OCR RS A Level: 40/40 Meta-Ethics full essay plans

These notes provide everything you need to get an 40/40 or a high A in Meta-ethics questions. The plans are clear, easy to read and colour-coded so you can see AO1 and AO2. I’ve been tutoring OCR RS A Level for over a decade, and I have a degree in Theology from Cambridge.

These aren’t textbook-style notes explaining the thinkers. Don’t download if you don’t understand the main thinkers already! These notes cut straight to the point and give you 40/40 essays for all possible questions on meta-ethics for the OCR A Level. As with all OCR RS topics, there are a limited number of possible questions from the specification, and this document gives you A Grade essay for all possible question.

These plans use a structure of six shortish paragraphs, with two AO1 and four AO2. You could, instead, have paragraphs that mix AO1 and AO2. Whatever you do, two thirds of your essay should be two thirds AO2 because two thirds of the marks are AO2.

There are many other strengths and weaknesses of these theories, this is just one way of writing 40/40 essays. You may have to adapt a plan to the exact wording of the question set, but in OCR RS there are a small number of possible question themes and these plans cover all those themes, if not the exact wording of every possible question.

Provided are exemplar, detailed plans for:
Question theme 1: ‘What is meant by the term “good” is the defining term in the study of ethics’. Discuss.
Question theme 2: Does the word “good” have an objective factual basis in describing something? / Evaluate the cognitive approach to ethical language
Question theme 3: Evaluate the view that the terms “good”, “bad”, “right” and “wrong” refer only to what is in the mind of a person using such terms / evaluate emotivism / evaluate the view that terms like “good” and “bad” are meaningless
Question theme 4: Do people “just know” what is right and wrong as a matter of common sense?