Situation Ethics Flashcards
What was the name of the book written by Joseph fletcher in which he wrote his view about situation ethics?
Situation ethics - 1966
What was the reception of fletchers book like?
It caused a lot of controversy among other philosophers and theologians
Situation ethics
There is no definite moral law and that the morally right thing to do depends solely on the situation
What is the most morally right thing to do?
The most loving thing
Jospeh fletcher
Anglican ethicist 1905-1991
William Temple
Theologian 1881-1944
What did temple believe?
The most loving thing to do is entirely situational
Love and respect for others is of the utmost importance
What was temples book called?
Nature, man and God 1934
What was fletchers book situation ethics inspired by?
The ideas of temple based on love and compassion instead of order and punishment
What did both men believe about justice?
Justice is just love in action
What is love for humans? (Related to justice)
For humans, love is a verb - it is something we do. Only for God can live be a property because God is love.
Personalism
The idea that the needs of the people should be considered about any law
Both fletcher and temple believed in this
Legalism
The view that morality is a case of abiding by fixed laws such as the Ten Commandments
What did fletcher think about legalism ?
He thought that legalism must always have to allow for exceptions to the rules as it is impossible to have one set of unchanging rules in which case if we can reject one law why can’t we reject all of them?
Antinomianism
Morality is purely subjective and that there are no moral laws to follow , we should make decisions based on our own choices
What did fletcher think about antinomianism?
He thought that it was pointless as it makes no suggestion as to why a person should live one way rather than another.
What did fletcher aim to do with situationism?
He aimed to make a compromise between legalism and antinomianism. There is only one rule and that is to do the most loving thing in any situation.
Nominalistic
Does not believe that there are universal rules which cover all situations as each situation is unique - situation ethics.
Fletchers six propositions
- Love is intrinsically good
- Love is the ruling norm
- Love and justice are the same thing
- Love is equal
- Love is ultimate
- Love is situational
Proposition 1 - love is intrinsically good
Love has inherent worth - an action done out of love is always good whether the consequences are good or bad
Proposition 2 - love is the ruling norm
States that love replacesany law, it is the only law
Proposition 3 - love and justice are the same thing
States that love and justice are the same thing and that if love was used to make every decision then there would be no injustice
Proposition 4 - love is equal
States that live has nothing to do with liking someone - we should act out of love towards someone whether we like them or not
Proposition 5 - love is ultimate
The teleological aspect of the theory - everything is based around making life as good as possible for everyone, love justifies the means
Proposition 6 - love is situational
Situation ethics has no set of rules - in each situation love should be used to decide at that point in time what is morally right to do
What did fletcher use the six propositions to create?
The four working principles
What is the first working principal?
Pragmatism- whatever we do should be practical and workable
What is the second working principle?
Relativism - whatever we do must be related to what we are able to do and the situation in hand
What is the third working principle?
Positivism - the belief in a God of love or a higher God - to begin with a positive choice you need to want to do good
What is the fourth working principle ?
Personalism - put people first above any laws or principles
