Situation Ethics

Question 1

What are absolute beliefs?

Answer 1

Beliefs that there are fixed moral principles which can be used to judge the morality of an action at all times, regardless of the context

E.g. stealing is an immoral action as it goes against the Decalogue/10 Commandments-regardless of situation,humans should never steal

Question 2

What are relative beliefs?

Answer 2

Beliefs that there are no fixed moral principles which can be used to judge the morality of an action,but it is dependent on the context

Question 3

What is deontological ethics?

Answer 3

This focuses on the action itself when judging the morality of an action rather than its consequences

(Absolute)

Question 4

What are teleological ethics?

Answer 4

This focuses on the ‘telos’-(purpose)of an action when judging the morality of an action rather than the action itself.

Question 5

What are the strengths of absolute/deontological

Answer 5

-prevents subjectivity as you’re judging the morality of an action based upon fixed moral principles
-provides rigid moral rules that can be applied to any given situation-even if ethically ambiguous

Question 6

Weaknesses of absolute/deontological

Answer 6

-Fails to consider the unique context of a situation-can seem intolerant

Question 7

Advantages of relativism

Answer 7

-prevents people from being subjected to one universal and unchanging way of thinking about morality
-allows for the diversity that is present in the world

Question 8

Weaknesses of relativism

Answer 8

-reduces ethics to personal preferences-thus prevents opportunities for individuals to engage in any real evaluation of moral conduct due to differing attitudes
-can justify any action as long as its in line of with a desirable outcome or societal norm.

Question 9

Who created situation ethics?

Answer 9

Joseph Fletcher in the 1960s

Question 10

What is legalism?

Answer 10

The view that people require fixed rules to follow

Question 11

What is antinomianism?

Answer 11

The view that there are no rules or laws to follow at all

Question 12

How did situation ethics come about?

Answer 12

-Fletcher rejected legalism as he believed that ‘unthinking obedience’ creates a form of ‘ethical idolatry’. He rejected this idea since it fails to take the situation into account
-during the 60’s, many things happened such as the assassination of JFK, Vietnam war- so people decided to move towards anarchy/antnomianism-Fletcher also rejected this as it leads to moral chaos
-Thus,Fletcher created situation ethics which acts as the middle ground between these two extremes.

Question 13

What did Fletcher describe situation ethics as?

Answer 13

‘Principled relativism’ as he created one absolute principle to which all conduct is relative:agape love( all moral decision should be based upon this)

Question 14

What is agape?

Answer 14

The highest form of unconditional love
Hugely influential on Christian theology and understood as sacrificial love
Fletcher was influenced by Jesus-which valorises (glorifies) love as a core Christian principle.

Question 15

What is principled relativism?

Answer 15

The principle to make all relative ethical judgements against is agape love.

Question 16

What are some scholarly support for agape as a moral decision making tool?

Answer 16

Fletchers view on agape aligns with the theologians who argue that love is a supreme Christian virtue.
-Karl Barth: “Gods commanding action” is not rules to be followed legalistically,but to be applied to each situation separately. In some cases this would permit ‘morally wrong actions’ such as abortion
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer- ‘The will of God in any situation is based upon the needs of one’s neighbour and the model of Jesus’
-Archbishop William Temple-‘there is only one ultimate and enviable duty and its the formula to ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself’

Question 17

What are the six propositions?

Answer 17

1. Love is the only thing that is instrinctly good

2.Love is the ruling norm in ethical decision making and replaces all laws

3. Love is justice distributes

4.Love wills the neighbours good regardless of whether they are liked or not.

5. Love justifies the means,nothing else

6.Love’s decisions are made situationally,not prescriptively.

Question 18

Describe each of the six propositions

Answer 18

1- LOVE IS INSTRINCTALLY GOOD-individual actions by themselves aren’t innately good. Agape love is the only thing good within itself,without the application of love,an action can neither be explained as good or evil. Fletcher said

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

“ For the situationist,what makes a lie right is its loving purpose. They are not hyptonized by some abstract law ‘thou shalt not lie”

2- LOVE IS RULING NORM-laws should be obeyed in the interest of love,not for laws sake

“The ruling norm of Christian ethics is love,nothing else”

3- LOVE IS JUSTICE DISTRIBUTED -Love takes everything into account,it is not partial
“justice is love distributed,nothing else”
“This type of love is calculating,not individualistic or subjective”

4-LOVE WILLS THE NEIGHBOURS GOODAgape love is the decision to act good for to other despite how we might personally feel about them. This attitude extends to all

“Christian love simply insists that whether we like them or not,they are our neighbours and to be loved”

5-LOVE JUSTIFIES THE MEANS-If the motives+actions are done with love the they are correct no matter what the action is
-the end must be the most loving result (if action is unlawful or causes harm they’re wrong but if good comes out if it,the action doesn’t matter

6-LOVE IS APPLIED SITUATIONALLY-There are no rules that apply to both situations. Instead we must decide out actions based on love according to the circumstances of the situation.

Question 19

Advantages of the six propositions

Answer 19

• provides a clear framework- helps to understand hoe to understand what’s meant by agape when making moral decisions
  -gives individuals autonomy in decoding what the most loving action is without legalism
  -gives opportunity for individuals to be flexible when making decisions in morally complex situations.

Question 20

Disadvantages of the six propositions

Answer 20

-can never be sure of the outcome in the future,so making decisions based on outcomes is irrational (Kant)
-rules would lead to more accurate decision making process+faster (Barclay)
-ignores other biblical principles e.g. 10 commandments

Question 21

What do Peter and Charlotte Vardy believe about the Six propositions?

Answer 21

1) Charlotte and Peter Vardy argue that situation ethics ‘confuses the concept of agape’ described in the Bible because Fletcher downplays the importance of ‘loving God’ plays in the application of agape as opposed to simply showing love to your neighbour as Fletcher suggests

2) The Vardy’s also criticise situation ethics for its ‘lack of clear guidance’. They claim that situation ethics could allow individuals to claim they’ve acted situationally when they may have been motivated by ‘baser motives’. Thus, S.E is open to abuse as it is used to ‘justify doing what people feel inclined to do,rather than what may be right’

Question 22

What four examples did Fletcher use to apply to situation ethics?

Answer 22

-patriotic prostitution
-sacrificial adultery
-sacrificial suicide
-Mission 13

Question 23

Summarise the example of the special bombing mission 13

Answer 23

-When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima,the plane crew were silent. Captain Lewis muttered six words, “My God,what have we done?” Three days later another hit Nagasaki

-In order to decide whether to use nuclear weapons,the US president appointed a committee. They decided that the lives saved by ending the war swiftly by using this weapon outweighed the lives destroyed using it.

Question 24

What would the response to the example of the special bombing mission NO.13 be if applied to situation ethics

Answer 24

-killing people isn’t self giving
-Killing the people in japan ro ensure the lives of others are saved doesn’t justify the means as not only did people die,but further damage was done to future generations in Nagasaki and Hiroshima such as birth defects etc.

Question 25

Summarise the example of the Sacrificial Adultery ( Mrs Bergmeir)

Answer 25

. During the second world war, a married German woman with three children was captured by a soviet patrol and taken to a prisoner-of-war camp in Ukraine.
. She learned after the war that her family were trying to stay together and find her. According to the rules, she’s only be released if she was pregnant. After considering her options, she asks a Volga German camp guard to impregnate her. She then later on became reunited with her family.

Question 26

What would Fletchers response be to the Sacrificial Adultery example?

Answer 26

. It was the right thing to do.
Selfless love:
. Personalism: people are more important that some circumstances that require sin, therefore, a good consequence justifies the bad action.

Question 27

What are the four working principles?

Answer 27

Pragmatism-For actions to be right they must be practical,one cannot just blindly follow rules as strict rules aren’t always practical in some situations. It allows you to focus on what works to bring about agape in each situation.

Relativism- Paul Tillich says “love relativises the absolute,it does not absolutise the relative”. This principle follows principled relativism - but its application needs to be relative.

For example, lying might be justified to protect someone from harm in one case, but that doesn’t mean lying should always be acceptable. Love guides each unique situation without turning it into a permanent rule.

Positivism-Fletcher says “any moral judgement in ethics,like a theologians faith is a decision-not a conclusion-it’s a choice,not a result reached by the force of logic”. Love is a positive choice,when u consider this before you act you can have faith your decision is good.

Personalism-love is something that’s experienced by people,so personalism is the view that if we are to maximise love, we need to consider the person in a situation. A situation puts people above the 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.

Question 28

Why would the four working principles not be useful?

Answer 28

-it encourages the dismissal of biblical law,which could cause a problem for Christian’s
-the principles after vague,leading to subjective decision making. How can a system of ethics have different people making different decisions in the same situation?(Barclay)

Question 29

Why would the four working principles be useful?

Answer 29

-provides a clear understanding of how situationists can maximise agape and justify their actions in ethical ambiguity
-places love at the centre for morality,which can be applied by everyone making S.E universal
-personalism ensures that people are put first before laws. This earns that as an ethical system it’s flexible and based on human needs.

Question 30

What is fletchers on the conscience

Answer 30

-conscience is not the name of an internal faculty nor is it a sort of internal “moral compass”
-the conscience is a process,so when making a moral decision a human is acting on ‘good conscience’ not ‘using their conscience’
-believes its a verb not a noun.

*the noun view of conscience—>abstract concept of following rules rightly
*the verb view—> means you consider the situation and work out what to do

Question 31

How does fletchers view of conscience strengthen situation ethics as a way to make moral decisions?

Answer 31

-its more complimentary to modern living as we are able to execute our ability to “do the right thing based on the situation”
-avoids ethical idolatry as it upholds personal autonomy.

Question 32

How does fletchers view of conscience strengthen situation ethics as a way to make moral decisions?

Answer 32

-its more complimentary to modern living as we are able to execute our ability to “do the right thing based on the situation”
-avoids ethical idolatry as it upholds personal autonomy.

Question 33

What are some weaknesses of fletchers view on conscience?

Answer 33

-points away from humans having universal morals
-demands too much of human morality and decision making
-societies will flounder without a fixed sense of morality.

Question 34

What are some strengths of situation ethics?

Answer 34

-it avoids ethical idolatry-> upholds personal autonomy
-replaces legalism with principled relativism
-has roots in Christianity-as it was modelled by Jesus
-includes the six propositions to uphold a clear understanding of agape-avoids anarchy

Question 35

Scholarly support for fletchers for situation ethics

Answer 35

-Robinson describes situation ethics as ‘an ethic for humanity come of age’
-he meant that it represents a mature, responsible approach to moral decision-making. Rather than relying on rigid, absolute rules (such as traditional legalistic ethics), Robinson saw Situation Ethics as a more flexible, context-sensitive approach that allows individuals to exercise personal judgment based on love (agape) and the specific circumstances.
-For Robinson, “coming of age” implied that humanity had reached a point where people could be trusted to make ethical decisions with greater autonomy and responsibility, using love as the guiding principle, rather than depending solely on external authority or dogma. This approach aligned with Joseph Fletcher’s ideas that ethical decisions should be made situationally, focusing on the most loving outcome

Question 36

What do peter and charlotte vardy say about situation ethics?

Answer 36

-charlotte and peter vardy—>they assert that S.E “confuses the concept of agape”. Also believe it downplays the importance of ‘loving God’. Fletcher makes it too simple in propositions by suggesting it can be just showing love to your neighbour. To them, F ‘lacks of clear guidance’ —> S.E could also allow individuals to claim they’ve acted situationally when they’ve been motivated by ‘baser motives’

Question 37

What does William Barclay say about situation ethics?

Answer 37

-William Barclay argues that S.E fails to ‘save us from the difficult and dangerous task of making our own judgements”.
-By not providing us with any laws and principles, S.E is dangerous as we have to make important moral decisions by ourselves.
-He disagrees with fletcher for rejecting legalism and his examples are unordinary -unlikely to happen IRL. Believes laws are necessary as they’re a ‘summary of society’s experience of life and living’/ ‘if all men were saints, s.e would be the perfect ethics.
- S.E expects an unrealistic level of morality form people

Question 38

What does Pope Pius XII say about situation ethics?

Answer 38

-he condemned the situational approach by stating ‘its an individual and subjective appeal to the concrete circumstances of actions to justify decisions in oppositions to the Natural Law or God’s revealed will.

Question 39

How to overcome the charlotte and peter vardy weaknesss of confusion of agape?

Answer 39

-the working principle of positivism-acceptance of agape is the acceptance of God-hence the term agape as opposed to love.
-this is the best way you can overcome the weakness as it demonstrated that agape love is consistent with Christian values and offers a theological foundation for decision making

Question 40

How to overcome vardys weakness of S.E having a lack of clear guidance?

Answer 40

-proposition 3 -‘love is justice distributed
-shows that although S.E avoids strict tules,it provides enough ethical structure for navigating complex situations without resulting in moral chaos.
-means that it’ll always lead to the right thing
-despite the fact tat the person may have ‘baser motives’-if their intention was to act situationally,their baser motives don’t matter as it’d always lead to the right thing.

Question 41

How to overcome Barclays weakness of making judgements on our own is dangerous?

Answer 41

-Principled relativism
- Principled relativism ensures that while there is flexibility, there is still a grounding in moral objectives. This balance between freedom and moral responsibility keeps individuals from making entirely self-centered decisions, preserving a form of moral order.

Question 42

How to overcome Barclays weakness of situation ethics expecting an unrealistic level of morality?

Answer 42

-This is a pessimistic view of human nature. While not all individuals are saints, situation ethics encourages people to aspire to higher levels of moral behavior, such as agape love. This encourages a society striving for moral improvement rather than moral failure.
-if this was true then Jesus would not have modelled this behaviour to humans and instruct them to emulate this behaviour in their daily behaviour.

Question 43

How to overcome Barclays weakness that Fletcher wrongly rejects legalism,claiming that laws are summary of societal experience

Answer 43

-ethical idolatry and Jesus’ challenge of legalism
-Jesus himself placed love over legalism, showing that true morality is flexible enough to account for unique circumstances. This supports the idea that situation ethics is a legitimate way to approach moral decision-making.

Question 44

How to overcome weakness of Barclay refuting Fletchers examples?

Answer 44

The examples are not the parts up for debate,but rather the principles applied to example
-While Fletcher’s examples might be extreme, applying agape love in everyday moral decisions encourages individuals to think beyond the constraints of rigid moral codes, even in less severe situations.