situation ethics Flashcards
what does teleological mean?
- interested in the ends of actions
what is the principle of utility?
- the right action is the one which maximises pleasure and minimises pain for the greatest number of people
who developed the principle of utility?
- Jeremy Bentham
what was Fletchers core belief?
- love should be at the heart of all ethical decision making
what did Fletcher see situationalism as a mid-way between?
- antinomianism
- legalism
what does antinomianism mean?
- people should be free to do whatever they see fit in any given situation
what does legalism mean?
- ethical decisions should always be made in accordance with a set of strict rules or commands
how come Fletcher became an atheist?
- he didn’t see Bible thumping and moral condemnation as a suitable response to dramatic shifts in social attitudes
what does Fletcher believe the principle people should appeal to is when making ethical decisions?
- agape
what is agape?
- Christian ideal of selfless love
- should be shown regardless of whether you like the other person or not
quote for agape?
“thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself”
quote for love and God?
“whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love”
what are Fletchers 4 presuppositions?
- pragmatism
- relativism
- positivism
- personalism
what is pragmatism?
- moral demands should be practical and achieve the intended outcome, which is love
what is relativism ?
- all situations should be assessed on how to best demonstrate love
what is positivism?
- being able to say God is love on the basis of faith
what is personalism?
- demands that the needs and importance of people are considered first
what are intrinsic goods?
- good in themselves
what are instrumental goods?
- only considered good because they lead to some other good end
what are the 6 fundamental principles?
- only love is intrinsically good
- the ruling norm of Christian decision is love
- justice is love distributed
- love wills the neighbours good
- only the ends justifies the means
- loves decisions are made situationally
strengths of situation ethics?
- follows the life of Jesus
- puts people before rules (personalism)
- promotes individual autonomy
- flexible
- focuses on helping people
weaknesses of situation ethics?
- puts mass amounts of responsibility on people
- the wisdom of great moral teachings can be thrown away at the whim of an individual
- there may be no consensus on what the most loving thing is
