SITUATION ETHICS Flashcards
Legalism
Basing ethics on strict rules that have to always be followed.
Rejected by Fletcher as this doesn’t take situations into account.
Antinomianism
The view that there are no rules at all.
Rejected by Fletcher as this causes moral chaos.
Situation ethics
The middle ground between legalism and antinomianism.
An action is good or bad depending on whether it has a loving outcome.
Agape
Selfless love
The four working principles
Pragmatism
Positivism
Personalism
Relativism
Pragmatism
Must take the situation into account
Positivism
Putting agape at the centre of ethics must be taken on faith
Personalism
People are more important than rules.
Relativism
An action is only right or wrong relative to agape, i.e., depending on whether it has a loving outcome.
Namely love (6 propositions)
“Only one thing is intrinsically good; namely, love, nothing else”
Ruling norm (6 propositions)
“The ruling norm of Christian decision is love, nothing else”
Justice (6 propositions)
“Love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed”
Neighbour (6 propositions)
“Love wills the neighbour good whether we like him or not”
Ends and means (6 propositions)
“Only the ends justifies the means, nothing else”
Situationally (6 propositions)
“Love’s decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively”
Conscience
Fletcher doesn’t think conscience is a ‘noun’ – he says it is not a thing that tells you what is good or bad.
Conscience is a verb – the process of figuring out what the loving thing to do is in a situation.
Robinson’s support
Humanity has ‘come of age’, this means that humanity has become more mature since medieval times -people today are more civilised and can be trusted to think for themselves more. So autonomy is most loving.
Barclay’s criticism
Situation ethics gives people a dangerous amount of freedom because people are not saints. If granted freedom to do what they want they will choose the selfish or cruel thing to do.
Hobbes comment on the human condition
“The life of man; short, nasty and brutish”
Augustine on human nature
We are corrupted by sin as a result of The Fall - meaning we cannot be trusted to reason correctly.
Uses St Paul “It is not I who does it, but the sin living within me”
Fletcher’s approach to the Bible
To follow the bible’s foundational theme, which is love
Traditional Christians criticism of Fletcher’s approach to the Bible
Fletcher’s theory is not genuine Christian ethics, because Fletcher has ignored most of the commands in the Bible, focusing only on Agape.
The Bible is full of other commands.
Fitting with Jesus’ teachings (strength)
it fits with the approach to ethics taken by Jesus. Jesus overturned rules (eg Moses’ “an eye for an eye, a life for a life”), allowed the breaking of rules (eg working on the Sabbath) and said that the greatest commandment was to “love your neighbours as yourself”.
Mouw’s criticism of relying on Jesus
It makes no logical sense to follow some of Jesus’ commands but not all of them. We either regard him as a source of moral authority or we don’t.
Pope Pius XII criticism of relying on Jesus
Christ himself frequently spoke of the importance of following all the commandments.
The subjectivity issue
Love is subjective – everyone has their own view of what is loving.
Even some Nazis thought they were doing a loving thing.
Defence of the subjectivity issue
Love might be subjective – but Fletcher is focused on Agape, which is more than just love.
Agape is Christian selfless love of your neighbour.
Jesus was very clear that everyone is your neighbour.
Hitchen’s criticism of agape
Agape is still subjective. loving your neighbour as yourself is only as good if the way you love yourself is good
Bible example of Jesus’ antinomianism
Woman commits adultery and is about to be stoned to death.
She is taken to Jesus and he states that none of the Pharisees have the right to stone her because they have sinned before too.
“Then neither do I condemn you, live your life free of sin”
Fletcher quote
“The essence of immorality is to love things and use people”
William Brown ship example
The ship hit an iceberg and sank.
There were too many people on the lifeboat, so the male passengers were ordered into the sea but they refused.
They were thrown into the water.
Fletcher “It was bravely sinful, it was a good thing”
Pragmatism and William James
Draws on James “A pragmatist turns towards concreteness and adequacy”
Fletcher on relativism
“relativises the absolute, it does not absolutise the relative”
Fletcher on personalism
“Love is of people, by people and for people”
Abortion after rape example
Young patient at a psych ward was raped by another patient and became pregnant.
After requesting an abortion she was denied as they were only permitted when the mothers life was in danger.
Fletcher said this was wrong.
Strengths of the theory
- It is flexible and deals with any kind of situation.
- Allows for the lesser of two evils where there is conflict.
- Person centered.
- Love is hard to object, it means wanting the best for people.
Sophia, Kairos and agape
Sophia - the laws of Christianity
Kairos - the moment if decision where you decide if the Sophia is agapeic or not - agape should always be prioritised.
Bible evidence of Jesus stating to follow all commandments.
“Do not think I have come to abolish the law”
Weaknesses of the theory
- Might not consider the whole or long term impact of a decision.
-Fletcher is highly selective of Jesus’ words.
-Optimistic stance on humanity.
How can Bonhoeffer’s idea of “world come of age” be applied to Situation Ethics?
(This idea influenced Robinson’s defence)
A shift in humanity which moves away from relying on traditional religious beliefs and towards autonomy and responsibility through the use of reason.
People can use reason to come to the most loving action.
