situation ethics Flashcards
who created the theory ?
the theory was created/formulated by american proffesor, joseph fletcher.
situation ethics introduction
situation ethics was created by joseph fletcher in the 1960s. it is a product of its time, and deliberately so. the 60s were defined by radical social movements aimed at overthrowing traditional ways of life which were seen as oppressive. religion faces a dilemma in the face of such modernising forces; whether to adapt and reform itself or attempt to carry on as if nothing had changed. fletcher is a classic example of adaptation. his approach embodies liberal christianity in many ways. he rejected the traditional approach to christian ethics of strict adherence to moral laws. instead he attempted a reduction of christian ethics to what many would agree is the overarching theme of Jesus’ ethics: love.
legalism, situation ethics and antinomianism
legalism is the view that people require fixed rules to follow. antinomianism is the view that there are no rules or laws to follow at all. fletcher claimed that his situation ethics was a middle ground which avoids the problems of each extreme while retaining the benefit of each. the downside of legalism is that it cannot take the situation into account, the downside of antinomianism is that it leads to moral chaos. the upside of legalism is that it has clear guidance for people to follow, the upside of antinomianism is that it takes the situation into account. situation ethics takes the situation into account, give people clear guidance and avoids moral chaos. it does this by claiming that love is the one single absolute principle which should be applied to all situations. the action that is good is the one which has the most loving consequence in the situation you are in.
agape
the importance of agape in christianity is drawn from jesus saying that the ‘greatest commandment’ is to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’. fletcher interprets that as suggesting all other religious rules, principles and commandments only have value insofar as they enable agape. for example, the 10 commandments clearly state that murder is wrong. however, fletcher gives the example of a family hiding from bandits when their baby started crying, which would reveal their hiding place. fletcher said it’s the most loving thing to kill the baby because the situation was that they would otherwise all die anyway, including the baby.
the four working principles
he four working principles are involved in the application of the guiding principle of agape to moral situations.
pragmatism - an action must be calibrated to the reality of the situation.
relativism - fletcher claimed his theory “relativizes the absolute, it does not absolutize the relative”. relativizing the absolute means that absolutes like “do not kill” become relative to love. if it has a loving outcome to kill, such as euthanasia sometimes can, then that absolute is false relative to love. not absolutizing the relative means that it is not total relativism where any moral claim could be justified. it is always relative to love which means that only moral claims which are valid when relative to love will be justified for fletcher.
positivism - natural law and kantian ethics are based on reason but fletcher thought ethics had to begin with faith in love because fletcher thought no rational answer can be given for why someone should love as it is a matter of faith in jesus’ command to love your neighbour as yourself.
personalism - situation ethics puts people above rules. as jesus said “the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath”. fletcher claims this shows that jesus knew rules could be broken if it was for the good of humanity to do so.
the six fundamental principles
the six fundamental principles/propositions are axioms which follow from agape being at the centre of ethics.
- only love is intrinsically good. everything else has conditional value depending on whether it helps or hurts people, but love is always unconditionally and therefore intrinsically good.
- the ruling norm of christian decision is love; nothing else.
- love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed, nothing else. fletcher think that maximising agape is the only ethical goal. many think that justice is an ethical goal, so fletcher here is explaining that justice actually reduces to love, it is merely the question of how widely and fairly love is distributed.
- love wills the neighbour’s good whether we like him or not. jesus called on us to love our neighbour no matter who they are, which includes people we don’t like.
- only the end justifies the means; nothing else. the is fletcher’s consequentialism. if the consequence of an action is the most loving possible then it is good, it doesn’t matter what the action is. the end of maximising agape justifies the means we use to produce it.
- love decides there and then. when we are faced with a moral choice we have to decide there and then in that situation what the right thing to do is.
fletcher’s views on conscience
fletcher thought that the conscience was what enabled you to figure out the requirements of agape in your situation. he said conscience was a verb not a noun, indicating he disagreed with the traditional view that conscience is an internal moral compass or mental ability to intuitively know what is right or wrong.
