Situation Ethics Flashcards
Who founded SE?
Joseph Fletcher
Contextualising SE (2)
1960s:
Free love more popular
Capabilities of government in question (Suez Crisis, Profumo Affair)
Where is SE among other ethical theories?
Between Legalistic Ethics (laws by external authority) and Antinomian Ethics (no laws at all)
What kind of ethic is it?
Normative
Teleological
Four types of love
Philos
Storage
Agape
Eros
Four Working Priciples
1) Pragmatism- something works so has value
2) Relativism- absolute commands become relative to situation
3) Positivism- ethical norms aren’t rational
4) Personalism- people in centre of concern not things
Six Propositions
1) Love is always good- love is intrinsically good, exists objectively with God, predicate for humans
2) Love is the only norm- keep law when useful but be willing to break it
3) Love and justice are the same- ‘justice is love distributed’ fairly
4) Love is not liking- ‘love wills neighbour whether we like it or not’
5) Love justifies the means- 4 situational factors: end, means, motive, consequences
6) Love decides there and then- ‘love’s decision are made situationally not prescriptively’
Evaluating SE: William Barclay (5)
1) extreme cases
2) F overestimated value of being free from rules
3) unrealistic in how free humans really are
4) laws ensure humans don’t make artificial distinction between public & private morality
5) F overly optimistic about capacity of humans to make morally good choices
Evaluating SE: David Cook (6)
1) just another set of rules
2) defining a situation?
3) weighing up love in terms of consequences
4) successful situationist need to be omniscient and withstand lots of pressure
5) are love and justice same thing?
6) end doesn’t always justify means
Evaluating SE: Pope Prius XII (2)
1) opposition to natural law, God’s law
2) God should decide what is right, fair and just, not humans
Evaluating SE: Strengths (7)
1) provides clear alternative to Christian Ethics that is consistent to Jesus represented in Gospels
2) flexible and practical
3) easy to understand
4) don’t follow conventional rule
5) based on love, rational and emotional
6) suitable to modern world
7) 4 Working Principles are built in strengths
Evaluating SE: Weaknesses (7)
1) Subjective
2) individualistic
3) prepared to accept any action as long as outcome is loving
4) inconsistent with some teachings from Bible
5) extreme cases
6) rules and laws needed for clarity to people
7) unnatural to ask people to behave in way that is completely impartial
Key Quotes
‘Man come of age’ - Robinson
‘Justice is love distributed’
