too, seeing as they have lots of topics within e.g. ethical theory has natural moral law, deontology, virtue ethics. But just remember atheism can replace one of the philosophy ones, meaning that religious language might not come up at all... or the other ones.

Reply 18

monkeyonthelake

Original post by LibbyU

Yes. Those pairings are correct. You need to bear in mind though that ATHEISM can replace one of them. I've revised Religious experience, religious language, ethical theory and ethical language. By revising 4 you won't be screwed if one of your three are replaced by atheism. You also missed out objectivity, subjectivity and relativism.

Thankyou!

So If I revise either Ethical theory or Religion and Morality as a 4th (Backup) then I shouldn't really have a problem?

You are a big help! :smile:

Reply 19

LibbyU

Original post by monkeyonthelake

Thankyou!

So If I revise either Ethical theory or Religion and Morality as a 4th (Backup) then I shouldn't really have a problem?

You are a big help! :smile:

Yep thats right, I'd always have a fourth one just incase. If you revise one of those you should be fine :smile:

I threw all my notes away on topics like justice, law and authority or whatever it was called. and life after death and a few others and focused on the topics that I could best understand and the ones where I have a lot to say. :smile:

Unit 3 Edexcel Religious Studies A2

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