Ethics 3B- The principles as a means of assessing Morality (SE)

Agape

Greek term for the Christian idea of love, it’s the slefless love that we are shown by God and that we should give to others

Outward love

Love is directed outwards towards others, not inwards towards ourselves i.e. love isn’t selfish

Unconditional love 

Love is given unconditionally and is not dependent on receiving anything back

Constant love

Love is given constantly, given to all

Ethical decision making of Situation Ethics

Good= the consequences of our actions create selfless love (agape)

Bad= the consequences of our actions create selfishness

Chesed

OT Hebrew word used for the loving relationship between God and God’s people, a love that is faithful, strong and consistently present and kind

Aheb

Word used on the Parable of the Good Samaritan and Leviticus 19:18, describes a more spontaneous and implusive love on behalf of humans towards God and other human beings

Universal in application and is the sense of love that’s the origins of agape 

Boss principle

Fletcher says that love/ agape is the only absolute law in Ethics, and therefore is known as the Boss Principle

Four working principles

Pragmatism

Relativism

Positivism

Personalism

Pragmatism

To be right it is necessary that a proposed course of action should work, and work towards the end which is love 

Relativism 

Rejects the use of words like “never” and “always” because circumsances always have exceptions. There aren’t fixed rules that have to be obeyed but it isn’t a free for all either. Fletcher maintained that all decisions have to be relative to Christian love

Relativism quote- Fletcher

Situation Ethics “relativises the absolute, it does not absolutise the relative”

Positivism

Depends on a positive and free decision by someone to give first place to Christain love A person has to see for themsleves that love is the most important thing, not to have it proven because it can’t be proven

Personalism

Puts people first (diffeerent to a legalist who would out the law first) 

Situationalists ask what to do to help humans best 

Personalism quote- Fletcher 1963

“there are no ‘values’ in the sense of inherent goods- value is what happens to something when it happens to be useful to love working for the sake of persons” 

First fundamental principle- Agape is the only intrinsic good 

“Only one thing is intrinsically good; namely love; nothing else at all”- Fletcher 

Only love is good in and of itself. Actions aren’t intrinsically good or evil, but are good or evil depending upon whether they reach a loving result. Only intrinsically good depending on their circumstances and consequences 

Second funamental principle- Love is the rulng norm of Christianity 

“the ruling norm of the Christian decisio is love: nothing else.” Fletcher

Jesus replaced the Tora with the principle of love. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, chose to break the commandments when love required it. Conclusion can be reached that love replaces law. 

Third fundamental principle- Love equals justice

“love and justice are the same, for jusitce is love distributed, nothing else” Fletcher

Love and justice can’t be separated from eachother justice is love at work for the whole community. 

love equals justice additional quote 

“Justice is Christian love using its head, calculating its duties, obligations, opportunities, resources… justice is love coping with situations where distribution is called for.” Fletcher 

Fourth fundamental principle- love has no favourites

“love wills the neighbour’s good, whether we like him or not” Fletcher 1963

here, love is agape and your neighbour is everybody, not just people you know. Agapeic love is unconditional and nothing is required in return 

Fifth fundamental principle- Loving ends justify the means 

“Only the end justifies the means, nothing else” Fletcher 

To consider moral actions without thinking baout the end result is a careless approach. For Fletcher, the end has to be the most loving result and when weighing up the situation a person has to consider what they want the end result to be, the means available to achieve it , the motive for acting and the foreseeable consequences 

Sixth fundamental principle- Loving thng to do will depend on the situation

“Love’s decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively” Fletcher

Jesus acted against the rule based morality he saw around him, distancing himself from the Jewish groups that lived by rule based systems. Whether something is right or wrong is based on the situation, and if an action serves and end that will bringabout love then it must be right. 

Fletcher’s examples

gave ethical situations that he used as examples where moral laws needed to be put to the side to achieve the greater amount of love. They were all real or based on real situations, but he never gave an outcome for them, giving us the opportunity to think about the best outcomes ourselves

Example 1: Himself Might his Quietus Make

A patient only had a set amount of time to live and ahd some options:

1) Take his medicine which will keep him alive for three years (costs $40 every three days)

2) Not take the pills and live for six months but his family would get $100k in life insurance (they wouldn’t get it if he lived for the three years)

According to SE it could be argued that the most loving action would be to not take the pills

Example 2- Christian Cloak and Dagger

A woman meets a man on a plane and tells him that she is a spy who has to seduce the enemy to obtain secrets and blackmail him, ending a war and saving many lives despite it being agaianst her pre-existing moral standards

SE might argue that it would achieve the greatest amount of love to go though with it

Example 3- Sacrificial Adultery

A woman in a camp knew that if she were pregnant she could be released to her family in Berlin, She got pregnant from a guard and got released- the family then raised the child as their own. 

SE could say that it was the most moral action because it reunited the family and raised a child lovingly