Who was the advocate of situation ethics?
Joseph Fletcher
Episcopal priest, American
What is the significance of the era that situation ethics was founded in?
1960s
Time of great social change
1967 abortion legalised
Hippies, free love, more outlandish behaviour normalised
What was the main aim of situation ethics?
To carve a path between legalism and antinomianism using agape love
It is situational and proportional
Quotes associated with situation ethics
Paul Tillich- ‘love is the ultimate law’
‘Ends justify the means’
Fletcher- ‘it relativises the absolute, it does not absolutise the relative’
What are the 1st and 2nd fundamental principles? Explain their relevance and their association with embryo research.
-‘love is intrinsically good’ and ‘the ruling norm of Christian decision is love’
Love is the centre of all Christian decision making and everything must have the most loving outcome possible
All actions are determined good or evil by the outcome and love overrules law completely e.g. Jesus healing on the Sabbath
Embryo research- most loving outcome is to find cures or even just give hope, dramatically improved lives of people suffering with e.g. Parkinson’s, BUT ‘life begins at conception’ and ‘life is sacred’ so destroying embryos after 14 days is still murder, not a loving act
What is the 3rd fundamental principle? Explain its relevance and its association with embryo research.
‘Justice is love distributed’
There cannot be love without justice as love should always be shared out completely equally.
Embryo research- not fair to give sufferers preference of life over embryos which also have intrinsic value but should the patients suffer to give embryos equal rights too. Before 14 days there is no CNC and you don’t know how many lives that embryo will be so how is if fair not to take preference over the living, fully formed humans? Better to help actual rather than potential people.
What is the 4th fundamental principle? Explain its relevance and its association with embryo research.
‘Love wills the neighbour’s good, whether you like him or not’
Love is for everyone and is not at all subjective. AGAPE. Jesus showed this when he stayed at the house of Zacchaeus the social outcast tax collector.
Embryo research- good because it shows love to patients very much but embryos should then have equal rights to love so murdering them is wrong but is an acorn an oak tree? Potential and actual lives may make this more difficult to distinguish.
What is the 5th fundamental principle? Explain its relevance and its association with embryo research.
‘Only the end justifies the means’
If the end is good then the methods used to reach that end can be justified entirely whatever they are e.g. Murder in self defence of three children would be justified because those children survived.
Embryo research- good because although embryos are murdered, finding cures for e.g. Alzheimer’s or infertility are very loving acts. But, cures are not always found so those lives were wasted needlessly. But it always brings hope and each time highlights problems to be solved before trying again.
What is the 6th fundamental principle? Explain its relevance and its association with embryo research.
‘Love is acted out situationally not prescriptively’
Love is applied to each situation in a different way, not a set manner each time. There are no defined rules when making decisions as you decide what is right during the situation.
Embryo research- loving act for the sufferers but murderous for embryos, situations are different in both cases so this doesn’t give a definitive answer.
What are the strengths of situation ethics?
- clear alternative to Christian ethics which is consistent to Jesus’ example in the bible
- flexible and practical
- middle ground between legalism and antinomianism
- easy to understand
- no conventional rules to follow
- based on love- key to most moral systems
- subjective perspective is the only one that matters today
- not selfish or individualistic- love thy neighbour
- puts humans before law
- can be constantly updated in the new world problems e.g. Genetic research and engineering
- allows people to take personal responsibility
- Bishop John Robinson said it was ‘an ethic for humanity come of age’
- takes into account difficulties of decision making e.g. Fletcher’s sacrificial adultery
What are the weaknesses of situation ethics?
- subjective
- individualistic
- intrinsically evil actions could be justified
- inconsistent with bible teachings
- how often is the most loving thing to do very clear
- people need law and rules to avoid anarchy
- personal preferences always get in the way of moral decision making
- rejects Christian teachings and history based on love
- pope Pius XII said it was wrong to base things on an individualistic basis
- not always possible to determine the long term outcome e.g. Abortion and infertility, no birds eye view
- John Robinson said it would work in a society of saints but not one of sinners
- agape love is an unachievable concept
- could justify abominable acts for loving outcomes e.g. Mother, baby, nazi story
Pragmatism and embryo research
- pragmatic to look for cures for infertility etc.
- if it was definitely not going to have a positive outcome he wouldn’t agree e.g. Genetic research to make a master race
PERSONALISM and embryo research
-helps people with greatly debilitating conditions to have a better quality of life, people are not necessarily the same as embryos. It would also end destruction of embryos when a cure was found
Positivism and embryo research
- aim is to end suffering so it is good
- but if embryos are human life then it is murder to end their life for the sake of others
People taking part must want that loving outcome not monetary gain e.g. With pharmaceutical companies who endorse the research
Relativism and embryo research
Depends on the situation of the embryos e.g. Created for that purpose or taken from leftover IVF embryos where the parents have agreed to it
Right course of action is just whatever would be most loving in that situation.
What are the 4 working principles?
PRAGMATISM- proposed course of action must work in practice e.g. Hospital budget distribution
PERSONALISM- people come first, laws come second e.g. Jesus and the prostitute Mary Magdalene
POSITIVISM- must make the decision freely and actively choose to believe in agape love
RELATIVISM- all situations are relative, don’t use words like never or always
William Barclay’s criticisms
Warns that freedom can become license, selfishness or even cruelty. The freedom which SE gives is ‘terrifying’
We are influenced by many things so need laws and rules to guide us properly
Strengths of SE when applied to medical research and development
- flexible and situational as it takes into account situations based on consequences as opposed to the action, Fletcher said SE ‘relativises the absolute, it does not absolute the relative’- in therapeutic cloning it would accept it because the ends justifies the means but would not accept human reproductive cloning for creating a master race
- it is practical as it takes into account the complexity of human life as it allows us to make practical but also loving decisions, a situationist (unlike a legalist) can lay aside rules e.g. Don’t lie when a murderer is looking for his victim, they can lie to save someone’s life. In life support, it is pragmatic to use resources to prolong someone’s life as much as possible and show personalism and put the patients first
- decisions made on the most agape love follows the fundamental principle of ‘love’s decisions are made situationally not prescriptively’. In animal experimentation, the end result is finding cures for things e.g. fish and cancer drugs, justifies the means of using animals and their possible suffering
- Jesus separated himself from rules morality and was interesting in the most loving thing e.g. Healing on the sabbath, in embryo research the most loving outcome is the patients who are helped so outweighs the death of the possible people
Weaknesses of SE when applied to medical research and development
- too individualistic as people have different perspectives in life, unconditional love may be polluted by human tendency e.g. Saviour siblings are loving to the patient but is it loving to the child who feels unwanted for anything but their genetically makeup
- subjective as we don’t always have the facts to make an informed decision or a birds eye view of morality and could end up advocating unloving actions e.g. Murder in self defence and infertility from abortions. Pope Pius XII said it was ‘too individualistic and subjective’ and is ‘in opposition to the natural law of God’s revealed will’
- cannot always predict the outcome of an action, no birds eye view of morality e.g. Life Support will they live or not where do you spend the money, is it more pragmatic to let them die or is it a risk that they could have lived
- condones immoral actions sometimes e.g. Infant monkey who had his eyes sewn shut just to see what happened is wrong, this suffering is unjustifiable regardless of beneficial information gained from the experiment.
- shows personalism to the humans that the research would benefit however many that embryos are not people e.g. Embryo research, issue of personhood and different opinions on start of life
Pope Pius XII criticisms
In 1952, he called it ‘an individualistic and subjective appeal to the concrete circumstances of actions to justify decisions in opposition to the natural law or God’s revealed will’
Support from Zygmunt Bauman
Argues a legalistic approach can cripple or undermine our ability to take responsibility for our moral agency and make moral decisions alone. Our desire to pass on responsibility to others masks the reality that we have to make the decision ourselves
John Robinson’s opinion
‘Situations ethics is for man come of age’ ‘it would work in a community of saints but not in a community of sinners’
