what is legalism
relying too heavily on laws or rules
antinomianism
having no rules or laws at all
what are the 4 working principles ( foundations) of situation ethics
pragmatism
relativism
positivism
personalism
pragmatism
in order to count as true something must work in practice
decisions must be based on producing good outcomes
relativism
right thing is dependant on the context
positivism
positivist approach to law
personalism
people centred
6 propositions
- only love is intrinsically good
- ruling norm of christianity is love
- love= justice
- love extends to our enemies
- only ends justify means
- love’s decisions made prescriptively
C.S Lewis explanation of love
- greatest type of love- exists regardless of circumstances
- not natural- can only be practised with god’s help
SE is helpful for moral decisions- arguments
-flexible, can deal with all situations, not rigid like legalism
- choose lesser of 2 evils- decisions can always be made
- person centred, Jesus
- love as a principle is hard to object to, more compassionate than pleasure and pain (utilitarianism)
SE isn’t helpful for moral decisions- arguments
- too vague
- no moral boundaries, rape is inherently wrong and no circumstances could make them right
- it’s teleological- must make predictions on outcome- don’t always know
- hard to decide where a situation begins and ends. e.g. killing someone to save others may be helpful but can trigger chain of events
- SE is just a christian version of utilitarianism. replace pleasure and pain with love
what is Sophia
general principles
greek word for wisdom
what is kairos
moment of decision
when should we consider Sophia and kairos
when applying love and should ask how love can be applied in that specific situation
ethical judgements should be based on agape- arguments
- religious- Jesus’ teachings- encapsulated most important commandments
- useful in helping us to know when to accept and break certain rules
- relativist but not easy to manipulate like utilitarianism- e.g. racism hard to argue is loving than saying its pleasurable for evil majority
ethical judgements should not be based on agape- arguments
- love can be interpreted in diff ways
- may be right at times but most cases require following conventional rules- seems set up to deal with exceptional cases
- better principles to base ethics on- pleasure, duty, purpose
- god directly reveals commands- stress on agape can lead away from revelation
Jesus demonstrating agape and other biblical examples
-breaks sabbath to heal people
-allows disciples to eat grain in field- against sabbath
-good samaritan
what did Augustine suggest
people should ‘ love god and do what they will’
if they truly love god they will be guided to do the right thing
what is aquinas’ double effect
-action causing a harmful side effect is permissible if the actor only intended the good outcome
20th century theory of proportionalism
rules of natural law can be broken if there is proportionate reason to make an exception
how does Bonhoeffer show principle of love
love and faith led him to plot to kill hitler
what do the double effect, proportionalism and Bonhoeffer show
love as a key in christian ethics isn’t new
SE is religious- arguments
- rooted in Jesus
-Jesus attitude to pharisees shows opposition to legalism. religion doesn’t have to be based on hard rules - love is key evidence of genuine religious faith- “ everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”
- teachings of Augustine
SE isn’t religious- arguments
- has been rejected by established church.condemned at fletcher’s time of writing by pope.
- in clear opposition to natural law
- fletcher’s reading of Jesus’ words is selective- he condemns divorce and adultery and speaks of hell more than heaven
- Jesus tells disciples if they love him they are to obey his commands- there are other commands?
- agape as unconditional isn’t explicitly christian. Little difference between SE and act utilitarianism
- fletcher in his book says SE is basically Christian utilitarianism
