Situation Ethics

Question 0

What are the four presumptions

Answer 0

Pragmatism
Relativism
Positivism
Personalism

Question 1

what is pragnatism

Answer 1

a moral solution is only good if it is practical

Question 2

what is relativism

Answer 2

there is no absolute principle. every decision depends on the situation or context

Question 3

what is positivism

Answer 3

statements of faith precede reason

Question 4

what is personalism

Answer 4

ethical theory and morality deals with people first over principles.

Question 5

what are the six fundamental principles (presuppositions)

Answer 5

1. love only is always good
2. love is the only norm
3. love and justice are the same
4. love is not liking
5. love justifies its means
6. love decides there and then

Question 6

what does ‘love is always good’ mean?

Answer 6

love is intrinsically good, all acts should be done for love- ‘agape’

Question 7

what does love is the only norm’ mean?

Answer 7

love replaces law. Laws are mere reflections of love in action, there are simply a guide.

Question 8

what does ‘love and justice are the same’ mean?

Answer 8

justice is love distributed, they are one in the same thing.

Question 9

what does ‘love is not liking’ mean?

Answer 9

‘agape’ means doing good even if you don’t like it. loving and liking aren’t the same thing.

Question 10

what does ‘love justifies the means’ mean?

Answer 10

it is the end result and not the act that counts.

Question 11

what does ‘love decides there and then’ mean?

Answer 11

loves decisions are made situationally not prescriptively freedom away from laws is required.

Question 12

what is situation ethics?

Answer 12

Joseph Fletcher said that each situation should be considered on its merits and should be made on ‘agape’ love. it is a half way point between legalism and antinomianism.

Question 13

quote from J. Fletcher On conscience

Answer 13

there is no conscience, conscience is merely a word for our attempts to make a decision creativly, constructively and fittingly.

Question 14

what are Fletcher’s ‘four cases’

Answer 14

1. christian cloak and dagger
2. sacrificial adultery
3. ‘himself might his quietus make’
4. special bombing mission No.13

Question 15

what is christian cloak and dagger

Answer 15

US defence agency wants an attractive female to seduce a married man so he can be vblackmailed.

Question 16

what is ‘sacrificial adultery’

Answer 16

end of WW2 a women is arrested for foraging for food and sent to a prison camp. she can get out by falling ill or getting pregnant. she gets pregnant by a guard and is reunited with her family and the child is oved.

Question 17

what is ‘himself might his quietus make’

Answer 17

jim is a construction engineer married with 5 kids. he finds out he has cancer, he could survive for 3 years on pills costing $40 every 3 days causing debt or 3 months without. however the insurance company finds out he has cancer it would not pay out and if he kills himself they will get $100,000 plus more from employer.

Question 18

what is ‘special bombing mission No.13’

Answer 18

august 6th 1945 enola gay dropped atomic bomb on hiroshima. 3 days later on nagisaki. 152,000 kiled plus more L-T.

Question 19

what are the positives of situation ethics

Answer 19

fits into way J acted
personal freedom
love is human condition
person centered
love and justice
attitudinal and emotional
can we go wrong with love as a guide?

Question 20

what are the negatives of situation ethics

Answer 20

1. too much freedom?
2. it would be ‘ideal in a world of saints’ -we do not
3. what is the most loving way?
4. laws protect society
5. NT has certain rules- theft isn’t accurate representation of NT morality
6. Utopic
7. allow anything?

Question 21

what are the three types of genetic engeneering

Answer 21

> somatic cells
germ line gene therapy
enhancement therapy

Question 22

what is somatic cell engineering

Answer 22

genetic changes to particular genes. not passed on

Question 23

what is germ line gene therapy

Answer 23

changing genetic material in germ line genes (reproductive cells) to eradicate diseases
>mistake carried on, sickle cell anaemia stops malaria- we do not know enough.not 100% success yet. why do genetic diseases exist?
> would prevent a child suffering , eradicate serious diseases

Question 25

what is enhancement therapy

Answer 25

changing certain characteristics
+, removal of genetic diseases eg mitochondrial
-, designer babies, not sure how changing genes will change person, which genes do we change? two tiered society

Question 26

What is Legalism

Answer 26

Sets rules and laws to follow
> Catholics follow Natural Law
> Protestants follow the Bible

Question 27

What is Agape Love?

Answer 27

> Altristic- no reward
Non- reciprocal
non- preferential

Question 28

What is Anti- Nomian

Answer 28

no rules or laws- ‘against law’
> Luther in C16- Libertarianism and the Gnostic Claim
> Libertarianism- grace and new life of Christ means it doesn’t matter what we do
> Gnostic Claim- Special knowledge from God means we know what to do, do not need rules to tell us