Situation Ethics Flashcards
What is absolute?
The belief that there are fixed moral principles to judge the morality of an action, regardless of the context
What is relative?
The belief that are no fixed moral principles to judge the morality of an action as it is dependent on the context
What is deontological?
Deontological ethics focuses on the action itself rather than the consequences
What is teleological?
Teleological ethics focuses on the consequences rather than the action
What are the strengths of something being absolute and deontological?
- prevents subjectivity as you are judging based on fixed moral principles rather than individual preference
- provides rigid moral rules that can be applied to any given situation
What are the weaknesses of something being absolute and deontological?
- It fails to consider the unique context of a situation, so can seem intolerant
What are strengths of something being relative and teleological?
- Prevents people from being subject to one universal and unchanging way of thinking about morality
what are weaknesses of something being relative and deontological?
- reduces ethics to personal preference, which can result in differing attitudes
- Could potentially justify any action that is in line with a desirable outcome
what is the context of situation ethics?
- Fletcher rejects legalism, which is the unthinking obedience to authority which leads to ethical idolatry
- Fletcher describes situation ethics as “principled relativism” as he gives us an absolute principle, to which the conduct is relative:agape
What is agape love?
Agape love is known as sacrificial, selfless love
What is scholarly support for agape as a moral decision making tool?
Karl Bath
- God’s commanding action of love isnt something to be followed legalistically, but to be applied to each situation separatley
- It would allow things that are typically seen as morally wrong actions, like abortion
What is scholarly support for agape as a moral decision making tool?
Bonhoeffer
- The needs of God in any situation is based on the need’s of one’s neighbour and the model of Jesus
What is scholarly support for agape as a moral decision making tool?
Archbishop William Temple
- “There is only one enviable duty and its formula is to love your neighbour how you love yourself, how to do this another question, but his is the whole of moral duty”
What makes agape an effective way of making moral decisions?
- Not legalistic
- Firmly rooted in Christianity
- Able to tackle modern scenarios, so it serves society better
- Useful for anyone as love can be generally accepted as “good”
What makes agape an ineffective way of making moral decisions?
- It is too vague
- It could potentially cause anomie
- It could justify immoral actions
What are some of Fletcher’s examples?
- Patriotic Prostitution
- Sacrificial adultery
- Sacrificial suicide
What is Fletcher’s example of Patriotic Prostitution?
- A woman explaining how her government believed that she could help stop a war that was going on
- But to stop this war she would have to seduce and sleep with the enemy spy in order to lure him into blackmail
What is Fletcher’s example of sacrificial adultery?
- A woman was told that in order to be released from the camp she was in, in Ukraine, to reunite with her family, she would have to sleep with a German guard and get pregnant
- She then was sent back to berlin to her family and even once the baby was born, they all loved him
What is Fletcher’s example of sacrificial suicide?
- A man having to choose to take the pills to cure him but to pay for this he would have to use his insurance or if he didn’t take the pills his family would be left with some security, however, he would die
what are the six propositions?
- Love is the only absolute
- Love is the only ruling norm
- Love is justice distributed
- Love wants the good for anyone, no matter who they are
- Love is the end so it justifies the means
- Love’s decisions are made situationally not prescriptively
What are the four working principles?
1.Pragmatism- if the action is practical
2. Relativism- agape applied must be relative
3. Positivism- when you consider love before an action, your decision is always right
4. Personalism. the person in the situation must be considered
How useful are the six propositions?
USEFUL:
- gives opportunity for people to be flexible when making morally complex decisions
- Gives individuals autonomy in deciding what the most loving outcome is without the need for legalism
NOT USEFUL:
- we can never be sure of the outcome in the future, so making decisions based on the outcome is irrational[KANT]
- Rules would lead to more accurate decision making process and sometimes faster[BARCLAYS]
- Places too much responsibility on the individual to decide on what agape is in a situation
How useful are the four working principles?
USEFUL:
- Places love at the centre of morality
- Personalism ensures that people are put first before laws, which makes it flexible and based on human needs
NOT USEFUL:
- Encourages the dismissal of biblical laws which can be a problem for christians
- The principles are vague, leading to subjective decision making
What are strengths of situation ethics?
- Appropriate for modern society
- Replaces legalism with principled relativism
- Avoids ethical idolatry and upholds personal autonomy
- Flexible and quick
- Includes the six propositions to uphold a clear understanding of agape
