Situation Ethics

Question 1

Summary of SE

Answer 1

“Sometimes you’ve gotta put your principles to one side and do the right thing” – rules/principles aren’t the same as doing something right

Question 2

Four working principles

Answer 2

1. Pragmatism
2. Relativism “It relativises the absolute, it does not absolutise the relative”
3. Positivism (you need to want to do good)
4. Personalism (Put people first; “man was not made for the Sabbath”

Question 3

Six fundamental principles

Answer 3

1. Love only is always good (love is intrinsically valuable)
2. Love is the only norm/rule (“There are no universal laws held by all men everywhere at all times”)
3. Love and justice are the same (“justice is love distributed”)
4. Love is not liking (‘Love wills the neighbour good whether we like him or to”)
5. Love justifies the means (“Only the ends justifies the means”)
6. Love decides there and then

Question 4

Strengths of SE

Answer 4

• Puts people before rules
• Allows for relativism in society => more realistic
  CP: Should we accept relativism?
• Mid way between strict rules in the Bible and the want to get rid of them, it allows Christians to consult the Biblical tradition and put them aside if love requires it
• allows flexibility with the changing world (abortion, gay rights)
• autonomy of the individual; Paul “we are not under the law but under grace”
• Unlike Utilitarianism, it doesn’t focus on the consequences which are unpredictable and fundamentally out of our control

Question 5

Weaknesses of SE

Answer 5

• ‘Ten Commandments’ doesn’t seem to suggest that they are flexible; we wouldn’t say a duty comes from a command but reason => makes these seem arbitrary
• Allow evil/immoral things to be done in the name of love (theft)
  CP: stealing bread to save your child, surely that can be excused?
• isolates the Church?
• Post-modern society focuses too heavily on the individual?
  CP: SE is merely a mid-point, people still need to take into account Church’s/Bible’s teachings
• Lacks the universability of Natural Law
  CP: Can NL be universal nowadays?
• Barclay: we can’t be trusted to do the right thing, only works “if all men were angels”
• “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” => acting out of love doesn’t mean you have done the right thing