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ETHICS > SITUATION ETHICS > Flashcards

SITUATION ETHICS Flashcards

1
Q

What kind of theory is Situation Ethics? (2)

A
  • A relativist, consequentalist theory.
  • It doesn’t prescribe fixed rules and it considers outcomes of actions
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2
Q

Who developed Situation Ethics?

A

Joseph Fletcher in Situation Ethics (1966)

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3
Q

What did the scholar say?

Which Scholar did Fletcher appeal to?

A

Rudolf Bultmann, who said “Jesus taught no ethics other than love thy neighbour”

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4
Q

What was Fletcher inspired by?

A

Inspired by Jesus’ gospel of love (agape).

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5
Q

AGAPE

A

Refers to an unconditional sacrificial love that intentionally desires another’s highest good.

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6
Q

Give one example from New Testament that supports Jesus adopting a situationist approach

A

Adulterous Woman

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7
Q

TATWAMHTPHPAADTRT

What does the St Louis Taxi driver say in Fletcher’s book?

A

“There are times when a man has to push his principle aside and do the right thing”

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8
Q

LEGALISM

A
  • An overreliance on rules
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9
Q

What could Legalism result in?

A

By putting people below the law, it could lead to suffering and pain because its forcing people to serve laws, not laws serving people

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10
Q

Use for legalism

What is a NT example of having an overreliance on rules?

A
  • By the time of Jesus, the Pharisees had 613 specific rules (mitzvahs) to uphold
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11
Q

An example of Jesus rebuking legalist ideas

A

“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27)

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12
Q

ANTINOMIANISM

A
  • No laws
  • Antinomians believe in freedom to act as one sees fit in any circumstances
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13
Q

How might a Christian behave in an antinomian way?

A

Going ‘as the spirit leads’

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14
Q

What might Antinomianism result in?

A

Having no rules will lead to anarchy and chaos

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15
Q

SITUATIONISM

A

DO WHAT AGAPE REQUIRES IN THE SITUATION

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16
Q

what does a situationist do for a moral law?

KEY QUOTE FOR SITUATIONISM

A

“The situationist follows a moral law or violates it according to love’s need”

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17
Q

Morality of an action

KEY QUOTE FOR SITUATIONISM

A

“The morality of an action depends upon the situation”

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18
Q

welfare of parents and children

DIVORCE LAW QUOTE

A

If the emotional and spiritual welfare of both parents and children… can be served best by divorce… then love requires it

Cited in Honest God, 1963 by John Robinson

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19
Q

What are some of Jesus’ teachings that fit the message of situation ethics?

A
  • “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27)
  • The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37): Jesus exposes the limitations of legalism in compared to serving agape.
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20
Q

What is a presupposition?

A

An assumption

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21
Q

PRAGMATISM

A
  • Being practical rather than ideological

James W, Writings 1902-1920

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22
Q

RELATIVISM

A
  • There are no fixed laws which must always be obeyed
23
Q

POSITIVISM

A
  • Love is posited as true or good without demonstrating this is the case
24
Q

PERSONALISM

A
  • People come first, not rules or ideals
25
Q

THE SIX PROPOSITIONS: NUMBER 1

A
  • Only one thing is intrinsically good, namely love: nothing else at all
  • Actions are not intrinsically good or evil- they are good or evil depending upon whether they promote the most loving result
  • Only love is truly good in itself
26
Q

THE SIX PROPOSITIONS: NUMBER 2

A
  • The ruling norm of Christian decision is love, nothing else
  • In the New Testament, Jesus consistently replaces the Old Testament laws with the principle of love
  • Where law and love conflict, we must follow love
  • Fletcher reminds us that Jesus summed up the whole Jewish law as “Love God” and “Love thy neighbour”
27
Q

THE SIX PROPOSITIONS: NUMBER 3

A
  • Love and Justice are the same for justice is love distributed, nothing else
  • “Justice is Christian love using its head, calculating its duties, obligation, opportunities, resources” - Justice is Christian love being applied rationally, in a calculated manner
28
Q

THE SIX PROPOSITIONS: NUMBER 4

A
  • Love wills the neighbour’s good whether we like him or not
  • Love is an attitude, not a feeling
  • Agape love is selfless but not necessarily reciprocal- the neighbour can be anyone we come across
  • Fletcher notes that Jesus’ command to love even extends to our enemies ‘ Love thy enemies’
29
Q

THE SIX PROPOSITIONS: NUMBER 5

A
  • Only the end justifies the means, nothing else
  • Fletcher is not suggesting that any end is justified by any means, but that any loving end is justfied by any means
  • It is whether the end is worthwhile that determines if the action is worthwhile e.g WWII Resistance fighters who routinely lied, stole and killed its own members (the means) to serve a loving cause (the end)
30
Q

THE SIX PROPOSITIONS: NUMBER 6

A
  • Love’s decisions are made situationally, not presciptively
  • Love is the norm, but it doesn’t tell us what to do in a certain situation
  • We have to gather the facrs rather than decided the case before we know the facts
  • e.g sexual ethics- Christians have become overly obsessed with rules at the expense of deciding on a situational basis
  • Fletcher doesn’t answer the question as to whether adultery is wrong, he replies “Give me a real case”
31
Q

before abortion became legal

CASE STUDIES: ABORTION AFTER RAPE

A
  • 1962- young patient at a psych unit becomes pregnant after being raped by a fellow patient
  • Patient’s father requests an abortion but doctor refused on ground that abortion only permitted when mother’s life was in danger
32
Q

What is the key point of Fletcher’s case study of abortion after rape?

A

This case study illustrates how legalism can make the wrong decision

33
Q

Insurance

CASE STUDIES: SACRIFICIAL SUICIDE/EUTHANASIA

A
  • Terminally ill man offered expensive medical treatment that will probs prolong his life for a few extra months, keeping him alive long enough for his medical insurance to run out- his family wouldn’t benefit when he dies
  • If he refuses the medication and dies before his insurance runs out, his family would recieve a generous sum
34
Q

What is the key point of Fletcher’s case study of sacrificial suicide/euthanasia

A
  • Situation ethics is a teleological, ethical theory. What makes an action right is that it leads to a good outcome
  • It’s more important that a course of action works rather than is right, therefore in this case it may be permissible to break the normal moral rule and refuses treatment
35
Q

Prisoner of War

CASE STUDIES: SACRIFICIAL ADULTERY

A
  • German woman, Mrs Bergmeier, was in Russian prisoner of war camp. Became aware her family were alive in Germany but the only way to obtain release was through pregnancy (would be returned as a liability)
  • Persuaded a friendly camp guard to help her become pregnant and returned to her family
  • **KEY POINT: - German woman, Mrs Bergmeier, was in Russian prisoner of war camp. Became aware her family were alive in Germany but the only way to obtain release was through pregnancy (would be returned as a liability)
36
Q

What is the key point of Fletcher’s case study of sacrificial adultery?

A
37
Q

seduction to reduce war

CASE STUDIES: PATRIOTIC PROSTITUTION

A
  • A female government agent is asked by her superiors to seduce an enemy spy to order to obtain important information but she is unsure as to whether she could compromise her integrity in this way
  • The information she could get would shorten the war and save many lives- what should she do?
  • KEY POINT: Fletcher doesn’t suggest an answer. He has given us a method that will help us to decide for ourselves, it up to the young woman’s conscience. For Fletcher, conscience is a verb not a noun
38
Q

FLETCHER ON CONSCIENCE

A
  • According to Fletcher, conscience is not a thing we possess
  • Conscience is an active process, it is a verb not a noun
39
Q

CASE STUDIES: JUSTIFIABLE MASS KILLING

A
  • First atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  • Over 150,000 people were killed and even more than this were to die of their injuries in the months and years that followed. President Truman appointed a committee to decide on whether to use the weapon. Most favoured using it as it would shorten the war by years. Japan surrendered immediately after bombs were dropped.
  • FLETCHER LEAVES THIS OPEN ENDED
40
Q

STRENGTHS OF SITUATION ETHICS: AN IMPROVEMENT ON LEGALISM

A
  • Legalistic approaches to ethics bring inflexibility to situations and therefore might lead to harmful unloving outcomes
  • Situationism brings a much needed flexibility that takes circumstances into account
41
Q

STRENGTHS OF SITUATION ETHICS: CHRISTIAN

A

Arguably a truly Christian system- consistent with the teachings and example of Jesus

42
Q

STRENGTHS OF SITUATION ETHICS: SIX PROPOSITIONS

A
  • Enables us to answer difficult moral dilemmas where we may have two conflicting duties by giving one principle to follow e.g choosing between telling the truth and saving a life
43
Q

STRENGTHS OF SITUATION ETHICS: AGAPE

A

Agape love is a good principle- the demand that we do whatever is most loving for those around us whether we like them or not saves us from personal bias

44
Q

STRENGTHS OF SITUATION ETHICS: PRAGMATISM

A

people’s lives are are ultimately shaped by practical concerns and consequences

45
Q

STRENGTHS OF SITUATION ETHICS: PERSONALISM

A

acknowledges that rules should serve people and therefore protects against moral fanaticism

46
Q

STRENGTHS OF SITUATION ETHICS: CASE STUDIES

A

shows ethical theories are only needed in extreme situations when our norms fail to help. In difficult scenarios we need a principled pragmatic and relativist theory

47
Q

WEAKNESSES OF SITUATION ETHICS: BOUNDARIES

A
  • The theory has no clear and absolute boundaries as it argues that ‘never’ and ‘always’ are to be avoided
  • Leads to hypothetical extreme cases where dubious things could be allowed: Child torture if it is a terrorist’s child and that will lead to him disclosing location of a bomb
48
Q

The concept and how to apply it is…

WEAKNESSES OF SITUATION ETHICS: AGAPE

A
  • Vague and subjective- what each of us sees as the most loving may be a matter of opinion
  • Very demanding- is it possible for humans to be self-sacrificing?
49
Q

WEAKNESSES OF SITUATION ETHICS: JOHN MACQUARRIE

A
  • Book: Three Issues in Ethics (2012)
  • Argued that situationism is fundamentally and incurably individualist
  • It could never be used as the basis of a social morality
  • It also demands too much of individuals to percieve and judge what is right
  • ‘The situationist seems to be compelled…to assume on extraordinary degree of moral sensitivity and perceptiveness in those who are expected to read the demands of the situation’
50
Q

WEAKNESSES OF SITUATION ETHICS: WILLIAM BARCLAY

A
  • Book: Ethics in a Permissive Society (1972)
  • Argued Fletcher fails to recognise the fallible nature of human beings
  • ‘If we insist that in every situation every man must make his own decision, then first of all we must make man morally and lovingly fit to take that decision;otherwise we need the compulsion of law to make him do it’
  • Also argued Fletcher’s case studies are too extreme- how often do we make life and death decisions on which he bases his theory?
51
Q

WEAKNESSES OF SITUATION ETHICS: DIFFICULT TO KNOW WHERE A SITUATION BEGINS AND ENDS

A
  • We may resolve the immediate situation but set off an unexpected chain of consequences that don’t lead to a loving outcome
  • How far into the future are we required to calculate the outcome and what exactly are we morally responsible for?
52
Q

WEAKNESSES OF SITUATION ETHICS: CHRISTIANITY

A
  • Could be argued that Fletcher’s Christian foundation is selective. He used one biblical idea (agape) as an argument against another- protecting life, sexual purity being honest, not stealing etc
  • Fletcher can be accused of conflating Jesus’ rejection of the cultic practices and social rules of the time with moral rules
53
Q

BERNARD HOOSE: PROPORTIANALISM

A
  • Attempted to modify Fletcher’s theory by combining it with elements of Natural Moral, calling it Proportionalism
  • Gave the maxim: “It is never right to go against a principle unless there is a proportionate reason to justify it”

ETHICS (5 decks)

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