Situation ethics Flashcards
What is the ultimate situation ethics quote?
“Only one thing is intrinsically good; namely, love” - Fletcher
What are inspirations of situation ethics?
Jesus: (Mark’s Gospel)
“You shall love your God with all your heart”.
“Love your neighbour as yourself”.
“There is no commandment greater than these”.
Who was Fletcher?
-Introduced Situation Ethics
-Humanist
-Disagreed with ‘absolute’ principles
“Nothing is inherently right or wrong, everything should be done according to the most loving thing specific to the situation” - Fletcher
What are Fletcher’s 3 approaches to moral thinking?
-Legalistic (laws)
-Situational (depends on situation)
-Antinomian (no laws, rules or principles of ethics, opposite of legalistic)
What was the context of situation ethics?
-Church membership declining due to strict deontological ideas.
-Weakened religious bonds after horrors of WW1 + WW2.
-Rise of science.
-Changing views on sex, gender and family.
-Freedom from repressive social and religious attitudes.
What does Fletcher believe about rules?
-They are good guidelines, but they are breakable.
What does Fletcher believe about legalism + quote?
-Rigid and prescriptive approach.
-No place in society.
-Loses sight of the reality of life and importance of versatility.
“Any web thud woven sooner or later chokes its weavers”.
Situation ethics quote.
“Situation ethics puts people at the centre of concern” - Fletcher
What are the 4 working principles
Relativism= only love is absolute, rules/laws are relative to the situation.
Pragmatism= what is good is what works in practice and maximises love.
Positivism= “only one thing is intrinsically good; namely, love” (love is the most important moral value and should be the guide for all moral decision-making).
Personalism= rules should serve people as they are at the centre of concern, we should only follow rules that benefit us. “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath”.
What does Fletcher say about positivism?
“‘Faith working through love’, is the essence and pith of Christian ethics”.
Faith should come first if ‘God is love’ because love is the most important thing of all and therefore we should make decisions through faith.
Define relativism.
-The idea, for Fletcher, that morality is relative to the situation.
-Jesus’ agapeic love “relatives the absolute, does not absolute the relative.”
-Sometimes immoral actions can be justified by love, because love is the only absolute and everything else is variable.
What are Fletcher’s Six Propositions + quotes?
Love only is always good - only principle that should be considered.
“Only one thing is intrinsically good…”
Love is the only norm - social rules can be broken for love.
“The ruling norm of Christian decision is love: nothing else”
Love is justice distributed - love is completely fair.
Love is not liking - love’s unconditional, regardless the relationship.
“Love wills the neighbour’s good whether we like it or not”.
Love justifies its means - actions justified by loving consequences.
Love decides there and then - no moral absolutes, all situational.
What is the agapeic calculus + example of its usage in history?
-Calculates how much love an action will generate.
-A possible example could be President Truman’s ‘agapeic calculation’ of dropping an A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing around 200,000 people.
-His aim was to end WW2 and it was estimated to save around 2 million US servicemen.
What is the main argument of situation ethics?
Decisions should be made based on how much agape an action will produce.
The most morally good decision is the one that produces the most agape.
Strengths of situation ethics
-Flexible and practical.
-Takes into account the complexity of human life.
-Doesn’t treat humans as autonomous beings.
-Takes into account subjective nature of situations and modern issues.
-Puts humans first.
-Don’t have to follow legalistic rules that may bring about unloving consequences.
-God gave us free will, we are not slaves to the legalistic rules, we must make moral decisions ourselves.
What does William Barclay argue about situation ethics?
William Barclay criticises Fletcher by claiming morality should be cooperative and bind us together to create a society that functions together, but how can society function if it based on individual decision making. Barclay quotes that SE gives a “terrifying degree of freedom”.
Weaknesses of situation ethics
-Catholic Church fully rejects it - “we abandon this theory”.
-Makes decision-making complicated.
-Some may abuse the idea that ‘love justifies the means’ e.g rape.
-Places too much pressure on the individual.
-Inconsistent with some Bible teachings.
-Inconsistent with Bible teachings e.g St Paul rejects the idea that we may do evil to bring about good.
What does Fletcher believe about antinomianism?
Views it as an irresponsible approach.
CASE STUDY: What would situation ethicists believe about the conjoined twins, Mary and Jodie?
-Letting both girls die is not pragmatic, it would be more practical to save one girl at the expense of the other.
-Letting Jodie live would put her life above the rule “do not kill”, rather than letting both girls die in respect of it.
CASE STUDY: Who was Bonhoeffer?
-German Lutheran pastor who believed burying the dead and comforting the wounded was an inadequate response to the Holocaust.
-He became involved in a plot to kill Hitler, but was discovered and killed.
-Fletcher would argue that it could be the most loving thing to kill Hitler, just as in certain situations it could be the most loving thing to kill an innocent man.
