Situation Ethics

Question 1

What does situation ethics argue

Answer 1

• Situation ethics argues there is one moral rule - that we should do the most loving thing- and this needs to be applied to each unique situation that we face
• Love is absolute but we should relativise it to the situation in front of us

Question 2

Which two unhelpful extremes in ethical thought does situation ethics supposedly avoid

Answer 2

Situation ethics avoids legalism. Legalism is the over reliance on applying endless rigid rules. It has been a major problem for fletcher in Catholicism , Protestantism and Judaism and Fletcher says it leads to Puritanism which involves making the rule something with greater dignity than the person.For a truly ethical approach Fletcher argues that people must come at the centre

Situation ethics also avoids antinomianism which is the denial of the possibility of any rules. It is found within the ideas of Nietzsche and Sartre who believe there are no rules to follow but our own choices

Question 3

What is the first one of the four working principles

Answer 3

The first one of the four working principles is pragmatism. This means we must seek practical solutions which actually work to achieve success. Fletcher says the solution must always work and produce a good outcome
-Fletcher makes clear his debt to American pragmatism as represented by Pierce, Deviey and William James

Question 4

What is an example of a situation where pragmatism should have been used

Answer 4

Pragmatism should have been used with the case of Jodie and Mary the conjoined twins. The Catholic Church wanted to let both girls die as they said to kill one and save the other would be an evil/ bad act. However fletcher would have disagreed as letting both girls die is not the most pragmatic approach and a better approach would have been to save one of the girls

Question 5

What is the second one of fletchers four working principles

Answer 5

The second working principle is relativism. This means the right thing to do always depends on the context. Whatever we do must be related to both the facts about ourselves and what we are able to do and the facts about the particular situation.
-Although love always applies and is the reason to act , the specifics of how love applies varies situationally

Question 6

What are examples of relativism

Answer 6

Examples of relativism include that absolutes like do not steal become relative to love according to fletcher e.g if love demands that you steal to feed the hungry, then you steal

Question 7

What is the third working principle

Answer 7

The third working principle is positivism which involves figuring out what gods love would support in a situation and therefore making sure all acts are committed in Christian love

Question 8

What is the fourth working principle

Answer 8

The fourth working principle is personalism. Personalism requires that we place people , not principles or rules at the centre of our moral decision making

Question 9

What is the first of the six propositions

Answer 9

The first proposition is “only one this is intrinsically good,namely love:nothing else at all”

Question 10

What is the second of the six propositions

Answer 10

The second of the six propositions is “the ruling norm of Christian decision making is love nothing else “

This is consistently exemplified in the New Testament when Jesus replaces the laws of the Old Testament simply with the principle of love

He even summed up the whole law as love god and love your neighbour

Question 11

What is the third of the six propositions

Answer 11

The third of the six working propositions is “love and justice are the same for justice is love distributed,nothing else”

-This is showing that justice and love are not opposites as often thought but instead justice is Christian love applied rationally in a calculated manner

Question 12

What is the fourth of the six propositions

Answer 12

the fourth of the six propositions is that “Love wills the neighbours good wether we like him or not”

-This highlights how agape love is a selfless commitment to treat others the best we can, no matter our opinions on them

Question 13

What is the fifth proposition

Answer 13

The fifth proposition is “only ends justifies means, nothing else”

• This is Fletcher arguing that if our aim is love then any means of achieving it is justified
• This proposition reveals how absolutely teleological this theory is. Everything is geared towards making life as good as it could be for people

Question 14

What is the sixth proposition

Answer 14

The sixth proposition is that “Loves decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively”

-With this Fletcher is saying love decides “there and then” and knowledge of how to love does not help us make situation based decisions

Question 15

What is a weakness that could be pointed out about the first proposition

Answer 15

• The first proposition, that love is the only thing that is intrinsically good, begs the question of how forgiveness and humility and other virtues are not intrinsically good
• However it may be argued that these virtues are possibly captured within the bracket of love and fletcher does go some way in his work to try and demonstrate how such virtues ARE contained within the commandment of love

Question 16

What type of love is fletcher talking about when he references love

Answer 16

Fletcher is talking about agape love when he references love

Question 17

What is agape love

Answer 17

Agape love refers to the love people feel for humankind. It entails ideas of fellowship,fraternity, altruism (any theory that puts the need of others before oneself )

• There is no bodily desire entailed but it does not mean it is less intense in emotion
• This love is closely tied with the idea that we must do actual good for people, the virtue of charity, and not simply have nice feelings for them

Question 18

What is one attraction of situation ethics as a guide for moral decision making

Answer 18

One key attraction of situation ethics is its flexibility. It is able to deal with exceptional situations hence avoiding the legalism that some versions of natural law lead us to. It enables people to keep the spirit of the law without following every letter of it

Question 19

What is another attraction of situation ethics

Answer 19

Situation ethics is people centred and as such seems much closer to the teachings of Jesus, who consistently put people above the law

Question 20

What is another positive of situation ethics

Answer 20

Situation ethics enables a decision to be made in each and every situation. Absolutist theories can struggle in situations where there are two conflicting views but situation ethics allows us to choose the lesser of two evils e.g conjoined twins

Question 21

What is a major problem with situation ethics

Answer 21

Situation ethics doesn’t define what constitutes a situation. Is it the particular circumstance or does it stretch into the future and if so how far does it stretch ?

• An action may seem like a good , most loving solution for the short term but may actually turn out to be the catalyst for a terrible chain of events. When this happens how responsible are you personally ?
  e. g if you see a man drowning and then out of love for a fellow human being jump in to the water to save him. A good deed has been done and apparently been done but if in a years time that same man commits a terrorist attack was the action still loving

-Part of this problem stems from situation ethics being a teleological theory and how that requires we must always be able to make predictions about the outcome our action will produce when in reality we do not know wether it will produce the most loving outcome

Question 22

What issues mighta virtue ethicist raise with situation ethics

Answer 22

-A virtue ethicist may argue that fletcher gives too little weight to character by stressing the outcome and the action so strongly. By concerning himself with just outcomes and actions , he seems to ignore the wider aspects of being a moral person and a acting in the right way for the right motivation

Question 23

What is another problem raised by situation ethics

Answer 23

Another problem raised by situation ethics is that is it not true that some actions are intrinsically wrong in all circumstances no matter wether they are driven by love or not.

• An example of this provided by Antony o hear is the example of throwing living babies into a bonfire , this seems like an act of unimaginable cruelty - beyond justification by love
• Fletcher would argue that no actions are intrinsically wrong as all of them can be justified by love. He uses the example of adultery and how it could be seen as loving in Mrs Bergemiers case . However it would be questioned by some wether this is adultery in the normal sense

Question 24

What is another problem with situation ethics

Answer 24

• Fletcher assumes that the difficulty of being certain in some situations leads to a position where we need an alternative to rule based ethics without falling into antinomianism however most of his examples to evidence this are extreme. In reality rules work in most circumstances and then even when they don’t ethicists are usually ready to make exceptions
• Scottish philosopher W.D Ross argued we have prima face duties such as fidelity ,justice and beneficence which should always be followed unless there were overwhelming moral reasons for performing another sort of moral duty. This approach seems more credible than Fletchers ultimate denial of rules

Question 25

How does fletcher see the Principle of love

Answer 25

For fletcher love is the ultimate rule

We have general principles , which Fletcher calls Sophia , but love may mean we break these

Question 26

What does Fletcher asks is considered when applying love

Answer 26

Fletcher asks us to consider how love can be applied to a specific situation

-He uses the four working presuppositions to show how love can be applied situationally

Question 27

What is the context of the sacrificial suicide case study

Answer 27

-A patient in hospital only has a set time to live
-Doctors give him pills that cost $40 every three days that keep him alive for three years but if he doesn’t take the pills he will be dead within six months
-He has insurance of £ 100,000 but if he takes the pills and lives past next October (when the insurance will be renewed) then the insurance company cancelled it
-He is unsure of wether to take the pills and live for three years and leave the family with nothing or to not take the pills and leave the family with insurance
(Most loving outcome = not take pills provide for family)

Question 28

What is the context to the case study on patriotic prostitution

Answer 28

-A woman has been asked by her government to sleep with an enemy spy in order to lure him into blackmail with the ultimate aim of bringing a war to an end and saving thousands of lives. This however went against personal morals
(Most living outcome = sleep with spy save thousand of lives -> may be asked to do similar tasks in future however )

Question 29

What is the context to the sacrificial suicide case study

Answer 29

-Mrs Bergmeier is stuck in Ukraine but her family from Germany are trying to keep together and find her. Rules only allow her to return to Germany if she was pregnant , in which case she would be returned as a liability.
-She asks a friendly German Volga camp guard to impregnate her which he did and she was sent back to Berlin with her family.
-She was welcomed with open arms when she got back and the child was immensely loved due to what he had enabled to happen
( most loving outcome = achieved for family as they are reunited -> not achieved for guard as he does not get to see child -> child will grow up knowing he has been used as a tool as opposed to being born out of a loving relationship -> not most loving outcome for them )

Question 30

Describe the context to the justifiable mass killing case study

Answer 30

-Before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the president and scientists had to evaluate wether to use the most terrible weapon ever made in order to end World War Two . Military advisors favoured using it and top level scientists said they could find no acceptable using it, however they were opposed by equally able counterparts
-The committee decided that lives saved by ending the war outweighed those lost by dropping the bombs so the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing roughly 200,000 people
(Most loving outcome was not achieved as damage caused by bombs can never be justified -> don’t know what outcome of war would have been -> some would say letting war drag on would have been worse and more costly psychologically )

Question 31

How does Jesus reference situation ethics(Christian references to situation ethics )

Answer 31

Jesus summarises the law as the requirement to love God and love your neighbour and breaks sabbath laws in order to heal people, thus bringing about a more loving outcome

The parable of the Good Samaritan emphasises the importance of helping neighbours , wether we like them or not

-Fletcher uses these as evidence to conclude that Jesus ethics are based off agape

Question 32

How does the bible reference situation ethics and the importance of love

Answer 32

• The gospel of John emphasises the theme of love very strongly in the form of neighbourly love as opposed to erotic love
• Emphasises this is 1 John 2:9-10)

-Paul also references the importance of love
“And now faith hope and love abide, these three and the greatest of these is love”

Question 33

Give examples of other Christian references to situation ethics and the importance of love

Answer 33

• In the fourth century, Augustine famously suggested people should “love God and do what they will” highlighting a similar point to positivism
• Archbishop William temple argued love was the main duty that Christians have
• There were also ideas about the importance of love in the work of Bonhoeffer whose faith led him to plot against Hitler

Question 34

Why might there a arguments saying situation ethics should not be seen as a religious ethical theory

Answer 34

• Situation ethics has been rejected by the established church. It was condemned at the time of Fletchers writing by pope pius XII as it was in clear opposition to natural law
• It could also be argued fletchers reading of the word of Jesus is highly selective. Jesus quite clearly condones divorce and adultery in his teaching showing he doesn’t feel anything is justifiable by love

Question 35

Who does Fletcher hand responsibility to by rejecting legalism and antinomianism in favour of agape

Answer 35

In rejecting both legalism and antinomianism in favour of the principle of agape (in each situation we are required to do what brings about the most loving outcome Fletcher places a lot of responsibility on the individual to make the decision. There is no need to consult authorities. The person in the situation has the moment of decision (kairos).

Question 36

What concerns does this responsibility lead to

Answer 36

This may lead to concerns that the theory becomes very subjective as what is most loving is very subjectuve

Question 37

How does Fletcher respond to traditional views of conscience

Answer 37

Fletcher argues that traditional understandings of conscience are mistaken. Conscience is often seen as a thing -a noun. This may be either the voice of God within us according to Catholic thinker J.H Newhman or an inbuilt reasoning tool in the thinking of Aquinas

Question 38

What are Fletchers view on conscience

Answer 38

• Fletcher says conscience is not a thing we possess, rather an activity we undertake
• It is a verb not a noun and refers to the process of deciding
• Conscience in Fletchers view is a director ( before and during event) as opposed to a reviewers(after event )
• What he ultimately seems to mean by conscience that we should act conscientiously e.g we must consider thoughtfully how to apply love and any moral principle must be kept in check as they are guides and advisers but do not have the final word

Question 39

Why might the fact that situation ethics is individualistic and subjective be good

Answer 39

• Rather than relying on external authorities , situation ethics gives responsibility and autonomy in moral decision making . Thus situation ethics treats individuals as adults
• Situations and contexts do differ greatly and by making it individualistic flexibility is retained in decision making. The individualistic nature of situation ethics also recognises what is right for one person in a situation may not be right for another in the same situation

Question 40

What are the negatives of situation ethics being individualistic and subjective

Answer 40

• Situation ethics being subjective means it could never be an ethic applied to society as a whole as views of love differ
• Situation ethics may be overly optimistic about human capacity to reason clearly and reach moral decisions. Physiologists refer to the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance which makes it difficult to recognise evidence that goes against a deeply held belief
• Other thinkers that have used love in ethics, decision making have continued to recognise the importance of community for decision making. Bonhoeffer community at fikenwalde made decisions based on communal bible reading, prayer and conversation