Situation Ethics

Question 1

Who established Situation Ethics?

Answer 1

•Fletcher

Question 2

What is Situation Ethics a balance between?

Answer 2

•Legalism and Antinomianism

Question 3

What is Legalism?

Answer 3

•It is when people must obey a strict set of rules for order to be maintained in society

Question 4

What is Antinomianism?

Answer 4

•The rejection of strict rules or laws

Question 5

What are the characteristics of Situation Ethics?

Answer 5

•It is relative, subjective and teleological

Question 6

How does Jesus support Situation Ethics?

Answer 6

•He stated that “only the commandment to love is categorically good”

Question 7

What are the 4 working principles?

Answer 7

1.Pragmatism - discovering workable, practical solutions (similar to Utilitarianism)
2.Relativism - every action should be relative to the needs of the person and the situation (every action is judged against the one principle of love)
3.Positivism - faith comes before reason (there is faith in love which means we can use our reason to apply faith in a situation)
4.Personalism - putting people first (people are more important than rules)

Question 8

Who believed in 4 different types of love?

Answer 8

•C.S. Lewis
1.Familial (family)
2.Friendship
3.Eros (romantic)
4.Agape (a selfless love)

Question 9

How does Luke support Situation Ethics?

Answer 9

•It states “Do to others what you want them to do to you”

Question 10

How does Mark support Situation Ethics?

Answer 10

•It states that you should “love God and love your neighbour as yourself”

Question 11

What is agape love?

Answer 11

•It is loving everyone, including your enemy

Question 12

How is agape love shown?

Answer 12

•It is shown through actions

Question 13

How does Jesus display agape love?

Answer 13

•He shows it through helping the oppressed and forgotten people (the ill, the poor and women)
- He also showed it to his followers and accepted them to demonstrate it too

Question 14

What did God do that was only possible due to agape love?

Answer 14

•God’s resurrection of Jesus after he died for his enemies

Question 15

What are the 6 propositions?

Answer 15

1.Love is the only thing that is INTRINSICALLY GOOD - ensures people will always help others
2.Love is the RULING NORM in ethical decision and replaces all laws - offers people freedom from laws and allows them to make their own decisions
3.Love and JUSTICE are the same (justice is love that is distributed) - ensures everyone is treated fairly and justly
4.Love wills the NEIGHBOUR’S good regardless of whether the neighbour is liked or not - love applies to everyone and promotes the well-being of all people
5.Love is the GOAL of an act and JUSTIFIES any means to achieve that goal - focuses on the consequences of an action
6.Love decides on each situation as is arises without a set of LAWS to guide it - we cannot know what to do before we are in the situation

Question 16

What 2 examples of situations can be used for the 6 propositions?

Answer 16

1.A 40-year-old mother of two young children is terminally ill and in great pain. She is considering euthanasia.
2.A 13-year-old girl is raped and becomes pregnant as a result. She is unsure on whether she should have an abortion or not.

Question 17

What 2 examples did Fletcher create to support Situation Ethics?

Answer 17

1.Sacrificial Adultery - a mother is taken to a work camp during the war and discovers the only way to leave the prison is to have an affair with a guard and get pregnant
2.Christian Cloak & Dagger - a Christian woman has to decide between her faith and saving her country as she needs to sleep with a man to get information

Question 18

What did Fletcher believe about the conscience?

Answer 18

•He believed “there is no conscience”
- He believes it is something we do, not something we have as if it was within us that would mean we have a set of rules or principles within us which goes against situationism
- The conscience provides guidance, it is not a judge that makes us feel guilty after doing something wrong (what we feel is remorse, not the conscience)

Question 19

What did Fletcher believe were the 4 different ways of understanding the conscience?

Answer 19

1.It is an INNATE FACULTY (our intuition)
2.It is an inspiration from an outside source (GOD)
3.It is the VALUES we have gained from our SOCIETY
4.It is a faculty within us that includes REASON making moral judgements (Aquinas’ view)

Question 20

What is Situationism?

Answer 20

•It is the application of ethical principles to specific situations

Question 21

What does Antinomianism lead to?

Answer 21

•It leads to “random, unpredictable, erratic” decisions

Question 22

How does John support agape love?

Answer 22

•It states that “a new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you”

Question 23

How does Corinthians support agape love?

Answer 23

•It states that “Love is patient, love is kind…it is not self-seeking”

Question 24

How does Jesus support the second proposition?

Answer 24

•He replaced the law of the Old Testament with the principle of love by continuing to heal on the sabbath even though the law forbade it

Question 25

What 4 things does Fletcher believe must be taken into consideration when making decisions?

Answer 25

1.The end (what we want to achieve)
2.The means (how we will achieve it)
3.The motive (why does the person want to achieve this end?)
4.Foreseeable consequences (what other consequences might there be beyond those intended?)