Situation ethics - evaluation

Question 1

William Barclay
Critic of theory

Answer 1

“If we insist that in every situation every man must make his own decision then first of all we must make man morally and lovingly fit to make that decision; otherwise we need the compulsion of law to make him do it.”

Situation ethics works good on paper, but not everyone will apply love, and is everyone moral? People need to be lovingly fit and moral to make decisions, they need the law to force it on them, we can’t leave the law behind.

Question 2

Strengths

Answer 2

• Adaptable to specific situations when rule based ethics aren’t always helpful
• Provides a guide and support in a situation rather than rules
• Your morally responsible when applying situation ethics as you can’t rely upon the advice of others or set laws

Question 3

Weaknesses

Answer 3

• What is a ‘situation’?
• Teleological approach = focuses on outcome of love, how can you predict an outcome will bring love?
• doesn’t provide simple answers to difficult questions unlike a rule based ethic
• when love is served in a given situation, this focuses upon the person involved, but how far do you consider the people affected by a decision (ripples in a pond)
• do you consider future affects and look beyond the immediate situation? (e.g future generations)
• fletcher is selective in which biblical passages he chooses. (defence of this = centrality of love is at the heart of the Christian message)
• humans are fallible (flawed) and often fail to consider the interests of others, often more concerned with our own interests
• fletchers ideas surrounding conscience are vague and seem to be more about acting ‘conscientiously’