HKDSE Ethics And Religious Studies Practice Paper: Normative Ethics, Religious Traditions And Bioethics

HKDSE Ethics and Religious Studies Practice Paper: Normative Ethics, Religious Traditions and Bioethics

2026-11-05

HKDSE Ethics and Religious Studies – 12 questions – 100 marks – 75 minutes

HKDSE Ethics and Religious Studies paper: 12 questions on utilitarianism, duty ethics, religious traditions, euthanasia, abortion and carbon footprint, with a full marking scheme.

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Paper details　HKDSE Ethics and Religious Studies practice paper with 12 structured questions and a full marking scheme on utilitarianism, duty ethics and bioethics.

Section A: Normative Ethics and Moral Judgement (Q1-Q4)

Show the formula and working; answers alone earn no method marks.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
1	A district hospital has one HK$6 million fund and can fund only one programme (units of pleasure or pain per person in brackets). Plan A: 300 people benefit (+6), 80 are harmed (-7); Plan B: 450 benefit (+4), 150 are harmed (-6); Plan C: 200 benefit (+9), 40 are harmed (-8). (a) Compute the net utility of each plan under classical utilitarianism and say which should be chosen. (b) Name two ethical considerations that this calculation ignores.	(a) Net utility = total pleasure minus total pain. A: 300 x 6 – 80 x 7 = 1800 – 560 = 1240; B: 450 x 4 – 150 x 6 = 1800 – 900 = 900; C: 200 x 9 – 40 x 8 = 1800 – 320 = 1480. All three plans produce 1800 units of benefit, so the highest net utility is C and it should be chosen. (1 mark per plan, 1 mark for the conclusion; 4 marks) (b) It ignores distributive fairness, since C imposes 8 units of pain on each of 40 people, and it ignores rights and dignity, because people are not mere containers of pleasure. It also fails to distinguish acts from omissions. (2 marks each, up to 4)
2	A hospital social worker learns that a patient is thinking of suicide, and the patient asks for a promise that nobody else will be told. (a) Using the two formulations of Kant’s categorical imperative (universalisability and humanity as an end), analyse whether the worker should make that promise. (b) Would a consequentialist analysis reach a different conclusion? Compare how the two approaches weigh keeping a promise against saving a life.	(a) Universalisability: if “break a promise whenever suicide risk appears” became a universal law, the practice of promising would collapse, so the worker cannot make a promise that may not be kept. The humanity formulation adds that the patient must be treated as an end, so the worker should not lie but should offer crisis support without disclosing details. (6 marks) (b) A consequentialist weighs the long-term loss of trust against the immediate risk of death and normally puts saving life first. The difference is that duty ethics judges the act itself, while consequentialism judges outcomes. (2 marks)
3	Two surveys asked whether the law should allow medical assistance in dying for terminally ill patients. The first interviewed 200 people and 136 agreed; the second interviewed 250 and 175 agreed. (a) Calculate both support rates (one decimal place) and the difference in percentage points. (b) Using 1.96 x the square root of p(1-p)/n, calculate the margin of error of the first survey at the 95% confidence level, and judge whether the difference between the two surveys is significant.	(a) First survey: 136 / 200 x 100 = 68.0%. Second survey: 175 / 250 x 100 = 70.0%. Difference = 2.0 percentage points. (3 marks) (b) Margin of error = 1.96 x sqrt(0.68 x 0.32 / 200) x 100, about 6.5 percentage points. (3 marks) Since 2.0 points is smaller than the margin of error of 6.5, the difference is not significant and we cannot claim that public opinion has changed. (2 marks)
4	Three S6 students comment on a friend who steals medicine to save his sick mother. Student A: “Stealing would encourage others to do the same and undermine social order, so he should not.” Student B: “His mother would die, so he should steal; any loving son would.” Student C: “We agreed to help each other, so he should steal.” (a) Identify the Kohlberg stage or level each student is at and justify your answer. (b) State one limitation of using Kohlberg’s theory to judge moral maturity.	(a) A: stage 4 or 5, reasoning from social order and universal rules, conventional to post-conventional (2 marks). B: stage 3, good-boy orientation and the expectations of others, conventional (2 marks). C: stage 2, instrumental exchange and reciprocity, pre-conventional (2 marks). (b) The theory is built on a Western justice perspective and neglects an ethic of care; it scores reasons rather than behaviour, so it may not predict action; and a higher stage is not the same as being right. (2 marks)

Section B: Religious Traditions and Bioethics (Q5-Q8)

Support your analysis with the case data and define the concepts you use.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
5	Buddhism explains the arising and ceasing of suffering through the Four Noble Truths and dependent origination. (a) Explain suffering, its arising, its cessation and the path, applying each to the anxiety of a dying patient and the family. (b) Explain how Buddhist compassion supports whole-person palliative care, and state one practical difficulty.	(a) Suffering: the dying patient faces bodily pain and the pain of parting. Arising: anxiety grows from clinging to the body and to relationships. Cessation: insight shows that clinging can be released, easing the demand to be cured at any cost. Path: right mindfulness, speech and action are practised through mindfulness-based care and honest communication. (5 marks) (b) Compassion means removing suffering and giving ease, matching the physical, emotional, social and spiritual layers of whole-person care, and it supports care that neither hastens nor prolongs death (3 marks). The difficulty is that families and clinicians read “never give up” differently, and religious language can confuse clinical conversations. (1 mark)
6	Christian ethics centres on agape, unconditional love, while Confucian ethics centres on ren, a graded love that begins with family. (a) Compare the two on the scope of love and its ground. (b) Using a home-visit service for isolated older adults, show how each approach would allocate resources, and comment on which suits a modern city better.	(a) Scope: agape is unconditional and does not grade strangers above intimates, extending even to enemies; Confucian ren begins with close kin and extends outward in graded circles (4 marks). Ground: agape rests on the person as made in God’s image and already loved; ren rests on blood ties and role duties (2 marks). (b) Agape tends to allocate visits by need, while graded love tends to serve one’s own elders first and then the community (2 marks). Comment: isolated older adults often lack family networks, so a purely graded ethic leaves gaps, yet unconditional love also needs institutions to be sustained (1 mark).
7	A palliative care unit has 180 beds and an average length of stay of 21 days (365 days per year). About 3600 admissions are expected each year. (a) Calculate the annual bed-days available, bed-days needed, the shortfall and the occupancy ratio (one decimal place). (b) Calculate the minimum number of extra beds needed (round up). (c) Explain the conflict between allocation by need and allocation by benefit when resources are limited.	(a) Available bed-days = 180 x 365 = 65700. Needed = 3600 x 21 = 75600. Shortfall = 75600 – 65700 = 9900 bed-days. Occupancy = 75600 / 65700 x 100 = 115.1%. (4 marks) (b) Extra beds = the ceiling of 9900 / 365 = 28 beds. (2 marks) (c) Allocation by need puts severity and suffering first and aims at equality; allocation by benefit maximises welfare per bed-day and may favour patients with a longer expected survival, pushing the weakest down the list. (3 marks)
8	A sixteen-year-old girl with an unplanned pregnancy considers a termination. Her family holds the view that a fetus is a full person from conception. (a) State the three main positions on the moral status of the fetus: conservative, moderate and liberal. (b) Explain the special difficulty of consent for a minor in such a case. (c) Comment on whether religious belief should shape public health policy.	(a) Conservative: full personhood from fertilisation, so the fetal right to life prevails. Moderate: moral status grows with development, with sentience or viability as the threshold. Liberal: the pregnant person’s autonomy and personhood are central, and the fetus has no equal standing before birth. (3 marks) (b) A minor’s capacity to consent is contested, so the case involves parental consent, confidential counselling and the risk of coercion, and consent must not be reduced to a signature. (3 marks) (c) Religious belief may enter public reasoning, but policy needs reasons that others can examine and must protect those who do not share the belief, so one doctrine should not legislate alone. (3 marks)

Section C: Environment, Justice and Social Responsibility (Q9-Q12)

Discuss both sides and state one limitation of your own position.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
9	Hong Kong emits about 4.5 tonnes of greenhouse gas per person each year. (a) Calculate the annual total for a household of four, and the total and per-person figures after a 25% cut. (b) If the 2035 target is a 35% cut from today, calculate the target per-person figure. (c) State one limitation of using per-person emissions to measure environmental responsibility.	(a) Household total = 4.5 x 4 = 18 tonnes. After a 25% cut: 13.5 tonnes in total, 3.375 tonnes per person. (3 marks) (b) Target per person = 4.5 x 0.65 = 2.925 tonnes. (2 marks) (c) Per-person figures hide consumption-based emissions from imported goods and aviation, and ignore inequalities in income and energy supply, so one indicator cannot fairly compare responsibility. (3 marks)
10	A transplant centre scores candidates as follows: years waiting x 2, plus severity (1 to 5) x 6, plus an age adjustment (5 for 40 or under, 3 for 41 to 60, 1 for 61 and above). Candidate A: waiting 3 years, severity 4, age 45. Candidate B: waiting 5 years, severity 3, age 38. Candidate C: waiting 2 years, severity 5, age 62. (a) Score all three and say who should be prioritised. (b) A and B tie; design a tie-break rule with at least one criterion and justify it. (c) Comment on whether giving age points amounts to discrimination.	(a) A = 3 x 2 + 4 x 6 + 3 = 33; B = 5 x 2 + 3 x 6 + 5 = 33; C = 2 x 2 + 5 x 6 + 1 = 35. C scores highest and should be prioritised. (4 marks) (b) Example rule: on a tie, the higher severity goes first; if still tied, the longer wait goes first. The reason is to address irreversible organ failure first and then return to fair queuing by time. (2 marks) (c) Age points can be defended as fair innings, but they also treat a person’s worth as instrumental and indirectly discriminate against older patients, so written criteria and an appeal route are needed. (3 marks)
11	People in Hong Kong eat about 60 kg of meat per person each year, and the population is about 7 million. (a) Calculate the total annual meat consumption in tonnes. (b) If 40% comes from pork and a pig yields about 90 kg of edible meat, calculate the number of pigs slaughtered each year. (c) Using Peter Singer’s utilitarian approach and an animal rights approach, comment on the ethical issues these figures raise.	(a) Total = 60 x 7500000 / 1000 = 450,000 tonnes. (2 marks) (b) Pork = 450,000 x 0.40 = 180,000 tonnes = 180,000,000 kg, so pigs = 180,000,000 / 90, about 2,000,000 animals. (3 marks) (c) Singer argues from sentience: industrial farming causes immense suffering for limited human benefit, so meat consumption should fall sharply (2 marks). A rights approach holds that animals have an intrinsic right not to be harmed, which no gain in total welfare can override, and so demands abolition (1 mark).
12	“In a pluralistic modern society, religion has lost its public role; morality needs only rational discussion.” Comment on this statement in three respects: (1) the contribution of religious traditions to moral practice; (2) public reason and religious language; (3) the role of religion in bioethical disputes. State your position.	(1) Contribution: religious traditions supply moral motivation, community support and habits of practice, and many social services began under religious bodies, so their public function is real. (3 marks) (2) Public reason: religious arguments must be translatable into reasons others can assess before they can ground law, yet excluding them entirely ignores the moral experience of many citizens. (3 marks) (3) Bioethics: religious insistence on the beginning and end of life checks purely utilitarian calculation and pushes policy to protect the dignity of minorities. (2 marks) Position and limitation: religion still has a public role but must submit to open scrutiny; this answer treats traditions generally and does not distinguish differences within each. (2 marks)

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