situation ethics essay

Question 1

intro?

Answer 1

• Se is the doctrine of flexibility in the application of moral laws in accordance to circumstances (every situation needs to be judged on its own merit)
• Founded in 1960’s by Joseph Fletcher who explained ‘there is only one thing that is always good and right, intrinsically good, regardless of context, and that one thing is love.’

Question 2

Agape love knowledge?

Answer 2

• Love should be the motive of all actions as it is the one regulative principle of christian ethics
• Agape love = sacrificial love for everyone, your mother or a stranger

Question 3

issues with agape love?

Answer 3

• Loves not equal dispersed between everyone but rather a result of a relationship making it subjective in different scenarios, how can an ethical principle be dictated by something that is different in every situation
  difficult norm to define because it implies impartiality, what utilitarian Peter Singer calls the universal viewpoint
• Noun of agape love is impossible and unrealistic to apply in practice
• This type of love, although incarnated by Jesus Christ, is impossible for most of us as well as being unreasonable

Question 4

parable to showing agape love?

Answer 4

Parable of the good samaritan shows how demanding agape love is, with the samaritan having to take the man to the inn on his donkey whilst others walk past

Question 5

Barclay on antinomism vs legalism?

Answer 5

• Barclay points out the issue of se being between antinomianism + legalism, between adherence to the law and an anarchic disdain for law Unclear the role of the law in Fletcher’s theory
• SE doesn’t believe that any rule can be intrinsically valid and universal
• Barclay points out that society needs rules to provide a coherence to its public morality, rules pass on wisdom and provide a basis for moral education

Question 6

AO1 on antinomism vs legalism?

Answer 6

✅Preposition of relativism, rules don’t need to be fixed, can change on the situation
- Rules should be able to change, just because somethings a rule doesn’t make it right
➡️eg in 2010 the equality act was changed to include discrimination against sex, disability and gender reassignment
but seen in the bible as the commandment of do not kill but then permits the military campaigns of Joshua

❌Arguably makes se no ethics at all, lacks a concept of guiding principle of right and wrong
➡️ Jaqueline Savage received a pardon from Francis Holland after killing her abusive husband, is this fair? Will it lead to more murders?

Question 7

AO1 + AO2 on working principle ?

Answer 7

• Positivism, idea that love is always positive and this is reason for it to be the basis of all moral decision making
  ❌Agape can’t be proved as the only intrinsically good thing but fletcher uses christian teachings to attempt to eg we love God because God loved us
  ➡️ 1 Corinthians 16:14 - Let all that you do be done in love.
• Personalism, SE is person centred where people are the first priority and rules come second
  ❌Individuals do not exist in the wider context, everything you do has an effect on someone else eg teenager taking drugs will affect his school and parents ➡️ danger se will became a selfish ethic (agape is meant to be selfless love)
  ✅Rules should be able to change, just because somethings a rule doesn’t make it right
  ➡️ in 2010 the equality act was changed to include discrimination against sex,disability and gender reassignment
  Jesus said ‘sabbath was made for the man, not man for sabbath’

Pragmatism, the best course of action is one which works, that is practical and helpful ‘the good is what works, what is expedient, what gives satisfaction’
❌Does this discredit rules? Impossible in practice to ignore all other situations and proceed case by case as situation have knock on effects

Question 8

six preposition, which you will put in essay?

Answer 8

• Love and justice are the same, for justice is loved distributed, nothing else
• Love wills the neighbour good, whether we like him or not
• Love’s decision are made situationally, not prescriptively

Question 9

Love and justice are the same, for justice is loved distributed, nothing else?

Answer 9

✅Love ethic is utilitarian, the greatest good for the greatest no. fairest solution
Agape love is many-sided and widely-aimed
Justice is christian love applied rationally
❌
- Justice isn’t always fair, eg old people being able to vote on brexit even though they won’t be alive to see the effect/ consequence
- Always be a victim even is tried to ensure agapic calculus
eg using proportional representation for race in American colleges mean some white students with better grades will miss out due to arbitrary factor of race to try and create equality for the majority

Question 10

love will the neighbour good, wether we like him or not?

Answer 10

✅
- Jesus ‘love you enemies and pray for them’
❌
- is everyone deserving of love
➡️ no punishments for actions

Question 11

loves decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively’ ?

Answer 11

✅
- too much restriction results in sexual ethics which has become too prescriptive or obsessed with rules
- want safety of legalism but not morally correct
- SE is based on freedom
❌
- may use love as an excuse to do morally wrong things eg domestic abuse