Situation Ethics - AO2 Flashcards
What is the strength and weakness of Situation Ethics being teleological?
- The ‘‘rightness’ of an action is determined by outcome - Strength
How can one know an outcome, one can guess but never truly know, do we have enough time, info and capacity to determine the outcome - weakness
What does Fletcher believe about actions and their “rightness” or “wrongness”
Actions are never intrinsically right or wrong
What is Anthony O’hears objection?
- Some actions are surely intrinsically wrong
- He asks if it could ever be right to throw living babies onto a bonfire
- Some actions may be right in a situation but it does not mean all actions in a situation will be right
What would Fletcher argue love does?
- He would argue love does what is ‘good; for someone
What does Fletcher fail to define?
- Fletcher never defines what ‘good’ truly is
- He only ever speaks of love and justice
Would Fletcher Argue that SE is a religious ethic?
- Fletcher would argue that SE is a religious ethic and follows the example of Jesus
What would Evangelicals say about SE?
- Evangelicals would say the bible has clear rules to be followed
- No exceptions to the 10 commandments
- Following Situation Ethics is ‘Cherry Picking’
What would Fletcher argue gives us confidence in our moral decision making?
Fletcher would argue acting out of love gives one confidence in their moral decision making
What is DZ Phillips view? (Quote)
- Questions whether we can truly be confident in our moral decisions, do actions resolve moral dilemmas involving evil or do we just do the only action available to us
- “even after a person has decided what he must do in these situations, he may still feel remorse for having committed the evil”
What would William Temple suggest? Give the counter-argument too.
- Temple suggests doing the most loving thing equals doing a ‘good’ thing
- Can motivation influence good or bad, e.g giving to the poor to show off
- Adding to Philips, killing self-defence may be right but does not make it good
Whats the situational argument for SE?
- Decisions are made for each situation one finds themselves in
What is the counter-argument to the situational argument?
- What is a “situation”, is it defined by time or a particular set of actions?
- Would terminating a pregnancy be immoral at one stage but upon learning it was Hitler would it become moral? - How much time does this situation include?
What is a strength of SE’s approach to the moral life?
- SE means legalistic rules do not have to be followed
- We can do whatever the situation requires to achieve love
What would WD Ross say about SE’s approach to the moral life?
- Not knowing what to do in a situation doesn’t mean we do not throw rules away
- Ross suggests we should apply the most relevant rules
- Prima Facie Duties - Duties that should always be followed unless there is a reason for applying another duty
What would Fletcher outcomes demonstrate?
Outcomes demonstrate how moral we are
