Situation ethics

Question 1

Who was Situation Ethics most famously championed by?

Answer 1

Joseph Fletcher

Question 2

What is Situation Ethics based on?

Answer 2

Agape love (Christian unconditional love)

Question 3

What did Joseph Fletcher reject

Answer 3

• Legalism/fajia
• Antinomianism

Question 4

What is legalism/fajia?

Answer 4

• One of the six classical schools of thought in Chinese Philosophy
• Excessive conformity to the law/religious moral code

Question 5

What is antinomianism?

Answer 5

• Any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms
• The heretical doctrine that Christians are exempt from the obligations of moral law

Question 6

What did Fletcher say about legalism and antinomianism?

Answer 6

We need to find a balance between the two

Question 7

What are Fletcher’s four working principles?

Answer 7

• Pragmatism
• Relativism
• Positivism
• Personalism

Question 8

What is pragmatism?

Answer 8

It has to work in daily life - it must be practical

Question 9

What is relativism?

Answer 9

There should be no fixed rules

Question 10

What is Positivism?

Answer 10

It must put faith before reasoning – “I am a Christian, so what should I do?”

Question 11

What is Personalism?

Answer 11

People should be at the centre of the theory

Question 12

What are Fletcher’s 6 Fundamental Principles?

Answer 12

1 - Love is the only absolute (it is intrinsically good)
2 - Christian decision making is based on love
3 - Justice is love distributed
4 - Love wants the good for anyone, whoever they are
5 - Only the end justifies the means
6 - Love is acted out situationally not prescriptively

Question 13

What is a critique for the 2nd Fundamental Principle?

Answer 13

The Bible itself contradicts this statement. There are many violent biblical scriptures.

Question 14

What is arguably the most violent biblical verse?

Answer 14

Samuel commands Saul “Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass” (1 Samuel 15:3).

Question 15

What is an advantage of situation ethics?

Answer 15

The key advantage is that it uses rules to provide a framework but allows people to break rules to reflect life’s complexities

Question 16

What are some disadvantages of situation ethics?

Answer 16

• It does not provide a clear definition of what agape love actually is
• It is too subjective – because decisions have to be made from within the situation. Humans do not have a bird’s eye view on a situation so have difficulty in seeing what the consequences will be.
• It is human nature to love family more than strangers
• We do not know whose rules to follow