Situation Ethics Flashcards
What is a quote said by Joseph Fletcher to show the importance of love?
‘We ought to love people and use things; the essence of immorality is to love things and use people’
What is situation ethics the mid-way between?
Legalism and antinomianism
What is the bible story of the Woman caught in Adultery?
A woman who committed adultery is sent to Jesus.
The men ask what he says about it, expecting him to want to punish her.
Jesus asks which ever one of the men who hasn’t sinned to throw the first stone.
They all walk away one by one.
Jesus says ‘go and sin no more’
What does the story of the Woman caught in Adultery show?
It shows how Jesus did not always support the idea that laws should underpin everyone’s actions as this can be hypocritical.
What does Jesus mean when he tells the Pharisee’s that they have a tendency to ‘strain out a gnat but swallow a camel’?
There is too much focus on smaller, insignificant things rather than that which matters eg. justice.
What happened on the William Brown ship in 1841?
The male passengers were ordered into the sea, when they refused they were thrown overboard.
Why did Fletcher approve of what happened on the William Brown ship?
Fletcher states ‘it was bravely sinful, it was a good thing’
What quote from Jesus shows that he taught agape?
‘Love the Lord your God with all you heart…Love you neighbor…there is no commandment greater than these’
What quote from Corinthians teaches agape?
‘If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing’
What are the four working principles?
Pragmatism
Positivism
Personalism
Relativism
What is pragmatism?
The focus on ethics must be on what works - work out what will produce good outcomes.
‘A pragmatist turns towards concreteness and adequacy, towards facts, towards action and towards power’ - William James
What is positivism?
Whereby you posit faith in love.
‘Thus Christian ethics posits faith in God…’ - Fletcher.
Eg. soldier in battlefield will shoot friend out of faith in God.
What is personalism?
Idea of ethics being people centered.
‘Things are to be used, people are to be loved. It is immoral when people are used and things are loved’ - Fletcher
What is relativism?
No fixed rules - avoids words like ‘never’ and ‘always’.
Situation ethics ‘relativizes the absolute, it does not absolutize the relative’ - Fletcher.
What are the six propositions?
‘Only one thing is intrinsically good, namely love; nothing else at all’
‘The ruling norm of Christian decision is love; nothing else’
‘Love and justice is the same, for justice is love distributed, nothing else’
‘Love wills the neighbor good whether we like him or not’
‘Only the end justifies the means, nothing else’
‘Love’s decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively’
Abortion after rape - situation ethics applied
In 1962, a young patient at a psychiatric unit became pregnant after being raped by a fellow patient.
The doctors refused abortion as the mother’s life was not in danger.
Fletcher suggests that this was a wrong decision.
Adultery - situation ethics applied
A Russian woman was in a prisoner of war camp, she became aware that her family were alive in Germany and were looking for her.
She persuaded a camp guard to help her become pregnant as this was the only way that she could be released.
She was then able to reunite with her family.
Strengths of situation ethics
It is flexible - deals with exceptional situations.
It enables a decision to be made in each situation.
It always for there to be a choice between the lesser of two evils.
It is person-centered - close to the teachings of Jesus.
Love as a principle is hard to object to - it is a compassionate theoretical framework.
What is the Truman dilemma?
America dropped a nuclear bomb in order to end the war.
Truman had a moral dilemma as dropping the bomb arguably saved lives as no more people died from fighting, bit many lives were still lost.
What is ‘sophia’?
Wisdom of the church and culture.
What is ‘kairos’?
Moment of decision where a person considers whether love can be served in sophia.
Advantages of agape
According to Jesus, it sums up the most important commandments.
Useful in knowing what rules can be accepted and broken - it is flexible.
It is relativist and hard to manipulate.
Agape prevents self-centered decision making.
Disadvantages of agape
Can be interpreted in more than one way.
Most cases require rules to be followed.
Too optimistic
How is Fletcher highly selective when using Jesus’ words?
‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law’ - Sermon on the Mount
Jesus arguably said that you should follow rules as well as being loving.
