SITUATION ETHICS

Define agape.

-Unconditional love.

What is agape?


-Unconditional Christian love.

-The key to SE.

-Christianity is based on love both in terms of God's creation & the command that ppl love their neighbours.

-If we act lovingly, our actions are morally right.

-An understanding of Agape comes from the sacrifice of Jesus.

What are Fletcher’s 3 approaches to ethics?

-Legalism= idea that ethical decision making is by a system of laws.

-Situationism= taking the situation into account.

-Antinomianism= to have no laws at all.

What is legalism?

-An overreliance on rules.

-By the time of Jesus, the pharisees had 613 specific rules to uphold.

-Fletcher argues NL is guilty of excessive legalism.

What is situationism?

-For Fletcher, it’s the right approach between the 2 extremes.

-Involves taking principles of ur community & using them to illuminate situations. For Fletcher it means knowing when to apply the principle & when to recognise exceptions.

What is antinomianism?

-No laws.

-Antinomians believe in freedom to act as one sees fit in any circumstance.

What are Fletcher’s 4 working principles of situationism?

-Pragmatism= Having a practical approach to a situation.

-Relativism= The rejection of absolute moral standards, such as laws. No actions are right or wrong.

-Positivism= As god exists, we should always do the most loving thing.

-Personalism= Based on the command to love people not rules -person centered.

What are Fletcher's six propositions?


-Love is the only thing that is intrinsically good.

-Love is the ruling norm in Christian decision-making.

-Love & justice are the same thing.

-Love wills the neighbour's good regardless of whether the neighbour is liked or not.

-Love is the goal & justifies any means to achieve that goal.

-Love decides on each situation without a set of rules to guide it.

Situation ethics is a religious theory.

-As Fletcher notes when Jesus is asked to sum up the whole of the Jewish law, he suggests that only 2 commandments are needed: ‘Love God’ & ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’.

-In the New Testament, Jesus is frequently seen to oppose the legalism of the Pharisees of his day. He gives moral principles not hard & fast rules.

-Jesus argues that love is the primary evidence of the genuineness of religious faith. ‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another’.

Situation ethics is not a religious theory.

-It’s argued Fletcher’s readings of the words of Jesus is highly selective. He condemns divorce & adultery quite clearly & references hell more than he references heaven.

-Jesus tells his disciples that if they love him they are to obey his commandments - this implies there are commandments other than love.

-The interpretation of agape as an unconditional wishing of the best for our neighbour isn’t explicitly Christian. In reality, theres little difference between SE & Act Utilitarianism.

What does Fletcher believe about conscience?


-Conscience is an active process; a verb not a noun.

-When we make moral decisions, we are using the function - conscience.

-It isn't a thing we carry with us, nor a part of our mind, nor a voice within. It's only conscience when we are deciding something.

What are the advantages of situation ethics?

-SE is right that legalistic approaches to ethics brings an inflexibility to situations. There are occasions when to apply rules would be unfair. Situationism brings a much needed flexibility that takes circumstances into account.

-It enables us to answer difficult moral dilemmas where we may have 2 conflicting duties e.g choosing between telling the truth & saving a life, by giving us 1 principle to follow.

-Agape love is a good principle - the demand that we do whatever is the most loving for those around us whether we like them or not saves us from personal bias.

What are the disadvantages of situation ethics?

-In suggesting that ‘never’ & ‘always’ are to be avoided, the theory has no clear & absolute boundaries. Worringly this means child torture could be permitted in a hypothetical extreme case where a more loving outcome could be obtained. E.G it’s the terrorist’s child & this will cause him to disclose the location of a bomb.

-The concept of agape & how we may apply it is vague. What each of us sees as most loving may be a matter of personal opinion.

-McQuarrie suggests bc SE is quite individualistic & involves individuals deciding based on the specific circumstances that they face, it’s difficult to see how this could be applied across a society.

-It’s difficult to know where a situation begins & ends. We may resolve the immediate situation but set off an unexpected chain of consequences that don’t lead to a loving outcome. How far into the future are we required to calculate the outcome? What exactly are we morally responsible for?

-Some thinkers have argued that in reality SE is no different to utilitarianism. This may or may not be a disadvantage depending on what you wish to argue.

What are the arguments for using Situation Ethics?

-Choosing the most loving action to help someone whether we like them or not prevents bias.

-Even Jesus used SE- healing a man on sabbath.

-Gives humans the moral responsibility for the decisions they make. We aren’t given rules, we’re asked to reason about how love should be applied.

-SE is person centered, whereas legalistic systems such as NL focus on obedience to rules. SE starts with the question of what will work & benefit the ppl involved.

-It is flexible in that it gives personal freedom to ppl to decide what the most loving action is. In this sense it is a very helpful method bc you aren't constrained by the difficulties of legalism. Likewise, it is not antinomian as it uses the rule of agape as a guide. This rule is based on the Christian principle of unconditional love.

-It is based on one simple rule, namely agape. Fletcher argues that this simple rule brings positive outcomes, maintains justice & also puts the needs of others first. In simpler terms, Fletcher provides 6 fundamental principles highlighting how decisions should be based on love not laws. These principles offer clear guidance on the application of SE.

-It is relative which means that we aren't restricted by moral absolutes. It also takes in account the complexities of life & reflects the concern that ppl hard with 'absolutes'. Unlike Kantian ethics which is rigid & fixed SE acknowledges that sometimes doing the right thing may mean treating people as a means to an end.

-SE by its own definition is a practical & flexible system for making moral decisions. For example, Fletcher's working principles of pragmatism & relativism show that decisions are made situationally & highlights that absolutes such as 'Do not kill' or 'Do not steal' do not always bring about the most loving outcome. Fletcher provides examples in his own theory when a liberal approach to laws must be taken in order to secure a loving outcome.

What are the arguments against using Situation Ethics?

-Theory has no clear & absolute boundaries & people can manipulate it to excuse evil acts.

-Not everyone has the same idea of love.

-McQuarrie says SE is individualistic & it’s difficult to see how it’s applied across a society.

-There is no right/wrong in SE.

-Wrong to assume we all have expertise to reason on the best income.

-Karl Barth would argue that SE is very vague - it's impossible to say what you're supposed to do. How do you work out what the most loving thing is, if it changes from situation to situation especially due to the corrupt nature of human beings. It would be better to follow divine revelation such as the Bible & Church tradition.

-If we were all like Jesus, then doing the most loving thing might work. William Barclay believed we can't be trusted to do the right thing & it would only work 'if all men were angels'. This is supported by Augustine's interpretation of humanity which is fallen. We do not act like angels, instead we misuse our free will.

-Traditional Christian thinkers have rejected Fletcher's understanding of Jesus. In 1952 Pope Pius XII called situationism 'an individualistic & subjective' theory which will 'justify decisions in opposition to the natural law'. The law & absolutes are there for the protection of society - legalism is therefore the safer & better option than situation ethics.

-The rule of agape can be highly impractical. SE may in fact offer justification for not only breaking religious laws such as the commandments but also civil laws. If society begins to adopt this ethical system over & above the laws of the land then the basis of our society would crumble.

-Examples used by Fletcher such as dropping the bomb on Hiroshima or a Jewish woman having to smother her own child to avoid capture of the group are extreme & very rare cases. We can argue that SE is weak based simply on these. Fletcher argues that his approach is practical yet his examples are far from it.

Fletcher’s understanding of agape is religious.

-Joseph Fletcher would clearly argue that SE can be considered a Christian form of moral decision making. The ethical theory has a Biblical basis both in the golden rule of Jesus which outlines that we should ‘treat others as we would like to be treated’ & the teaching of St Paul who clearly outlined in his letter to the Corinthians that love was the most important virtue. These are 2 Biblical examples of ‘agape’ being used by key Christian figures.

-Jesus seemed to be prepared to set aside some rules in some cases, usually bc a person mattered more than the rule. So he was prepared to associate w & touch ppl traditionally viewed as unclean, the sinners, the sick & the tax collectors.

-Fletcher’s understanding of Agape can be seen as religious bc it develops a principle from Jesus’ action of breaking the law when the situation demanded it for reasons of love. In this sense it could be argued that SE is more consistent with the NT e.g Jesus healing the man with the paralysed hand on the Sabbath day.

-Fletcher was inspired by Jesus’ gospel message of love & he argued that Jesus taught no ethics other than ‘‘love thy neighbour as thyself’’. Fletcher’s 6 fundamental principles are all focused on the idea of love, for example; ‘‘Love wills the neighbour’s good regardless of whether the neighbour is liked or not’’.

Fletcher’s understanding of agape means nothing more than wanting the best for the person involved in a given situation.

-Christianity today follows a more legalistic character based on absolutes such as those outlined in the 10 commandments. In this sense, SE is incompatible with Christianity as it isn’t a legalistic approach to ethics but rather one that is relative to the situation.

-The Catholic Church have very clear rules regarding the sanctity of life. In this respect they would always view the ending of human life by another human as wrong whereas SE would make this decision relative to the situation. This means that Fletcher’s understanding of agape isn’t rlly religious but simply working out what is the best for those involved in a situation.

-Traditional Christian thinkers have rejected Fletcher’s understanding of Jesus. In 1952 Pope Pius XII called situationism, ‘an individualistic & subjective’ theory which will ‘justify decisions in opposition to the natural law’.

-The Catholic Church would argue that ethical decision making should be based on a number of forms of authority. Fletcher uses one principle ‘agape’ but the Church would argue that Bible, tradition & importantly ‘Natural Law’ are preferable ways in which we should make moral decisions.

Arguments for situation ethics making moral decisions subjective and individualistic.

-SE allows terrible things to happen in an attempt to do the right thing. Due to Fletcher’s principle that the ‘end’ can justify the ‘means’ some ppl worry that dangerous boundary lines could be crossed.

-SE is fundamentally vague, resting on a very ambiguous definition of love & could in practice be used to justify anything. It takes relativism in the sense of opposing an overabundance of absolute rules to the extreme of relativism in the sense of ‘anything goes, so long as the motive can be described as loving’.

-There are no boundaries in SE as it doesn’t abide by any form of legalism. In this sense it is close to antinomianism as ppl make decisions relative to the situation which could be different all the time.

-Christian love can become individualistic. The individual has too much control or influence & people tend to be selfish. If someone is given complete freedom with no rules governing them they are more likely to misuse this power.

-Agape - an unselfish, unconditional love - is a great ideal but is rarely achieved in practice. People need rules to live by, & can’t really be trusted to do the right thing without those rules. Subjectivity can never be the standard for human conduct. ‘‘All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes’’.

Arguments against situation ethics making moral decisions subjective and individualistic.

-Laws, according to Fletcher have been developed or formulated through agape. Therefore, if we use love then we are acting lawfully & will not go to extremes. We will not just focus on ourselves but love will mean that we focus on others well-being too.

-Agape is the quality control of SE. If we look at Fletcher’s 4 presumptions we can see that each of them is a way of testing how the rule of agape can be applied e.g. is it practical or will it bring about a positive result.

-Agape is the rule. It is impossible to see how someone following this ethic of ‘love’ would commit obscene acts such as murder or rape in the name of love.

-Jesus applied SE bc he seemed to agree that ‘love & justice are the same’. Jesus wouldn’t have followed agape if he felt it could be used to justify any act. It was the guiding rule of agape that led to the decisions Jesus made to break Sabbath laws.

-SE is a middle ground between legalism & antinomianism. Due to this fact it cannot be said that it has no rules. In fact, SE will abide by rules but just might not follow the same rule in every situation.

Summarise situation ethics.

-A new morality in 1966, a new approach to Christian ethics, that considered each situation before applying the Christian principle of love (agape).

-It's main thinker Joseph Fletcher put forward a teleological ethical theory which suggests that in any situation, the best thing to do is whatever leads to the most loving outcome.

-Inspired by ''love thy neighbour as thyself''.

-Focused on portraying the things jesus would do, rather than focusing on if he was divine.

-''There are times when a man has to push his principles aside & do the right thing'' - Fletcher's situation ethics.

-E.G= Jesus healed a man's hand on sabbath day - no work on day of rest.

-Ethical decisions should follow flexible guidelines rather than absolute rules.

-A Christian ethic.

-Argues agape was what Jesus taught in the New Testament.

-What is most loving will vary depending on the situation. Making SE a relativist ethical theory.