Situation ethics Flashcards
What does Fletcher divide moral thinking into?
Legalistic, antinomian and situational.
What was Joseph Fletcher’s book and when was it published?
Situation ethics, 1966
What does Fletcher think we should strive towards?
Agape (unconditional love).
Greek words adopted by Christians to describe Jesus’ crucifixion.
Selfless, it does not have to be returned.
What is Fletcher’s first proposition?
The only thing which is intrinsically good is agapeic love.
What is Fletcher’s second proposition?
Love is the ruling norm.
What is the third proposition?
Justice is love
What is the fourth proposition?
Love does not depend on emotion.
What is the fifth proposition?
Love should be the goal.
What is the sixth proposition?
Love should be considered in the context of each situation.
What are the four working principles?
Pragmatism, relativism, personalism and conscience
What is Pragmatism?
Doing the most practical thing.
What is relativism?
Depends on situation.
What is personalism?
Rules matter more than people.
What is conscience?
The process of deciding the loving thing to do.
What are some strengths of situation ethics?
- Relativist
- Does not have problems with being outdated.
- Autonomy
- fits well with Christian faith.
What are some weaknesses of situation ethics?
- Relativist
- Difficult to apply
- Could be abused to justify heinous actions.
What are the three approaches to moral thinking?
- Legalistic- laws.
- Situational- middle ground, depending on situation. Can put laws aside if love is better.
- Antinomian- opposite to legal, every moral decision is unique, no rules just own choices.
Love central in the Bible:
Mark 12 says most important commandment, ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’.
St Paul, ‘the greatest of these is love’.
Who is Fletcher inspired by?
- Archbishop William Temple, who said love is the ‘only one ultimate and invariable duty’.
- Rudolf Bultmann says Jesus had no other ethics other than ‘love thy neighbour’.
How can we disagree with Fletcher through William Temple?
He says that love should be applied but:
‘How to do this is another question’.
Fletcher’s conclusion:
‘Love is the only universal’.
Relativism:
May be different motives for different situations, but the absolute maxim of love must be applied.
Does Fletcher see situation ethics as Christian?
- No, he gives up his Christianity.
- Thinks non Christians are purely driven by love, whilst Christians find some other interior motive.
Conscience and situation ethics:
- It is not a guide for human action.
- It is not a store of reliable rules.
- it is not an inner voice with access to divine truth.
- it is a verb, not a noun. It is a doing word, process of moral reasoning formed by love.
Biblical example of love:
1 Corinthians, ‘love is patient and love is kind’.
Biblical example against love:
- Sodom and Gomorrah ‘brimstone and fire’.
- ‘The binding of Isaac’.
William Barclay:
‘first of all we must make a man morally and lovingly fit to make that decision’.
Things like masochism exist, people enjoy watching pain.
Strengths of situation ethics:
- Relativist when rule based ethics are not helpful. Should they have abided by the laws of the nazis??
- Provides guides rather than rules, so we can really be gratified for doing the right thing.
- Justice is fair, because it can lead to people taking advantage and using it as a ‘loop hole’, but doesn’t this give us a clearer insight into who should be punished?
Weaknesses:
- Teleological (outcome), but how is it possible to predict the outcome?
- Does not provide a simply outcome, just showing love does not give us an answer, just comfort.
- ‘Ripples in a pond theory’, how far should our love go??
- We are selfish, according to Augustine (Original sin) is it realistic for us to be purely based on love???
Critiques to Situation ethics:
- Rev John Macquarrie, it’s too individualistic, which can never be a basis for social morality.
- DZ Phillips, ‘whatever one does, one is going to hurt someone’. (Ripple in a pond). Getting someone a nice present, labourers in different countries.
