Finish the quote:
“The morality of an action … … … …” - Joseph Fletcher (1963)
“The morality of an action depends on the situation” - Joseph Fletcher (1963)
What form of Greek love does Situation Ethics focus on?
Agape: Unconditional selfless love (giving)
Why is Situation Ethics considered a radical theory?
Considered a radical Christian ethic because it focuses on love and making your own decisions. Rejects the concept of absolute morals.
How can you describe Situation Ethics in 3 qualities?
- Consequentialist
- Teleological
- Relativistic
What social change was occurring around the time of Situation Ethics’ creation?
- 60s, so a lot.
- Sexual Revolution for women as the pill had been created and meant that women could have sex (or pre-marital sex) without the fear of getting pregnant.
- There was a lot of questioning of morality after both of the World Wars as well as disenchantment with USA’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
How did the church react to social changes in the 60s?
How did they react to Situation Ethics?
It became less attractive to everyone and believed that people were going against God’s word.
Completely disagreed as they believed that the only source of morality should come from God’s word through scripture/The Bible.
How does the social revolutions of the 60s relate to Situation Ethics?
Both somewhat anti-establishment in nature, as S.E states/Fletcher believes that a person should be able to make THEIR own decisions on morality
What single absolute rule did Fletcher claim?
If rules are necessary what should they only do, according to him?
LOVE
Guide someone
What is the legalistic approach to ethics?
Set of absolute moral laws and rules that should always be followed. Opposite of antinomian approach.
What is the antinomian approach to ethics?
No system where every situation is unique. Also described as spontaneous and anarchic, but criticised for being too random and having no basis/principles. Opposite of legalistic.
What is the situational approach to ethics?
Fletcher’s new approach; only one rule, which is love. Always look at what is best for others and is subjective.
How should one ALWAYS act when following Situation Ethics?
The most loving way
What are the 4 Fundamental Presuppositions?
What S.E rests on:
- Pragmatism: What you propose must work in practice.
- Relativism: No fixed rules, all decisions are relative to the scenario at hand.
- Positivism: Value judgement needs to be made based on love and what is most loving
- Personalism: People, not rules, come first. Such as stealing to feed your starving child.
What are the 6 Working Principles? (at least 3)
What do they highlight?
- Love only is always good
- Love is the only norm.
- Love and justice are the same, and love is justice distributed
- Love is not liking, and always wills the neighbour’s good.
- Love is the only means. End justifies the means.
- Love decides there and then.
They ultimately highlight the theory’s focus on love, but also it’s subjective/relativistic nature
What are Fletcher’s Unique Situations?
Creation of fictional scenarios which cannot be solved by applying fixed rules or principles. Demonstrates how S.E should be applied, providing a guidelines.
Issue with Unique Situations?
- Very extreme and unrealistic, hard to relate to
Strengths of Situation Ethics?
- Simple + Flexible, therefore appealing
- Allows people to take responsibility for their own decisions. Enables a person to still be religious, but have independence to choose.
- Recognises that one’s ethics may and can change based on the situation, and stops someone from being confined to absolutes
- Principle of love is easy and simple to follow. One that most people do anyway
Weaknesses of Situation Ethics?
- Too individualistic, everyone would reach a different outcome. No common ground outside of the principle itself.
- Too difficult to measure whether the outcome of an action will be the one desired, we can never be completely sure
- As a religious ethic, won’t appeal to as many people unlike something such as UT which is secular in nature
