Strength and Weaknesses of Situation Ethics

Question 1

Personalist (people before rules)

Answer 1

Strength.
Jesus - ‘Sabbath was made for man not man for Sabbath’

Question 2

Relativist

Answer 2

strength.
rules are useful but there are exceptions
“sometimes you have to push aside your principles and do the right thing”

Question 3

Pragmatic

Answer 3

strength.
SE suggest solutions that work
it is a useful ethical theory

Question 4

Teleological

Answer 4

strength
- focuses on the end/outcome of an action
“if the end doesn’t justify the means, what does?”

Question 5

Up to date

Answer 5

strength
- SE allows you to change with the times
- this includes ideas about marriage, sexuality etc

Question 6

Autonomous (allows individual to make their own choices)

Answer 6

strength
- acting out of love frees us from having to follow distrustful established authorities
- Robison; “the only ethics for the man come of age”

Question 7

Social Justice

Answer 7

strength
- agape motivates people to change things for the better and get rid of discrimination and help the poor
- change is needed
- a system of rules doesn’t help bring about change

Question 8

Positivist

Answer 8

strength
- focuses on love which is “patient”, “kind” and “endured all things”

Question 9

Focuses on motive

Answer 9

strength
- UT focuses on consequences, but these are out of our control
- SE has most of the strengths of UT but doesn’t rely on immeasurable and unpredictable consequences

Question 10

Rules

Answer 10

weakness
- we are meant to follow rules as they help us think clearly
- “they weren’t called the ‘ten suggestions’”

Question 11

Vague

Answer 11

weakness
- impossible to say what you’re supposed to do
- how do you work out what the most loving thing is if it changes from situation to situation

Question 12

Evil

Answer 12

weakness
- allows terrible things (adultery, murder etc) in the name of love

Question 13

Misguided

Answer 13

weakness
- end does not justify the means
- St Paul: Christians should not do evil that good may come of it

Question 14

Isolates the church

Answer 14

weakness
- the individual acts independently
- situationist approach ignores thousands of years of church tradition
- throws away the wisdom of the greatest teachers

Question 15

Lacking in standards

Answer 15

weakness
- Biblical principles hold true for all societies at all times

Question 16

Idolises the individual

Answer 16

weakness
- gives each person more authority than the Bible or Church
- post modern society focuses too much on the individual

Question 17

Unfair

Answer 17

weakness
- justice requires us to follow the law and treat us all equally
- SE allows us to treat people differently and break the rules in individual circumstances which is unfair

Question 18

We’re no angels

Answer 18

weakness
- if we were all like Jesus this might work
- Barclay believed we cannot be trusted to do the right thing and it would only work ‘if all men were angels’

Question 19

Focuses on motive

Answer 19

weakness
- just because you act out of love, this doesn’t mean you have done the right thing
- example; giving money to a homeless man out of love, but it will only perpetuate his situation. reason would say it is better to give to a charity for the homeless that will look for long term solutions

Question 20

“Individuals are not bound by rules” what is a challenge to this?

Answer 20

• rules help us to think clearly.
• we are meant to follow rules
• promotes antinomianism
• humans cannot be trusted to live with absolutely no rules

Question 21

What is the name of Barclay’s book in which he criticised SE?

Answer 21

Ethics in a Permissive Society

Question 22

What are 3 criticisms Barclay made of SE?

Answer 22

1. It’s easier to agree that extraordinary situations need extraordinary measures, but this doesn’t mean ordinary situations need extraordinary measures (Fletcher does not apply SE to everyday situations, only extreme ones)
2. Law is necessary as it serves a vital function to enable society to determine what a reasonable life is
3. Law ensures that humans do not make an artificial distinction between public and private morality