Situation Ethics Scholars

Question 1

Popes on Situation Ethics

Answer 1

• It is far too ambiguous an open to abuse for immoral purposes.
• “in opposition to Natural Law and God’s revealed will” (Pius XII)
• “Endangers the co-existence of peoples”

Question 2

Kierkegaard

Answer 2

• Theoretically, love can form the basis of an ethical theory, but this may not be achievable in practice.
• “love is non-preferential”

Question 3

Bishop John Robinson

Answer 3

• Disliked existing Chrisitian moral theories, and required a more new and open one.
• “There is no one ethical theory which can claim to be Christian”

Question 4

Bultmann

Answer 4

• Made the claim that all deontological theories did not fit in well with the character of Christianity
• Jesus had no ethics

Question 5

St Paul

Answer 5

Although some of St Paul’s writings suggest that he supports Situation Ethics, he also says
“Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not!”

Question 6

Neil Masser

Answer 6

as a Christian theory, “it looks distinctively thin”

Question 7

Cs Lewis

Answer 7

C.S Lewis
1960 book The Four Loves
-identifies agape, eros, philia and storge
-views agape as the most important of these all

Question 8

2 Scholars originating with ideas of Situation Ethics

Answer 8

Karl Barth: Argued that when God commanded something in the Bible that he did so specifically to that situation, and thus it cannot be extrapolated out into a general rule
Bonhoeffer: Also, a situationist in his thinking, to determine God’s will in any circumstance one must look to the need of one’s neighbour and the example of Jesus. All we can do is act accordingly to these two things and leave our decisions to the mercy of God

Question 9

2 examples of case studies in Situation Ethics

Answer 9

• Justifiable Mass Killing: When the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped, 152,000 were killed with many killed later. Despite this great loss of life, it was decided that this was the right course of action to take, as it greatly shortened the war, it was the most loving thing to do to end the war, even if it meant killing thousands
• Patriotic Prostitution: A woman must sleep with an enemy spy to cause him to fall for blackmail and divulge secrets which could help end the war. This would save thousands of lives but at the same time would break her own standards of dignity and morals

Question 10

William Barclay’s main criticisms

Answer 10

1. Barclay said the examples Fletcher used to illustrate situation ethics are extreme cases. He said: “It is much easier to agree that extraordinary situations need extraordinary measures than to think that there are no laws for ordinary life.” (Ethics in a Permissive Society, 1971)
2. He said that the suggestion that laws could be abandoned if needed was too optimistic. Humans needs laws for protection etc and how would people know exactly when it was “the most loving thing” to abandon them? A circumstance to one, may not be to another.
3. He argued that it is hard for individuals to make their own moral decisions in every situations. We can be swayed by emotion or fear and persuade ourselves that we are doing the most loving thing when really we are doing the thing that suits ourselves the most.