Key thinker for situation ethics
Joseph Fletcher
Key quote from Joseph Fletcher
‘The morality of an action depends on the situation’
What does situation ethics lie between the two extremes of?
Legalism and antinomianism
Legalism
Morality must come with a strict set of rules to be followed at all times. They must never be broken for any reason.
Antinomianism
The idea that there should be no rules and restrictions; a lawless society
Philia
Brotherly love and friendship. This is how you would love a good friend
Storge
Familial love. This is how you would love your mum or a child.
Eros
Romantic love
Agape
The highest form of love that we have for mankind. It goes beyond emotions and personal feelings and is not really a feeling, but an attitude.
What type of love is Situation Ethics solely concerned with?
Agape love
What is the purpose of the 4 working principles?
They are not in themselves rules, but rather, a framework for determining the use of agape in each situation and knowing what the most loving thing to do is
What are the 4 working principles?
- pragmatism
- relativism
- positivism
- personalism
Pragmatism
The most loving thing to do must be practical, possible to achieve and able to work
Relativism
The ability to break rules and laws should it be the most loving thing to do
Positivism
Faith in love; have faith that morality is solely down to maximising love
Personalism
The idea that the person comes before the law. If there was a situation where following the law would not be the most loving thing to do, the law should instantly be broken.
What are the 6 propositions?
- only one thing is intrinsically good, namely love
- the ruling norm of Christian decision is love, nothing else
- love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed, nothing else
- love wills the neighbour’s good, whether we like him or not
- love’s decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively
- only the ends justify the means, nothing else
Is situation ethics a consequentialist theory?
Yes
Consequentialism
Whether something is good or bad depends on its outcomes
Situation ethics: strengths
- gives humans freedom
- does not give huge rules and regulations, but instead gives humans the ability to use their reason
- flexible and practical - it enables people to make tough decisions
- Christian system - consistent with the teaching of Jesus
- emphasises love (agape) - surely everyone would agree this is a good thing
- avoids conflicts of duty, as one experiences in absolutist systems. Where moral rules collide, situation ethics gives a way of resolving the conflict: love
Situation ethics: weaknesses
- seems like a re-worked version of Act Utilitarianism
- anything is technically permissible if it can be reasoned to provide more love
- concept of agape too ambiguous and broad
- no clear definition of what love is
- subjective theory- what happens when two people disagree on what the most loving thing to do is?
- no framework provided for helping us understand what to do
- do people have the same faculty to determine the most loving action?
- should opinions of more intelligent people be held as more important?
- should decisions be made down to majority votes?
- do any human rights really matter if they can be broken at any time just to generate more love?
- can people really put aside their philia love, storge love and eros love for the sake of agape love?
- situation ethics considers itself a Christian doctrine, yet it also holds itself to be a consequentialist theory which can permit any action depending on the outcome. How can it possibly be a Christian doctrine and a relativist, consequentialist theory when situation ethics would allow seemingly unbreakable rules in the Bible to be broken if deemed the most loving thing to do?
- Christian system - atheists and those of other faiths might not want to follow the example of Jesus
- unprincipled relativist system - it could allow for almost any action
- ‘love’ is very subjective - people will naturally disagree about what loving behaviour is
- it is difficult to predict future results of actions - making consequentialist decisions based on love is unreliable
Joseph Fletcher
1905 - 1991
Joseph Fletcher and faith
He was an American Christian priest, but renounced his faith later in life and became an atheist
What is the only rule in situation ethics?
Follow the most loving course of action
