situation ethics overview

Question 1

what two approaches did Joseph Fletcher dismiss and what are the definitions of them?

Answer 1

• legalistic approach= abiding by strict rules. e.g. following the laws of the Bible
• antinomian approach = each person should decide for themselves what it right

Question 2

what is situation ethics ?

Answer 2

• teleological

- concerned for the most loving outcome

Question 3

explain Fletchers example of Mrs Bergmeier

Answer 3

• end of ww2 she is separated from her family and taken to a work camp
• she is told that the only way to get sent home is to either fall ill or pregnant.
• she enlists the help of a camp guard, succeeds in conceiving a child, and is reunited with her family.
• the husband fully understand the circumstances of her adultery, and welcomes the baby as his own

Question 4

what are the 4 working principles and their definitions

Answer 4

1. pragmatism (practical outcome)
2. relativism (the rightness of each action depends upon the circumstance)
3. positivism (you must act with faith that the most loving course of action will result in the best outcome)
4. personalism (you must put people before the law)

Question 5

why did Fletcher believe that this approach was demonstrated by Christ?

Answer 5

• Jesus chose to work on the Sabbath
• he was prepared to break the Sabbath laws to heal someone who was suffering.
• Christians should follow his example and replace laws with love

Question 6

Fletcher suggests 6 propositions that should be kept in mind when seeking a decision. What are they?

Answer 6

1. love is the only thing that is intrinsically good.
2. the ruling norm of Christian decisions is love; nothing else
3. love and justice are the same thing
4. love wills the neighbour’s good, whether we like him or not.
5. the end justifies the means
6. loves decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively

Question 7

what is Fletcher’s example of ‘sacrificial suicide’?

Answer 7

• a terminally ill man refuses life extending drugs so that he will die before his life insurance policy runs out.
• that way his life and children will be provided for

Question 8

explain wether the bombing of Hiroshima was an agapeistic act or not

Answer 8

-the lives saved by ending the war outweigh the lives killed by the bombs

Question 9

what does Fletcher think about conscience ?

Answer 9

• it is not a kind of inbuilt moral compass telling us what to do, but that conscience is the process of reason which we use to reach decisions.
• conscience isn’t something we have, it is something we do

Question 10

explain the strength that situation ethics is more flexible than natural law

Answer 10

-although NL is proportionallst, it is very prescriptive (telling us what to do) and many people are hesitant to break the rules

Question 11

explain the weakness that with situation ethics we can’t predict consequences

Answer 11

-e,g, for Mrs Bergmeier might reject the baby fathered by the camp guard, or she might not have fallen pregnant.

Question 12

explain the strength that with situation ethics we avoid personal bias

Answer 12

• we our putting people before ourselves
• not being selfish
• we have to do what is most loving for those around us

Question 13

explain the strength that situation ethics treats us like grown ups

Answer 13

• it assumes that we are wise enough to make decisions for ourselves
• we are not expected to simply follow rules written down by other people

Question 14

explain the weakness that situation ethics doesn’t define what is meant by a situation

Answer 14

• where do we draw the line?
• what is loving in one context might not be loving in another
• e.g. will the Bergmeier baby want to know about his true father? Is it more loving to tell him the truth or to lie?

Question 15

explain the weakness that most of us need basic rules by which to abide

Answer 15

• we don’t want to have to make length calculations over each decision
• it is easier to simply do what we have been taught
• for most of us out moral dilemmas are easily solved with simple principles

Question 16

1 reason why natural law is better for making moral decisions than situation ethics

Answer 16

by following the rules of NL we have clear guidance, but we recognise that it might be necessary in exceptional circumstances to break these principles

Question 17

what does McQuarrie suggest

Answer 17

that because situation ethics is quite individualistic and involves deciding based in the specific circumstances that they face, it is difficult to see how this could be applied across society

Question 18

another weakness of situation ethics

Answer 18

• what’s loving for one person might not be loving for another person caught up in the situation.
• e.g. what about the guard who now knows he has a child who he will never meet ?