★★Situation Ethics

teleological ethics

moral goodness is determined by the end or result

agape love

unconditional love, the only ethical norm in situationism

pragmatism

acting, in moral situations, in a way that is practical, rather than purely ideological

relativism

the rejection of absolute moral standards, such as laws or rights. good and bad are relative to an individual or a community or, in Fletcher’s case, to love

personalism

ethics centred on people, rather than laws or objectives

situation ethics overview

• situation ethics is a largely teleological ethical system based on the writings of Joseph Fletcher in his book ‘Situation Ethics’, published in 1966

• Fletcher was influenced by other theologians such as Barth, Bonhoeffer and Bultmann, who thought that Christian ethics should not depend too heavily on trying to apply biblical laws directly to modern situations but should be flexible in expressing agapeic love

Fletchers three approaches to moral thinking

1. legalistic - based on fixed laws

2. antinomian - having no laws at all

3. situational - looking at the context of the moral problem and adopting the law of doing the most loving thing in that situation

Fletcher thought that the third approach of situational provided the best middle path between legalism and antinomianism

agapeic love

• Fletcher thought that agape love should be at the centre of ethics

• agape is understood as Christian love which is understood and reflects the love of God

• agape love demands that people love their neighbours and also their enemies - “love thy neighbour and those that persecute you”

• agape love is self-sacrificing, not self-interested

• Fletcher thought that the ‘law of love’ should guide moral decision-making. people should aim to do the most loving thing, and if the consequences of their actions produce the most loving situation then they are doing the right thing

examples of agape in the Bible + Jesus’ life

• “love thy neighbour and those that persecute you”

• Parable of the Good Samaritan

• healing on the Sabbath

Fletcher’s six propositions

Fletcher suggested six propositions to consider when making a moral decision

1. the only thing which is intrinsically good in agapeic love. other things are good depending on whether they produce loving results, but agapeic love is good intrinsically, for its own sake

2. love is the ruling norm of Christian ethics. Fletcher gave examples of rules broken by Jesus when it was necessary for bringing about loving results

3. justice is love distributed. Justice is done when people act with love in a rational matter for the benefit of the community

4. love does not depend on emotional likes and dislikes. it is an act of will, a deliberately chosen attitude

5. love should be the goal of a moral action. if it is, then the means of getting to that goal are not important

6. love should be considered in the context of each situation as it arises, ‘situationally not prescriptively’. rules should not be made without the context of the moral situation being a serious consideration

Fletcher’s four working principles

Fletcher used for working presuppositions, or ‘rules of thumb’, in helping to determine the right thing to do:

1. pragmatism - this is about practicality in the real world. rather than following the abstract principles of a philosophy, the pragmatist looks for something which will work in practical circumstances

2. relativism - rules are not to be seen as fixed and absolute but can be changed according to the situation

3. personalism - people matter more than laws. the needs of people should be considered when moral actions are taken

4. positivism - any moral judgement is a decision, not a conclusion forced by logic

strengths of situation ethics

• it is relativist, so allows for consideration of an individual’s personal circumstances when making moral decisions

• it does not have problems of being an outdated ethic as society moves on, because it is flexible

• it could be considered quick and easy as a method of decision-making because instead of considering a range of duties, principles and outcomes, it simply recommends acting with agapeic

• it allows people autonomy by giving them the responsibility of choosing their own actions without having to obey the rules of others

• it could be considered to fit well with a person’s Christian faith and with the ‘WWJD’ kind of approach to moral decision making

weaknesses of situation ethics

• it is relativist, so does not give clear rules to help people know what to do in all circumstances

• it can be different to apply because it is not always clear what is the most living thing to do in a situation, just as it is not always clear what Jesus would do

• it is not always clear how to work out which people should be considered in the efforts to find a loving action, or what to do if an action would be loving for one person but at the same time the opposite of loving for another

• it is relativist and so could be seen to allow people to justify any action they want to do, on the grounds that they thought it would bring about the most loving outcome, no action is ruled out as absolutely immoral and there are no more rules that cannot be broken

How useful is situation ethics as a guide to moral decision-making?

‘An action is good if it produces the most loving result’ Discuss