Key quotes for an essay
“it is axiomatic that love should be the predominant impulse” (Temple)
“love is the only universal” (Fletcher)
“love your neighbour as yourself” (Jesus)
“loves decisions are made situationally” (Fletcher)
“it provides no laws for everyday life” (Barclay)
Key headlines for situation ethics
- developed by Joseph Fletcher in the 1960s
- middle ground between antinomianism (absolutely no rules) and legalism (rigid adherence to all rules)
- based on the teaching and example of Jesus, who prioritised agapeic love
Agapeic is unconditional, selfless
Fletcher believes that Christians should therefore always seek to do the ‘most loving’ thing in every situation they face
Jesus and Agape
Fletcher’s situation ethics is based upon the teachings and example of Jesus Christ
Examples:
- Golden Rule
- Healing on the Sabbath (showing Jesus to put the rules away to do the most loving thing, Christian should always prioritise love)
- Parable of the Good Samaritan
- Sacrificial death on the cross (Jesus was willing to sacrifice his life so humans could be forgiven on their sins, agape love is demanding)
Fletcher’s Four Presuppositions
Pragmatism: situation ethics is about seeking practical solutions that will work, grounded in experience (strength- provides flexibility therefore gives agent autonomy)
Relativism: morality is relative to the particular, situationists never use the words such as ‘never’ or ‘always’
Positivism: based upon the believe in a God of love, love is supreme and should always be applied (weakness- atheists would not use SE)
Personalism: puts people above laws, Fletcher “drop the legalist’s love of law and accept only the law of love”, instead of making “what does the law say” ask “who is to be helped”
Fletcher’s Six Principles
Love is the only intrinsic good: the only intrinsically good thing is love, nothing else. it is the one regulative principle of Christian ethics, love is the only thing that is good and right in every situation
Love is the ruling norm of Christian decision making: agape love, love can justify breaking any rule
Love and Justice are the same because love is justice distributed: justice is christian love “using its head” calculating its duties and obligations. Love is distributed to all within society
Love wills the neighbourhood good whether you like them or not: end goal justifies the means to getting there, we cannot refuse to do a deed which has mainly good end just because it entails some evil
Love decisions are made situationally not prescriptively: Jesus was a situationist as he was prepared to break the laws in order to do the right thing thing, Jesus healed on the Sabbath and forgave the adulterous women. Jesus did not give teachings on many issues (homosexuality)- therefore loves decides
Application of situation ethics
Homosexual relationships: off the relationship is one in which ‘love is fully served’ then it may be permissible
Embryo research: if the end goal is to cure genetic diseases, then it is a loving thing to do ad the ‘end justifies the mean’
Lying: in certain situations, lying may be justified if it for a loving end, and love is the ‘only intrinsic good’ (consider context)
Stealing: in certain situations, for example stealing to feed a starving child, stealing could be allowed
Strengths of situation ethics
Gives the individual autonomy: empowers individual to make moral decisions for themselves. They are given the agape love calcus and trusted to make decisions on a situational basis
It provides flexibility: Fletcher says that ‘love decisions are made situationally’. This means that the only absolute in situation ethics is love. This means situation ethics remains relevant and applicable in the 21st century society. Can be applied to any situation anywhere
Consistent with Jesus’ teachers on agape: Fletcher’s situation ethics are grounded in the teachings and example of Jesus Christ. This makes situation ethics appealing for many Christians, as they believe Jesus is the Son of God- it emphasises the importance and authority of his teachings. SE gives Christians a way to follow his example and teachings.
Critical analysis: is ‘love’ the only thing that Jesus taught? Are there not other divine commands/rules/laws from scripture that need to be followed
Weakness of situation ethics
William Barclay: it gives a ‘terrifying degree of freedom’. Barclay critics situation ethics for giving the individual too much freedom- it is overwhelming for the individual and impossible to apply in every day life. Society needs rules and regulations rather than just ‘love’. It might work for exceptional situations but does not work for everyday life. Critics argue Fletcher’s situation ethics would ultimately descend into antinominalism
Open to exploitation: Barclay says that situation ethics would only work ‘If all men were saints’- human beings are fallible and make mistakes. Further, some people may use situation ethics to justify anything by claiming that they had intended to do the most loving thing. It gives people too much autonomy and this is open to exploitation. Synoptic link: Augustine’s view of original sin
Depends on belief in God: situation ethics is based upon the teachings of Jesus- they arguable only have authority for Christians who believe he is the son of God. Further, one of the four presuppositions is positivism- belief in a God of love, if someone doesn’t believe in a God of love, they wouldn’t use SE
