situation ethics Flashcards
how does fletcher see justice
justice as a kind of tough love, love applied to the world
justice
notions of fair distribution of benefits for all
pragmatism
the most practical way to act in moral decision making
relativism
rejection of absolute moral standards such as law or rights. good and bad are individual to love
positivism
something as true or good without demonstrating it
fletcher posits love as good
personalism
ethics centered on people rather than laws or subjects
conscience
facualty with in us or out moral reasoning
fletcher definiton of conscience
a function rather than a faculty
teleological ethics
moral goodness determined by the end result
legalistic ethics
law based moral decision making
antinomian ethics
doesnt recognise the role of law in morality
situational ethics
ethics focused on the situation rather then the fixed rules
agape love
unconditional love
extrinsically good
good defines with end in thought rather than good in itself
intrinsic opposite
william temple quote about ethics based on love
-there is only one ultimate and invariable duty and its to love thou self and thy neighour
fletcher situation ethics based on love quote
-christian ethics has only one principle- love- the agape commandment to the command to love and god and thy neighour
st louis taxi driver quote to fletcher
some times when a man has to push his principles aside and do the right thing
legalism
-overreliance on rules
-jesus says approach bad
called pharisees to strain out a gnat but swallow a camel
-focuses on minor issues and forgets major
fletchers view on later christian development
went back to over reliance on rules expecially natural law
situationism
-involves taking principles of your community and using them to illuminate situations
-knowing when to apply principles and when to make exceptions
antinomianism
no laws
=believe of freedom to act as one sees fit in any circumstance
-holy spirit guides
-to have no rules leads to anarchy- we dont know what to do from one situation to another
4 working principles
pragmatism
-relatavism
-positivism
-personalism
pragmatism as a working principle
-William jones and John devey
-in order to count something as true something must work in practise
theoretical situations that lead to non positive outcomes no good
-decision must be something good that makes good decisions
reletavism as a working principle
-right thing to do dependent on context
-reason to act is love
specifics of how love is applied depend on situation
positivism as working principle
-positivist approach to law
-law are things humans beings create
-we have to be active in bringing the most amount of love into society through our actions and decisions
personalism as working principle
-people centered
-woman caught in adultery of sabbath being made for men verses vice versa
-examples when jesus put people before rules
-place people at centre of ethics rather than obedience to rules
love only intrinsically good as 1 proposition
-only love good in life
-fletcher calls love one regulative principle of christian ethics
ruling norm of christian decision love 2 proposition
-jesus said above all laws love yourself and neighour and god
love and justice same as 3 proposition
love wills neighour good whether we like him or not 4 proposition
-love selfless commitment of decision to treat others as best as we can
-parable of good samaritan- love extends to enemies
only end justifies means nothing else 5 proposition
-if end outcome most loving then any means of reaching action justified
love decisions made situationally 6 proposition
-love deicdes there and then fletcher says
-gather facts rather than decide facxts before case
abortion after rape fletcher scenario application
-young patient in ward raped by fellow patient
-father requested abortion but doctors said abortion only if mothers life in danger
fletcher- wrong outcome, illustrates how legalism can make wrong decision. situation ethics person based not legalistic
euthanasia fletcher scenario application
-terminally ill man offered medical treatment to keep him alive for a few extra months- family dont benefit but if he doesnt family dont get sum
-fletcher- situation ethics teleological- what makes action good is outcome , fletcher pragmatist, most important that course of action works rather than right- permissible to break normal moral rule and refuse treatment
sexual ethics- adultery fletcher scenario application
-she could leave camp for being pregnant so asked guard to get her pregnant- returned to family in germany-
Fletcher- relativist- whats right or wring depends on situation- most loving thing to do so acceptable
arguments for situation ethics being religious
-jesus sums up all of jewish law as love god and your neighour which fletcher uses
-new testemant jesus opposed legalism of pharisees
-jesus argues love is primary evidence of genuiness of religious faith-
john 13 34-35
by this everyone will know that your are my disciples- if you have love for one another or not
arguments against situation ethics being a religious theory
-fletchers readings of jesus to selective- condenms divorce and adultery but fletcher accepts it
-jesus said obey his commandments if they follow him - more than just love
-interpratation of agape as unconditional wishing of best for our neighour not explicitly christian
mark 12 29 31
most important love god with all your heart and love your neighour as yourself
4 types of love in greek
-storge- familial connections-
philia- close friendship
-eros-sexual love
agape- charity- unconditional love
C.S Lewis four loves on agape love
-suggests love for human kind
-altriusm
-doesnt involve desire
-not natural to us and can only be practised with gods help
arguments arguing situation is helpful for making moral decisions
-relatavistic- flexible- enables people to keep spirit of law without being obsessed with letter of law
-enables decisions to be made by situation-enables us to choose lesser of two evils
-person centred and closer to teachings of jesus
-love principle thats hard to object to- compassionate to make decisions because of love
arguments arguing against situation ethics being helpful for moral decision making
-reletavist so vague-suggestion we should do most loving thing not clear
-no moral boundaries- everything permitted if situation extreme enough, rape and genocide never right
-teleological- have to make predictions anout uncertain consequences
-diffuciy to decide where situation begins and ends-action may set in chain more things
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arguments arguing ethical judgments should be based on agape love
-for religious thinker agape best principle and for jesus the best
-principle of agape useful in helping us know when to accept general rules and when to break them- flexible to different situations
-agape relatavist- not easy to manipulate
arguments arguing ethical judgments should not be based on agape love
-concept of love shown in different ways, concept and application to individual situation produced different results
-deals with exceptional case-agape might be right approach but most cases require us to follow conventional rules
-may be better principles in ethics- pleasure, duty, purpose
religious thinker might rely on gods revelation and think agape leads to stress
agape in christian tradition examples and philosophers
-augustine- people should love god and do what they will
-aquinas- proportionalism and double effect
-william temple- love christians main duty
-Bohnoeffer- love caused his plot against hitler
arguments for situation not being to indivisualistic and subjective
-rather than relying on external authorities- gives responsobility and autonomy in moral decision making- treats people as adults
-recognises what might be right for one might not be for another- flexible
arguments arguing situation ethics is to individualitsic and subjective
-emphasis on indivudual deicsion making means it cant be applied to whole of society
-other thinkers have used love as basis of decision making gave continued to recognise importance of community for decision making- Bonhoeffer
-augustine and Barth- human reason flawed- overlly reliant on ondividuals making right decision- congitive dissonance- hard to go against deeply rooted belief
arguments against fketchers view on conscience
-being key process in decision making a little vague in terms of detail
he arguably misinterprets aquinas views of conscience whos views may be closer to fletchers than he thinks
fletchers view of conscience
-enabled you to figure out requirments of agape in your situation
-its a verb not a noun
-he disagreed with traditional view of it being internal moral compass or mental ability to know whats right or wrong
situation ethics designed for modern society strength
-fletcher and Robinson argue humanity has come of age- more mature
-medieval- less educated- needed rigid rules to follow- couldnt be trusted to act on nuances and complexities of modern ethics
-people more civilised now and grant them more autonomy will increase love without risking the stability of society
situation ethics not designed for modern society weakness
-William barclay- argues situation ethics gives moral agents to much freedom
-for freedom to be good love has to be perfect
if no or not enought love freedom can be selfish and cruel
-if everyone saint situation ethics perfect
-mankind has not come of age and needs crutch and protection of age
final judgment situation ethics good for modern society strength
-bacrlays argument fails because legalism worser
-true that some abuse autonomy situation ethics grants them
-not as bad compared to dangers of legalistic morality- infelixible and outdated
-direction of history involves more educated and civilised people so people can be trusted with more freedom
final judgment critiquing situation ethics- not for modern society
-barclays argument sucess
-if people granted autonomy- they will choose selfish and cruel thing over loving thing
-human nature corrupt innately
-stanford prison experiment and lord of the flies
-freedom to decide whats good and bad without legalism grants humans more power and corrupts them
situation ethics being founded on liberal approach to bible strengths
–legalists have to much rules- could interpret bible but dont know if its right
-bible not perfect word of god
-sermon on mount and teachings offer paradigms
-bibles fixed rules shouldnt be seen as unbreakable rules
-whatever maximises agape is fine
-focus on bibles love teachings
-ethics of st paul and jesus focused on love and forgiveness
situation ethics not liberal view of bible weakness
-although love central- not only teaching of bible
-ignores other teachings of bible
-luthers theory of sola scripture- bible alone source of moral authority- not autonomous individual deciding demands of agape in their situation
-sola scriptura protestant W.L.Craig argues bible shows gods justice just as important as love
judgment defending situation ethics is liberal approach of bible
Craig fails
-fletcher says justice is love distributed
-proves fletchers point of impossibility of figuring exactly out what bible means
-not view it literally
-only as guidelines
-justified to overrule agape with most teachings in bible
love strong basis for ethics strength for fletcher
-doing action which promotes most loving outcome
-strength of being towards love without weakness of unreliable emotion
-agape love christian selfless love
-some love subjective and unstable for ethics but not agape
subjecticity of agape weakness for fletcher
-agape defined as loving your neighour as yourself
less subjective than love
-Chitchens- loving your neighour only good if how you love yourself good
-way person loves themselves subjective
-killing people in battle- people want to die in battle so seen as loving your neighour
agape not subjective defending situation ethics
-criticism not success because it misunderstands agape
-agape not only treating neighour as yourself but loving as yourself
-people dieing in battle- perhaps they didnt love themself
flexibility strength of situation ethics
-relevant due to flexibility in taking situation into account
-doesnt reveal strict rules or precepts but simply way of individual figuring out whats most loving outcome in situation
-allows christian ethics to adapt to new ethical situations and issues associated with modern society and tech
relatavism leads to antinomianism weakness
-natural law based catholic argument
-aquinas said prudence cardinal virtue
-it could be justified to do action that go against normal rules if double effect justifies it
-fletcher goes too far
-no matter what pragmatic situation- life cannot be reletavised
-stability of society thretaned
-mother thereasa- greatest threat of peace abortion
final judgment defending situation ethics not lead to antinomianism
-social order argument not true
-northern europe countries where quality of life over sanctity of life
-those countries happy
-strict ethical rules not needed for social order
-doesnt lead to antinomianism
final judgment arguing it does lead to antinomisanism weakness
-catholic argument success because its logical if culture devalues life than that could threaten social stability
-god ensures sanctity of life
-if we go against this contrary to gods design unnatural and leads to immorality and social disorder
-ethics that focus on individual autonomy might be fine for particular situations but bat for society as a whole
