Theme 3B: Situation ethics

Question 1

What are the four working principles?

Answer 1

• Pragmatism
• Relativism
• Positivism
• Personalism

Question 2

What is pragmatism?

Answer 2

• What you propose must work in practise

Question 3

What is relativism?

Answer 3

• Decisions should be made relative to the situation
  -Jesus broke the rules on the sabbath
• Words like ‘always’, ‘never’ and ‘absolute’ should never be used

Question 4

What is positivism?

Answer 4

• Individuals must make a positive choice to put love first
• You must make a value judgement that love is the most important rule or norm

Question 5

What is personalism?

Answer 5

Morality is personal and not centred on laws

Question 6

What example can we use to show pragmatism?

Answer 6

Mrs X example - Told her daughter to use contraception despite not being allowed by law due to her daughter having 3 unwanted pregnancies

Question 7

What example can we use to show positivism?

Answer 7

Example of a pregnant girl in a mental institution who became pregnant due to a man in the institution who also had mental health difficulties

Question 8

What example can we use to show personalism?

Answer 8

Example of a man who if he took medication he could live the next 3 years, but if he didn’t he would be dead within 6 months

Question 9

What example can we use to show relativism?

Answer 9

Sacrificial adultery - a woman in a concentration camp sleeps with a guard to get pregnant so she can go back to her husband and child

Question 10

What are the 6 fundamental principles?

Answer 10

1) Love is the only good
2) Love is the ruling norm of christianity
3) Love equals justice
4) Love should be unconditional and for your neighbour
5) The loving end justifies the means
6) Loving decisions should be made situationally

Question 11

What does love is the only good mean?

Answer 11

• Love is the only absolute and is the only thing which is intrinsically ‘good’ and ‘right’, regardless of what situation you are in
• St Augustine – ‘one does not ask what he believes or hopes, but does what he loves’

Question 12

What does love is the ruling norm of christianity mean?

Answer 12

• The ruling norm of Christian decisions is love
• This love is self giving, which seeks the best intrest of others but allows people the freedom and responsibility to choose the right thing for themselves
• Love replaces the Torah and the 10 commandments.
• An example is Bonhoeffer – they were executed for attempting to kill Hitler as he thought that breaking the rules of the Torah by killing them would end the war, preserve more lives and ease suffering

Question 13

What does love equals justice mean?

Answer 13

• Justice will follow from love, because ‘justice is love distributed’
• If love is put into practice, it can only result in justice
• Justice is concerned with giving everyone their due – it is concerned with neighbours not just our neighbour.

Question 14

What does love should be unconditional and for your neighbour mean?

Answer 14

• Love wills the neighbour good whether we like them or not
• Love has no favourites and doesn’t give preferential treatment
• Kierkegaard talked of the need for Christian love to be non-preferential

Question 15

What does loving end justifies the mean mean?

Answer 15

Only the end justifies the means. Love must be the final end, not a means to an end – people must choose what to do because the action will result in love, not be loving to achieve some other result

Question 16

What does the loving decision to do should be made situationally mean?

Answer 16

• The loving thing to do will depend on the situation – and as situations differ, an action that might be right in one situation could be wrong in another
• This is different from traditional Christian ethics and is more relativistic, having just one moral rule (agape)
• Laws cant take into account all situations
• Jesus did not give guidance on many areas of sexual ethics – good or bad is based on love

Question 17

What is the boss principle?

Answer 17

• It is called the boss principle as it is the most important of the principles
• The boss principle is Agape and is present throughout the Bible
• The three parts to agape: unconditional, outward and constant
• For example, stealing a loaf of bread for a starving family
• In the OT, ‘Chesed’ is taught which is the word for the loving relationship between God and Gods people
• In the parable of the good Samaritan, the word ‘aheb’ is used which is used to demonstrate how you should treat strangers – ‘aheb’ means universal love
  Christians should love as it is the main message in the Bible