Year 7 · Religious education · Religion, ethics and philosophy · Lesson 5

How do we make moral choices?

How we make moral choices: the Golden Rule across religions and humanism, religious guidance, utilitarianism (Bentham, Mill), Kant's duty ethics, Aristotle's virtue ethics and situation ethics, applied to lying.

17-minute video lesson

Teaching, worked examples and 20 practice questions solved step by step.

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What your child will learn

Define ethics and moral dilemmas
Explain the Golden Rule
Describe five approaches to moral choices
Apply two approaches to a dilemma

The method

Dilemma + options.
Approach 1.
Approach 2.
Decide + justify.

Key words: ethics, moral dilemma, Golden Rule, utilitarianism, Kant, virtue, situation ethics.

Worked examples

The first three practice questions from the lesson, with every step.

Question 1

What is ethics?

Step 1: Right/wrong

Answer: thinking about right and wrong

Question 2

What is a moral dilemma?

Step 1: Hard choice

Answer: a choice where every option has a cost

Question 3

What is the Golden Rule?

Step 1: Treat others

Answer: treat others as you would like to be treated